apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I had a friend who did something similar, but using his middle initial. Every time he subscribed to something, or ordered something from somewhere, he used a different middle initial and he was able to track the source of his junk mail.

this is a brilliant idea! Once when my mom subscribed me to a magazine using my first two initials and last name-as D.R. "smith"; I suddenly started getting weird junk mail addressed to "Dr." or "Doctor" smith...

clever.

but once you realize where it's coming from is there a way to contact the source and let them know not to send any more junk mail?

That's hystericall funny and brilliant.

Domino frustrates me to no end. it never shows up and then they randomly reimburse my credit card for the subscription and then I have to call and they recharge the wrong amount and on and on. I am starting to take it personally...

Art - I worked for a not-for profit for a number of years, and it was standard practice to "trade" lists with other not-for-profits (wouldn't someone who has a membership to the aquarium want to receive notices about upcoming shows at the contemporary art museum?). This is how most junk mail is created; either through a trade or sale of patron/customer lists, or the parent company will distribute the info among all of its affiliates.

However, the more savvy patrons would do one of two things: the first time they contacted any one of these organizations, they would asked to be put on the "do not sell" list (in other words, the organization could not give the patron’s info to anyone for any reason) or, once they tracked the junk back to the source, would call and ask us to do what they should have done on the first day - ask to be placed on the "do not sell" list. It's very easy for companies to do this, as most often all they have to do is click a box on your account page.

It may take a few weeks for the junk to trickle down to a stop, but it is a fairly effective operation.

Excellent!

This is a great idea!

But what I'm really curious to know is:

Where can you subscribe to get Living Etc in North America??!! I thought it was only a UK subscription, and that I'd be subject to overpriced, late book chain copies forever!?!

Thanks!

We do something similar in that when we sign up, we use the name of the magazine/organization/whatever as our first name... so we would subscribe to Domino as "Domino Lastname."

We tried the initial thing but this makes it MUCH easier to see who's selling lists to whom.

ok... so who sells your information most? and to whom?

To control catalogs you can go to www.catalogchoice.org and enter the company name; they do the rest and it's free. Doesn't cover junk mail other than catalogs but that's a lot of paper.

When I started paying closer attention to the ones I'd routinely get and toss, I realized most were from companies I bought one thing from and probably never would again.

My friend Tom has done this for 20 years or more and by now has a crazy convoluted system of pen names for his mail.

I don't get much junk mail, but I am getting tired of the fake fancy invites from Donald Trump for some sort of financial seminar. I get them every other month or so.

I love this idea and am going to have to try it!

Catalogue Choice is a great idea but a limited success - most vendors just ignore the request, some reject it outright. I listed the 99 catalogues I get, with limited success.

I'd love to know how I ended up on Lane Bryant's list - I'm a size 8!

Remember: if you're a someone's customer, they have the legal right to call you, send you stuff, whatever. And "customer" means of the conglomerate, not just the individual company.

Taureg - along the lines of Lane Bryant, someone out there thinks I'm a senior citizen (I'm in my 30's). I get stuff from the AARP all the time. :)

genius!

@purplemonster - Brilliant. I don't have to remember what title I used. Taking this one step further I may combine your idea with the different titles. I would love to be called Ambassador West Elm.

@MeWindow - thanks. It's actually kind of interesting to see where the lists are coming from. I love the title thing... I may have to incorporate that as well.

@closertotheocean - Lately it seems that Coke is spreading our names far and wide. I always uncheck the "share your name with our partners" but we redeemed Coke points for a magazine subscription. So perhaps since that magazine was from a giant publisher, now we get bombarded with all the rest of their catalog.

Just an FYI, since many places don't require confirmation before a sign-up, other people could be adding you to the Lane Bryant or AARP or Visit West Virginia lists as a joke/torment. Not that I have ever ever done that before at all.

I've noticed that 95% of my junk mail comes addressed to my maiden name which I haven't used in 9 years, and at least a dozen moves (through various cities, continents, apartments) ago. That Mac Warehouse catalog is working REALLY hard to hunt me down.

Now I mostly only get tons of those 20% off Bed Bath & Beyond coupons, which I welcome with open arms.

I don't get a lot of junk mail surprisingly. Most of it is credit card offers, which I ignore. My mother gets a little more because she signs up for stuff more than I do. She gets mostly coupons and promotional things though. We don't have a problem with magazines. We subscribe to Domino but haven't been bombarded with any unwanted magazines, thankfully. Now I'm going to avoid signing up for anything more than ever and tell my mom to do the same.

that's a great idea to track where your junk mail comes from. a friend of mine sent me this link to help stop my junk mail and i subscribed. it works pretty well, but if you buy just one thing from any company just one time then it negates the attempt, but in case anyone is interested:
http://www.stopthejunkmail.com/index.cfm

LilyC - chances are your pharmacy/drug store is giving out your info. In my 20s I was diagnosed with a condition that is common in senior citizens. After my prescription was filled, I was contacted by AARP, life insurance companies, etc. I also received baby-related junk mail when I took prenatal vitamins and a "follow-up" phone call when I bought a box of hair color with my credit card. I tried most of the major NYC pharmacies and only Walgreens hasn't sold my info (at least not that I'm aware of).

I think the senior citizen stuff comes from, at least in my case, having been cosigned with my father. It doesn't help that he signs up for just about anything and gets any subscriptions that are offered cheaply. He'll fill out forms for contests without reservation as well. The senior stuff, AARP, Mutual of Omaha, and a couple phony scam contests is most of what I get.

I contacted AARP several times and they ask you to confirm your information, which always sets me off. They're just taking it down again, or am I paranoid? They look me up in the system but claim it will take 6-8 weeks to remove my file. I got the run-around a couple years ago, and they'd tell me to call some other office directly, and one of them gave me a phony number to call, it was the phone number of the do not call registry (which I looked online and cannot even confirm there is such an office you could call).

Flyers and catalogs, not so many. VAL-PAK. The last time I got one from them, I wrote "Send back to Val-pak" on it. We don't have a bin for junk mail in the lobby. The United States Postal Service sends all kinds of junk mail, as if I'm unaware of the services they have, such as that they sell stamps. The carrier will re-deliver all mail left upon the mailboxes.

OTHER POINT: I used to work at a non-profit theater also, and it was impossible to get your name removed from the half-assed database. I don't know that we shared our list though, but you could feel some sort of resentment from management for the people who refused to give us their info. It was like just a big waste they only came to one show and we can't add or double/triple them to our massively f'ed up database, or telefund them, or telemarket them (illegally also, I suppose - there was no computerized way to eliminate people who are registered at www.donotcall.gov). I also find businesses that use Quickbooks to be sort of obnoxious about capturing all your information. Marketers just don't care how you feel about junk mail. They want to get in your house like a fleet of insects.

Tambam - you can subscribe on the livingetc website - it s $108 for 12 issues.

I want to know how to get a subscription to Living Etc and Real Living Australia in the US (without having to pay an arm and a leg). Does anyone know how?

Just one last follow up to K T G's point about telemarketing: not-for-profits, if I remember correctly, do not come under the same rules as for-profit companies (Policeman's Fund solicitations versus Long-Distance Carriers), so they are not required to stick to the do-not-call list. However, I can say that at my theatre we worked very hard to keep people off the list who did not want to be there. Why p*@s off people that you want to spend money at your business? If they need info about your program, they know how to get it!

STYLeyes - Livingetc at $108 is less than their usual US subscription rate of $150. $108 is $9/issue which is about what I pay at Borders/Barnes&Noble etc. I don't think you can find it cheaper! If you can I'd love to know too.

Try www.41pounds.org They contact dozens of marketing companies, and catalogs you choose, to take your name off marketing lists for 5 years. And they guarantee their service. Worked for me!!