Stop Junk Mail Forever

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A solution might be the idea of "solidwaste—management rates" for junk mail, which were first proposed by Richard Bossert, of New York's Consumer Protection Board (R. Kessel, Chair). These rates would cover the full costs of delivery and disposal—with enough extra tossed in to pay for environmental damage.

We believe that caring, direct mailers who use a more carefully focused marketing strategy, rather than the current scatter-shot approach, can create more jobs, satisfy more customers, and earn more ...while protecting the planet.

Name Game

If you've ever bought anything through the mail—a magazine, a pair of slippers, a ream of paper for the office, or a packet of seeds—chances are the company that you patronized increased its profits by renting, selling, or trading your name, as well as other pertinent, personal information about you.

Here's how it works: Say you buy something from a mail-order firm we'll call Trinkets for Tots, whose catalog features items to keep preschoolers amused. Trinkets for Tots sends you what you ordered and adds your name to its customer list. Through a member of the vast listbrokering industry, your name is rented for what's called, "a one-time use," to other—usually related, but not directly competitive companies (such as mailorder suppliers of kids' clothes).

And if you've ever given money to a cause or charity ...watch out! For example, people who've donated to conservative causes wind up in "politically conservative direct-mail donors" files. Broader based givers can be targeted through "Donoreach," which offers some 12 million names "that can be selected by type of cause and even multidonors to the same or different causes." The 2.2 million contributors to the Muscular Dystrophy Association and its annual telethon are sold on lists "enhanced with exact age, income, and 26 mail-response—interest categories to help you target your best prospects," according to Donoreach.

No luck? maybe it's time for an "improved species of new donors"—the American Museum of Natural History's list—"they'll contribute to anything...," the ad says.

The more targeted the list of names, the higher the price it commands. For example, R.L. Polk, a giant in the listbrokering field, charges $40 per thousand for its "Household List" (79 million names). But Polk's more specific "New Mover List" goes for $130 per thousand, based on the assumption that they are hot prospects for businesses like insurance brokers, restaurants, and furniture stores. Once a mailing-list broker gets your name, it can be sold to literally hundreds of organizations.

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