Direct Mail

junk mail

If You Love Junk Mail, Visit The Direct Marketing Association's Advocacy Website "MailMovesAmerica.org"

Did you know that "advertising mail is under threat?" It's true! But what can you, the consumer who loves junk mail, do to stop the 15 states that, in 2007, "proposed the creation of state Do Not Mail registries, similar to the national do not call registry"? The Direct Marketing Association has set up a website just for you! More »

12:59 PM on Tue May 6 2008
By Meg Marco
3,747 views, 50 comments

spam

How To Get Chase To Stop Sending You Direct Mail Offers Over And Over And Over

Anyone who's a customer of Chase knows how hardcore they can be about direct mail advertising. Martin writes:

Over the last 12-24 months, I've been annoyed with about 3-4 mailings a week from Chase for various add-on services and useless products. Already a customer of theirs, I did not appreciate this onslaught of advertising. Here's a quick opt-out website in which you can cancel all direct marketing letters from Chase... dnmoptions.chase.com.

More »

10:07 AM on Wed Mar 26 2008
By Chris Walters
3,354 views, 21 comments

tips

8 Ways To Opt Out Of Junk Mail Lists

Direct mailers don't believe in the concept of opting in, so if you want to cut down on the amount of straight-to-the-trash mail you receive, you'll need to contact them directly and request that your name is removed. ForestEthics—the group behind the Do Not Mail Registry petition we blogged about earlier, has gathered several ways to contact the offending parties. More »

12:32 PM on Thu Mar 13 2008
By Chris Walters
9,073 views, 24 comments

data theft

Consumer Agency IT Pro Admits To Stealing 8.4 Million Records

A senior database administrator for Fidelity National Information Services, a widely used banking technology and data providor, has admitted that he stole 8.4 million customer records from the company and sold the data to a broker, who in turn sold them to marketers. He could face up to 10 years in prison but will probably get less because he confessed. We think he should have to open, read, and shred every piece of junk mail that his victims receive for the next, oh, say 10 years instead. More »

6:28 PM on Thu Dec 6 2007
By Chris Walters
986 views, 9 comments

Latest by xtc46: @iamme99: It is actually a very small percentage of people who do it. I'm not sure if that is because a lot of people are just honest, or because a huge majority of people wouldn't know who to approach or more »

marketing

Secrets Of Why Direct Mail Works

Direct mail still works whether you want it to or not, which is why you'll continue to get subscription requests, membership invitations, donation pleas, and coupons every day the mail runs. Here's a list of tricks direct mail marketers use to increase the odds that their mailings will be opened. It's written for marketers, but in the advertising arms race everything is fair game, so we felt it was worth showing Consumerist readers as well. More »

7:07 PM on Thu Nov 1 2007
By Chris Walters
5,293 views, 42 comments

videos

Man Documents Efforts To Get Off Spam Lists

Jonny Halleran has taken on the sort of masochistic project we love to watch here at Consumerist: trying to get himself removed from all direct mail and marketing lists, and documenting it on YouTube. His first attempt involves Verizon, and it's clear by their escalating series of mixed messages that they've created a sort of antimatter version of "customer service," one that's designed to confuse and mislead customers so they'll hang up and just sort of sit there in stunned silence for a little while. More »

10:34 AM on Fri Oct 12 2007
By Chris Walters
3,124 views, 23 comments

Latest by n/a: In addition to using GMail's + filter, I utilize my own domain's email forwarding abilities. For things that I sign up with, I use my GMail address, but if the email form I'm filling out doesn't allow pluses in more »