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Other than such formatting and index descriptions, all information below in this file is the responsibility of the PRC, and any questions regarding that information should be directed to the PRC at: Phone: 619-298-3396 (800-773-7748 Calif. only) Fax: 619-260-4753 E-mail: prc@teetot.acusd.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Fact Sheet #4 Junk Mail: How Did They All Get My Address? While your mother may have told you that a person's mail is private, in this day of computerized mailing lists, your name and address certainly aren't. Chances are, your mailbox is overflowing with catalogs, sale notices, prize offers and other "deals" which you never requested and may not want. If you do not want others to have access to your name, address and buying habits, or if you are tired of throwing away unwanted mail, there are several steps you can take to get off mailing lists. You must be persistent, and you won't get rid of it all. But you can substantially reduce the amount of junk mail you receive. How did I get on these lists in the first place? How can I get off? Every time you provide your name and address to receive a product or service, there's a good chance you are being added to one or more mailing lists. When you buy a car, have a baby, make a purchase from a catalog, give money to a charity or fill out a product registration card, your name is likely to be entered into a computer data base. Public records. When you make virtually any major lifestyle change, a government agency records the event. Many such files are open to the public, including: birth certificates, marriage licenses, home sales records, and the Post Office's change of address form. Public records are one way companies selling baby items, for example, can mail advertisements to new parents just days after the birth of a child. Mail-reduction tips. You usually cannot have government records about you kept confidential. Therefore, contact companies individually when they put you on a mailing list compiled from public records. For example, if you buy a house and receive home improve-ment and insurance solicitations you do not want, you can do three things: (1) Write to the company and ask to be taken off its mailing list. (2) Envelopes with "Address Correction Requested" or "Return Postage Guaranteed" can be returned unopened by writing "Refused--Return to Sender" on the envelope. The company will have to pay the return postage. (3) If there is a postage-paid return envelope, put all of the information in the return envelope with a note that you wish to have your name removed from the mailing list. The Post Office makes its change of address file available to major mailing list companies. To avoid receiving solicitations aimed at "new movers," contact friends, family and companies with whom you do business directly and do not fill out the Post Office's change of address form. Mail order, credit cards and magazines. If you are on the mailing list of one mail order company, you are likely to be on the list of several. Most mail order firms "rent" their mailing list to other businesses. Many credit card companies also rent their mailing lists, as do magazines. Therefore, if you subscribe to a cooking magazine, you may find yourself receiving mail order catalogs for kitchen supplies and food specialties. Mail-reduction tips. Write to the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735. Tell the DMA you do not want to receive catalogs and other promotional material through the mail. They will put you into the "delete" file which is sent to the DMA's member organizations four times a year. Companies that do not participate in the Direct Marketing Association program must be contacted directly. Notify the company's customer service department and request that your name and address not be provided to other companies. Be sure to contact magazines to which you subscribe as well as charities, nonprofit organizations and community groups to which you have either donated money or joined. Many credit card companies will delete your name from the lists they rent and sometimes even from the list they use to send their own promotional materials to their customers. (They will, however, continue to send you your bill.) Write to the customer service department and request your name be removed from the lists they rent to others and from their "in-house" mailing list. Credit bureaus. Companies with whom you do business provide information to credit bureaus on how much you owe, how promptly you pay your bills and the types of purchases you make. While many credit bureaus rent lists, they do not disclose specific information such as what you owe or to whom. Rather, they compile lists based on consumer characteristics. An example would be a list of people who have an income of over $30,000 a year, use credit cards and pay their bills on time. If you fall into a category such as this, you may receive "pre-approved" credit card offers in the mail. Mail-reduction tips. The three major credit reporting firms are: Equifax, Trans Union and TRW. Write to each and ask to be removed from their marketing mailing lists. o Equifax Options, Equifax Marketing Decision Systems, Inc., P.O. Box 740123, Atlanta, GA 30374-0123. o Trans Union - 555 West Adams St., 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60661. o TRW, Target Marketing Services Division, Attn: Mail Preference Service, 901 N. International Parkway, Suite 191, Richardson, TX 75081. Registration cards. Be aware that warranty or "product registration" cards have less to do with warranties than they do with mailing lists. These cards may ask you what hobbies you have, how many people are in your household and your household income--information the company obviously does not require to guarantee the product. Such registration cards are generally not mailed to the company that manufactured the product, but to a post office box of the National Demographics and Lifestyles Company in Denver, Colorado. This company compiles buyer profiles and sells the information to other companies for marketing purposes. Mail-reduction tips. When you buy a product, don't fill out the product registration card. In most cases your receipt ensures that you are covered by the warranty if the product is defective. If you decide to send the registration card, include only minimal information--name, address, date of purchase and product serial number. (For some products you may want the company to have a record of your purchase in case there is a safety recall.) Also, write to National Demographics and Lifestyles and ask them to delete you from their mailing lists: National Demographics and Lifestyles, List Order Department, 1621 18th Street, Suite 300 Denver, Colorado 80202. Price scanners. A new way of compiling mailing lists and buyer profiles is through price scanners. Scanners help businesses keep track of their inventory and speed service at the check-out counter. They can also be used to link your name to your purchases, especially if you are using the store's "buyers club" card. When this card is "swiped" through the card reader at the check- out stand, your name and address, stored in the card's magnetic strip, are matched against a record of the scanned items. Stores generally offer product discounts as an incentive to use the card. The store may use this information to mail coupons and other special offers to you and share the information with product manufacturers. So, for example, if you buy one type of soda at the grocery store you might receive coupons from a rival soft drink company to induce you to switch brands. Mail-reduction tips. If you do not want information compiled about your personal buying habits through the use of price scanners, don't participate in the store's "buyers club." You may also want to pay cash at businesses which use scanners, since technology may allow the company to store your name and address if you pay by check or credit card. Phone books. If you are listed in the White Pages of the telephone book, your name, address and phone number are, for all practical purposes, public record. Mailing list companies collect this information and sell it to mail order companies and marketing firms. In addition to the White Pages, the phone company and other companies compile directories organized by address and phone number rather than by name. If you are listed in the White Pages, you are also in one or more of these "street address directories." Mail-reduction tips. If you are concerned about keeping your name and address private, consider having an unlisted number. Or request that the local phone company publish just your name and phone number and omit your address. In addition, ask the phone company to remove your listing from its "street address directory." Also, write to the major directory companies and request that your listing be removed: o Haines & Co., Criss-Cross Directory, 2382 East Walnut Ave., Fullerton, CA 92631. o R. L. Polk & Co., List Compilation & Development, 6400 Monroe Blvd., Taylor, MI 48180-1814. o Rueben H. Donnelley Corp., 287 Bowman Ave., Purchase, NY 10577. Mailing list companies. There are a number of companies which purchase and collect information from government records, telephone books, association membership rosters and other sources. They compile mailing lists and sell them for marketing purposes. Mail-reduction tips. To be removed from the lists of the major companies that sell mailing lists, write to these firms: o R.L. Polk & Company, List Compilation & Development, 6400 Monroe Blvd., Taylor, MI 48180-1814. o Donnelley Marketing, Inc., Data Base Operations, 1235 "N" Ave., Nevada, IA 50201-1419. o Metromail Corp., List Maintenance, 901 West Bond, Lincoln, NE 68521. o Database America, Comp. Dept., 100 Paragon Dr., Montvale, NJ 07645-0419. o Dunn & Bradstreet, Customer Svc., 899 Eaton Ave., Bethleham, PA 18025. What if I only want to stop part of my junk mail? Junk mail is only junk when you don't want to receive it. You may want to be on some mailing lists. If you want to receive some of this mail, do not contact the Direct Marketing Association and ask to be taken off all mailing lists. Rather, notify companies individually and tell them you want your name removed from their lists. Also, tell the companies you do business with to keep your name and address private. A growing number of businesses which rent their mailing lists are including statements in their catalogs to let you know you have this option. For more information Join the Stop Junk Mail Association. The SJMA provides a mailing list name deletion service for its members and lobbies on behalf of postal privacy rights. For more information on SJMA services, write to: 3020 Bridgeway #150, Sausalito, CA 94965. (800) 827- 5549. Order the informative 16-page booklet "Stop Junk Mail Forever" by sending $2.00 to Good Advice Press, P.O. Box 78, Elizaville, NY 12523. The Direct Marketing Association has free brochures on direct marketing practices. Contact the DMA at 11 West 42nd St., New York, NY 10036-8096. For more information on junk mail and other privacy-related issues, contact the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse hotline at 1-800-773-7748. NOTE: The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse does not rent, sell or trade its mailing list with any other organization or company. Your name and address are kept completely confidential. November 1992 Revised Feb. 1993