Dealing with getting on evil mailing lists

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Rich Jordan
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Dealing with getting on evil mailing lists

Post by Rich Jordan »

Someone sold my name to a pretty bad email list. I'm getting membership mails (via USPS) from corrupt organizations (A C L U) and hate groups (S P L C) among others that 'imply' I'm a member and want me to renew.

I got an S P L C letter 9 months ago, sent back their envelope on their dime with a demand to be removed from their mailing list. While I don't know how they got me, they may have sold my info to the others because those started showing up a few months later, along with an increase in S P L C entreaties.

Any legal options for dealing with these orgs in a way that will cause them some economic discomfort or issues with the post office, especially the hate group due to its intransigence and likely abuse of my info?

(Yes I spaced out the abbreviations for the civil liberties org and the 'poverty' org on purpose)
Johnnyreb
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Re: Dealing with getting on evil mailing lists

Post by Johnnyreb »

When you get stuff that is adult material there's a thing you can do to block it through the post office. But mailing lists.. not much you can do. When they mailed it to you they paid the post office to deliver it, so we deliver it. There is no block for junk mail. Frankly if there was, there would no longer be a USPS. First class mail isn't even half of the volume it used to be a decade ago.

Telling them to take you off their lists, well that's hit or miss, like telling emailers to stop emailing you. Sometimes it works and sometimes not.

I don't know, maybe there's some industry place to be found, some kind of address list central, where you could get yours removed. But if so I've haven't heard of it.

You'd think the mailers would want to know these things and not waste their dime sending you something, but there's plenty of mailers out there, esp. health insurance and such, that have lists so bad I don't like to think how much money they waste. Like Humana, when they send out a wave of letters, half of them wind up in the trash from bad or old addresses, not even counting the ones to good addresses that just get tossed.
Rich Jordan
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Re: Dealing with getting on evil mailing lists

Post by Rich Jordan »

If this was advertising/sales stuff there is a central place to post to 'get off' a lot of lists. These groups would not be part of that.

Seriously getting email from the poverty place, to me, is about as welcome as getting nazi, antifa, or eco-terrorist stuff. I want no association with them and I don't want them contacting me.
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Cybrludite
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Re: Dealing with getting on evil mailing lists

Post by Cybrludite »

If they send you a SASE, I'd say sent it back with a steel plate in the envelope to up the weight and thus the postage they pay.
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Steamforger
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Re: Dealing with getting on evil mailing lists

Post by Steamforger »

Cybrludite wrote:If they send you a SASE, I'd say sent it back with a steel plate in the envelope to up the weight and thus the postage they pay.
Duct tape the envelope to a fireplace brick. Steel plates are for hanging targets :D
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Frankingun
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Re: Dealing with getting on evil mailing lists

Post by Frankingun »

Does writing “return to sender” and throwing it back in the mail still work?
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Weetabix
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Re: Dealing with getting on evil mailing lists

Post by Weetabix »

Back when I was getting a lot of credit card applications, I printed up a bunch of those 2x3 mailing labels that said something like, "My credit needs are adequately met. To save you money and me time, please remove me from your mailing list." I'd stuff all of their stuff back into their postage paid return envelope with the sticker on the top and mail it back. That junk mail eventually trickled off.
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Rustyv
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Re: Dealing with getting on evil mailing lists

Post by Rustyv »

Cybrludite wrote:If they send you a SASE, I'd say sent it back with a steel plate in the envelope to up the weight and thus the postage they pay.
Beat me to it. Home Despot sells contractor packs of big heavy galvanized washers for a few buck per 100. Throw a couple of those in the SASE envelope and mail it back.
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Johnnyreb
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Re: Dealing with getting on evil mailing lists

Post by Johnnyreb »

Return to sender will work only if it was sent to you first class mail, or if it has some kind of "service requested" deal on it. And the right term for that is to tell us at the Post Office that it is "Refused".

Now the idea of taping the return envelope to a brick has a little merit. If there is a return envelope that is a Business Reply envelope, then it gets sent back to them, they get charged for the postage when it gets back to them. Even in a small town I do a few of those every morning.

So if the Business Reply envelope is taped onto a large envelope, they get charged the large envelope rate to get it back. Or, if taped to a brick that weighs more than 13 ounces, they get charged Priority Mail rate for that weight to get it back, which starts at 6.65 currently. And since they put out that Business Reply envelope, they can't refuse to pay for it when it comes back, they asked for that service. Their mailing account will get billed for it before we even hand it over to them.
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slowpoke
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Re: Dealing with getting on evil mailing lists

Post by slowpoke »

I thought I had tead that the brick trick didnt work.

I also thought you could write "This is mail is an appeal to prurient interests, return to sender" and try that, since that would be an illegal mailing.
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