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Post Office Change-of-Address Form

Chances are, the last time you moved, you filled out a change-of-address form at the post office, known in bureaucratese as "#3575." Most of us fill them out so we won't miss Rachel's surprise postcard from Bora Bora—or some magazine we forgot to alert in time about the new address.

The U.S. P ost Office also takes the liberty of notifying a few other folks about our comings and goings. Look at the front of Form #3575, and you'll see this Privacy Act Statement: "Filing this form is voluntary, but your mail cannot be forwarded without an order. If filed, your new address will be provided to individuals and companies who request it. This will occur only when the requester is already in possession of your name and old mailing address..." That's better than the previous statement, in which the U.S. Post Office just told you that your new address "may be given to others." Another improvement in the works is that it's going to be more difficult to get new addresses for those under court protection, such as battered women. However, buying and selling will remain a thriving business for both the Post Office and direct mailers. Here's how it works:

The forwarding information on the almost 40 million Americans who fill out these forms each year is rented via the National Change of Address system (NCOA) to some 25 private businesses licensed by the U.S. Postal Service. (At last report those licensees pay $80,000 up front and $56,000 a year for the pleasure—and profit—of being notified that you've changed your address.) Not surprisingly, included among the licensees are some of the largest mailing-list brokers, direct-mail merchants, and credit bureaus in the country—TRW, R.L. Polk, and Donnelley Marketing, for example. These outfits sell those 40 million annual change of address records to other companies ...which is how marketers who have your old address on file know where you've moved.

If your name and address are already floating through the NCOA system via a change of address form, you can ask to be taken out of the NCOA data base. Send your request, including your name and both your old and new addresses to:

National Customer Support Center
NCOA Department
6060 Primacy Parkway, Suite 101
Memphis, TN 38188
800-238-3150

A congressional subcommittee investigating the NCOA system turned up an interesting finding. So it can provide bulkrate mailers with apartment numbers of city dwellers, the Post Office has been conducting an experiment in New York City, trying to create a refined data base by referring to apartment directories and speaking with building managers.

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