Man Receives 16 State Farm Junk Mailings In One Month
State Farm is powerless to stop its representatives from filling up your mailbox with unwanted solicitations! Terry has contacted one of the agents listed in the 16 mailings he's received over the past month and was told, "Sorry, it's from corporate." He then lodged a complaint with the corporate office and received a response from their "Internet Support Representative" who basically told him he's out of luck. We're not sure what State Farm's sales strategy is here; maybe they're just betting on wearing him down through sheer volume?
First, Terry wrote us the following:
I would love to know how to stop junk mail from State Farm. Over the last month I have received 13 different solicitations from local agents. No one seems to know how to stop this madness! Glad State Farm really takes this whole green thing seriously!
We asked him who he'd contacted at State Farm, and he told us an agent and corporate via their website. That's when he received the following response:
Dear Terry,
Thank you for contacting State Farm regarding our Privacy Policy. No, but there are ways you can reduce the number of solicitations you receive from companies with whom you do not have a customer relationship if they are members of the Direct Marketing Association. You can write to the following addresses: · For marketing solicitations received by mail, write to: Mail Preference Service, c/o Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008. · For marketing solicitations received by telephone, write to: Telephone Preference Service, c/o Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 9014, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9014. You may also contact specific companies and ask that they do not contact you either through direct mail or telephone solicitations. This will not stop calls relating to your existing relationship with the company. Certain states may have state-run programs whereby individuals can be placed on a "do-not-call" list to avoid marketing calls from businesses with whom they do not have an existing relationship. Your state will provide details on how to be placed on such a list. The Privacy Policy can be viewed online at If you have further questions regarding the State Farm Privacy Policy or would like to indicate your do not share preference, please call the State Farm Privacy Information Line at 800-865-6035.
State Farm Insurance®
Internet Support Representative
Then, earlier this week, he contacted us again:
Ahhhh....three more today (see pic).....I guess the madness will never stop!
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Comments:
Hah, at least we won't get any of these mailings in Massachusetts - State Farm isn't licensed to do business here. But then, why should that stop them?
I vote for an EECB. It's only fair.
With junk mail I recycle it, of course I like to have the company do the recycling for me so I :
A. open the offending junk
B. cut out my name and/or addy off all of it
C. rip it into shreds along with the envelope it came in
D. put it in the handy postage paid business reply envelope they provided
E. mail it back to them
I also like to think it helps keep the US P.O. working:)
I get those things from GEICO all the time! State Farm doesn't want me for some reason ;) Maybe its because I had a fender bender (under $800 in damage) 5 years ago while on my parents policy with them. Based upon lack of solicitations; not lack of insurability
GEICO keeps telling me that I could save $500 on my car insurance. I only pay $25 a month for comprehensive on one car through USAA so why would I even want GEICO to begin with? USAA usually beats everyone hands down when it comes to rates. I'm tempted to write them a humorous little letter over this!
Heck, if it keeps my current employer (the US Postal Service) in business, I'm all for it. I'd be unemployed if some companies didn't stubbornly hang on to the direct mail advertising model. Of course, if I didn't depend on it for my ability to pay the mortgage, I'd be against direct mail advertising for being environmentally wasteful.
I get AT&T Uverse mailings 3 times a week and GEICO mailings twice a week.
@Megan Squier Take them up on it-if they're right they'll be paying you $200/year!
Why are we wasting intertube pixels on this matter?
Seriously, it is their farking $. They keep this up and they will soon be out of business OR they will drive up the cost of paper such that none of us can afford paper. Haven't figured out which.
Ok, maybe important... for the tree huggers among us.
I haven't ever tried this, but this might work.
Under U.S.C. Title 39 Postal Service section 3008 ("Prohibition of pandering advertisements"), if you are really annoyed with solicitations mailed to you by any company you can issue a "prohibitory order'' against them. The form [Form 1500] was originally intended to stop pornographic junk mail, but the Supreme Court of the United States has affirmed your right to stop any mail that you don't want. If they continue to send you their junk, they risk being prosecuted as criminals.
More information:
http://www.ecofuture.org/jmusps.html#1500
http://www.junkbusters.com/dmlaws.html
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/39/3008.shtml
Throw.
It.
Away.
How hard is that?
Heck, I've noticed a massive reduction in the amount of junk mail that I've been receiving due to the slumping economy I assume.
@Megan Squier: Agreed, I get more mailings with that stupid gecko or I guess now that stupid pile of cash, I could build a fort out of it!
@Coles_law
I know. I'm tempted to write them an interesting little letter and tell them that :)
I bet they'd find a way to stop all those mailings if you reported it to you state's attorney general's office as harassment.
You can stop insurance and credit card offers for free by going to www.optoutprescreen.com or calling 1-888-5OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688). You can opt-out of lots of different types of junk mail using www.ByeByeMail.com (which is how I learned about this plus more). It is about 10 bucks and lasts for a couple of years. It includes how to contact ATT and GEICO to ask to go paperless, KrispyKrink. You are not alone! Good luck.
In the same vein, up until the last couple of months, I have received about 10 unwanted credit card applications per month for at least 15 years. The current credit card mess has been good for me. No more junk mail.
I get about 15 a month from Capital One. As somebody said earlier, I cut out my name and any numbers from their letters and mail them back to them. I also add a few extras to the package: Cheetos bag, Snickers wrapper, just a little extra special addition for their trouble.
I fill one garbage bag every two weeks just from junk mail. Every single day when I come home from work, my mailbox is so full of junk mail that the door on the front won't even close.
Is there anything you can do to tell the post office not to deliver this crap?
@txinfo:
I do the same, except I send card offers to competing companies. For example, I think that 0% for 9 months on balance transfers from discover card might interest usbank. I also think that usbank might like to "'discover' the card that pays you back". In addition, I send them both valpak coupons which are 99% worthless to me.
I get a lot of those loan things, from companies who want me to borrow money from them. They go right into the shredder.
I don't write Direct Marketing Assoc. because I like to get mail order catalogs. Some of them are unsolicited but they are usually really cool ones.
@Frequentlywrong: And of course you remove the barcode on the back of the envelope for a that identifies you as the recipient, so that they don't claim that your action of returning the form constitutes acceptance.
The post office makes a lot of money from junk mail so I highly doubt they would agree to not deliver it. There really should be a "do not mail" law IMO.
1). Receive mailings from State Farm
2). Turn into fireplace logs
3). Profit?
Micromegas wished:
"Is there anything you can do to tell the post office not to deliver this crap? "
They are required to deliver any mail addressed to you - the sender paid them for a service.
Also, how would the Post Office know what is in the envelope? Some of my bills are now sent in envelopes that look the same as junk mail and some junk mail masquerades as bills.
@krispykrink: I dropped AT&T as a long distance carrier a couple years ago. They sent me a statement showing a 42 cent credit. Every month, like clockwork, I get a statement showing a 42 cent credit. I already notified them once. Now I figure it's their cost to mail it so why should I care.
Send them a nice registered letter that tells them you would be happy to provide consulting feedback to them regarding their advertisements. Tell them your minimum fee is $1500 per advertisement and that the next advert they send you will be notice that they wish for you to review their work.
When/if they send you another advert, send them another registered letter with a copy of your first letter, a copy of the document they sent you, a one page feedback report regarding the color and feel of the advert per your professional opinion and a bill for $1500.
Remember to ask for net 30 terms or make the bill payable with a 6% markup if they wish to pay it over 6 months.
No payment? Take them to small claims court.
Sounds like easy money to me. This has worked to stop junk mail and annoying phone calls from bewildered collection agencies several times.
@Micromegas: Realistically, it ain't gonna change. Junk mailers pay to send you crap, and if the post office doesn't accept it then Congress will have to step in and cover the budget shortfall, and raise taxes, which will likely get them voted out of office.
Send it back to them, postage paid.
Even if the junk mailer doesn't include a postage paid envelope, you can still send it back "return to sender" and make them pay for it.
Just be sure to include a dull-edged piece of flat metal to increase the weight, and the cost of paying for it.
@nightshade74: Yes, if it's coming from one company, 1500 might solve it. It should be considered harassment for them to continue after you tell them to stop.
^^^ has got the right idea.
You guys gotta get more creative about it like P_smith has. Found this website about a year and a half ago.
[officeofstrategicinfluence.com]
reply feature is still farked, btw.
@LordofBacon: I've noticed an equally massive increase in Capital One Credit Card offers. You're not sending them to me are you?
Fire off a complaint to the Better Business Bureau. I had a similar issue with Verizon and their FiOS advertisements for the past 11 months because they would not honor the do not mail/solicit lists.
I get the State Farm mailings too, at least once a week. I even got two separate mailings in one day, so I'll be interested in what happens with the author.
@humphrmi: A lot of times they have those bar codes simply to discourage people from doing this. I think the codes are all the same--meaning, fake. Either way, I write "NO THANKS" on the content, and have never had any problem. I don't care if they know it's me or not.
Did they drop that? Last time I lived there was 04, and they definitely did regulate rates. In particular, they dictated the spread you could charge higher-risk drivers - as a result, higher-risk drivers were charged less, and lower-risk drivers more.
I complained to State Farm last week after getting another three mailings in one day. They sent me the same form letter.
I'm not sure how I got on their list. I haven't owned a car in almost eight years.
I had the same problem with multiple State Farm mailings wanting to sell us homeowner's insurance. Since all of the agent's phone numbers are conveniently printed on the mailing, I would just call the agent, tell them the names of ALL the other local agents I was hearing from, and ask them to stop it. They would sigh, and agree. And they stopped!
All of these suspiciously started just after my husband and I opened up a line of credit with RBC Centura. I blame them.
Dear State Farm:
De-dupe your fucking mail list already. It takes only a few minutes and would probably save you thousands in redundant print and postage costs.
Sincerely,
A printer that actually does their job.
Well, if you figure out how to stop it, please let me know.
One day last week, I opened the mailbox to find FOUR of these suckers, two for me and two for my husband, from 3 different agents.
And that isn't, of course, counting the one or two I get every week from some agent or another.
i receive about 1 a week, and the glory of it is that i sold my car LAST YEAR! and thats just from state farm, i haven't begun counting the ones i get from other auto insurers