Stopping the Influx of Junkmail

My thirteen month-old son received his first piece of junk mail today. Yes, it was addressed to him personally. I am deeply disturbed by it too. While Lilly’s Kids certainly doesn’t know that he’s only thirteen months out of the womb, they are still marketing to him directly. That is really creepy.

It left me wondering just how they acquired his name. I know that we’ve never purchased from Lily’s Kids. The only pieces of mail he receives addressed directly to him are 1) health insurance materials and 2) gifts and cards from friends and family.

After some quick research I discovered that it was Carus Publishing–the publishers of Baby Bug Magazine–who sold his name. Baby Bug is a magazine for toddlers. Yes, a magazine for toddlers. The out-laws signed him up for a subscription a few months ago.

I’m really angry over the company selling his name. We didn’t want the subscription, and we don’t want things sent directly to him because we want to protect his privacy. We had no idea they were going to sell his name until it was too late. After my call to Carus Publishing, they removed him from their list of names to be sold. Still, now his name is out there and stopping the influx of junk will be difficult.

It feels like stopping junkmail is a losing battle: it keeps coming and coming and coming, and it is such a waste of resources, paper, labor and time.

Here’s some quick Junk Mail Facts frin 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth:

• Each year 100 million trees are used to make junk mail.
• One day’s supply of junkmail could heat 250,000 homes.
• Americans receive about 4 million tons of junk mail each year.

Here are some things we’re doing about junk mail:

• Calling every company that sends us junk and asking to be removed from the mailing list.
• Filling out the Direct Marketer’s Association’s Removal Form (Yes, it costs a $1. I think it’s bullshit that I have to pay to be removed but there you have it.) According to the DMA, filling out this form should stop about 3/4 of the junk mail.
• Filling out the USPS Form 1500 which protects against sexually suggestive marketing, but I hope will cover junk mail like the Victoria’s Secret Catalog, Frederick’s of Hollywood Catalog and the Playboy Catalog. I’ve heard that you can attach any piece of junk mail to this form since you, the consumer, decides what is sexually suggestive but haven’t tried that out.
• For credit card offers I will call the company directly and call 1-888-567-8688 which is the opt-out number for the major credit bureaus.
• Calling the County Clerk to demand that our voter registration information not be sold as this is how you get sent all that political crap this time of year. I did try this a few years ago and the County Clerk refused even though it’s within my privacy rights to request that the information not be sold. I didn’t follow up like I should have.

Do you have any junk mail tips?

October 27th, 2006