A recent ruling by the California Supreme Court sheds some light on how a retailer can identify a person given very little information.
The ruling, stems from a case where a woman was asked for her zip code when paying at a Williams-Sonoma store with a credit card, shows that retailers can very easily use a name and zip code to find the exact address for an individual using large databases of personal information.
I always assumed that retailers just wanted to know demographic information on their customers when they asked for zip codes, but clearly it is about getting people on a mailing list.
Filling out a change of address form latetly, I was presented with something that dismissed any illusions I might have had that the Postal Service is on our side with respect to junk/direct mail:
I was presented with two screens (full screens here and here) that I had to specifically opt-out of before I was allowed to complete my address change. The recent revelations about the Postal Service’s financial woes clearly shows their heavy dependence on bulk/junk/direct mail. Basically, they are not motivated to help you stop it and they probably have never been.
The best advice in terms of address changes is to never do a permanent address change. This will get you on the lists that the Postal Service gives to direct marketers and will severely increase the amount of direct mail you get. Apparently a temporary (6 month) forward will not get you on the lists and you have 6 months to change your address with anyone the sends you mail.
Looks like Forrest Ethics (mentioned below) has reached a milestone in their Do Not Mail petition, getting the Seattle City Council to pass a resolution calling for a Do Not Mail registry.
This was the dickhead of catalog companies. Every time I bought something, I got added again to their list, as in, I started getting multiple identical catalogs every week. Despite repeated calls to their customer service, I kept getting catalogs for 9 months or so.
This was another somewhat humorous situation. I received a series of letters (first, second) from them through the BBB with which I had filed a complaint. I am particularly amused that he says “… it has always been astounding to, on occasions, be witness to the lengths to which some people will go for such relatively insignificant causes, given the state of world affairs. The huge amount of time and resources spend on this by the BBB, the Post Office, the recipient of this complaint (mainly us) and, the source, in this case, Mr. XXX have been completely wasted, and that’s criminal. After all, time is all we have.” Can you believe the arrogance shown here? I don’t believe that millions of trees wasted are an insignificant cause. He generously offers to remove my name from the list for $50. Interestingly, this series of interactions, I never received another piece of direct mail from them.
I bought a new car from them. At the time I specifically told them I did not want to be added to any mailing lists. I also went over to the service department and told them I did not want to receive service reminder notices. Despite this, I started receiving direct mail from the, from other Toyota dealers in the area, from the Toyota corporation, and from their service department.
This is another mortgage broker who seems to want to break the record for mortgage solicitations.
These guys are true bottom feeders. They steal contact information from the domain name Whois registry and send domain registration services made to look like renewal notices. Renew now or risk loosing your domain! I am sure more than a few people have been tricked into transferring their domains over to DROA this way. It is against the rules of the body that governs Internet domain names to use the domain name registration information for marketing purposes.
These cheesemeisters are resellers of The Dish Network. They sell and install the service and get a commission up front from The Dish Network for every sale. As my wife used to work for one of these outfits, she can attest to the fact that these guys are about as bad as used car salesmen. They provide zero after-the-install support. When asking one of their customer service people for their address so I could send them a letter, he gave me a phony address. Neither their mailers nor their websites list a physical address for the company. They are second in volume only to Washington Mutual. They were also awarded an anti-tribute site.
Washington Mutual (now Chase) wins the all-time award for being the biggest assholes in direct mail. They have sent me more direct mail than any other company. Initially, I contacted individual mortgage agents and brokerage branches to try and get them to stop sending me mortgage solicitations. Most brokers didn’t have a clue and told me there was nothing they could do about it. So I contacted their corporate customer relations department. Initially, they were helpful. Send me samples of the solicitations they said and we will get everyone to stop. They didn’t stop. So I contacted them again. Again I sent them copies of what I was receiving. After the third go-around, they changed their tune and claimed that they could send me anything they wanted, it was their legal right. I sent them the full analysis of the law on direct mail, and they responded that they still believed they had the right to send me whatever they wanted. Clearly, they don’t have a mechanism internally to put someone on a do-not-mail list that all brokers will adhere to, so their solution is to claim they don’t have to stop. I was so frustrated with them I created an anti-tribute site to them. I found many others who are very unhappy with WaMu. They are a horrible company!