Eileen and Frank Field have special causes that are close to their heart.
So, over the years, they have made donations to various organizations.
But this fall, the Fields felt overwhelmed by the mountain of mail that arrived at their Cuyahoga Falls home daily.
After a two-week vacation, they came home to find a large postal bucket full of mail — most of which was junk or solicitations from organizations they’d never heard of.
“For one thing, my husband has a very hard time saying no to anybody who sends him a hard-luck story,” said Eileen Field. “Everybody you say ‘yes’ to sells your name and then you go to events and they say, ‘Oh, just write your name down.’ You think you’ll be polite and fill it in and there it goes again.
“I have become that nasty old lady that wouldn’t give to anyone but my special charities,” she said.
During the political season, the already huge piles of mail that the Fields receive swelled even more. Last Christmas, they received 100 cards from organizations, Eileen Field estimates.
This fall, the Fields enlisted the help of the Summit County Office of Consumer Affairs to reduce junk mail. The agency is offering a free service to the county’s senior citizens and disabled residents or their caregivers.
The service started in June and has helped a few consumers so far, said Director Cynthia Sich. Although the free service is aimed at seniors and those with disabilities, the advice is available for all consumers.
Sich said charity solicitations are a big problem.
“Let’s say you sent $5 to one of them. If you read the fine print on a lot of these solicitations, they do say they’re going to share your information with counterparts or with other agencies they work with. So what happens is you give to person A and they send the information to affiliates B, C, D and B, C, D can also send your name off to their affiliates. That’s how it starts multiplying,” Sich said.
It’s not just charitable donations that will get you on so-called “sucker lists,” Sich said.
“If you participate in a sweepstakes, a lot of that information will get you onto what they call a ‘mooch list’ or lists that are traded,” she said.
Similarly, consumer product sales or solicitations can also multiply. Shopping catalogs can share lists and when I asked Sich about product warranty cards, she said she wasn’t sure whether manufacturers share lists of warranty customers, but offered a good suggestion.
“Just know that your name is going on a list. If you sent it, the trick to do here is to drop a letter out of your name. For example, if your name is Sandy, to try to know who is selling what names, put Sndy. If you see solicitations are coming in, you can narrow it,” she said.
Sich also suggests that as you go through the junk mail, make sure you are opening the mail, even if you are not interested in the product. You want to make sure there isn’t a counterfeit check or something that you might want to shred.
Also, inside many mail catalogs is an order form, often with your account number or other information that would be good to shred, Sich said.
The Fields noticed that the charities contacted by the consumer office have stopped sending mailings, but still the volume is high.
Sich suggested if the Fields want to continue donations to certain causes, they should write “do not sell or share my name or address with others” on the donation slip.
Here are tips from Sich’s office:
1Avoid contests that require you to fill out an entry form. These are primarily used to get names and addresses to sell as leads for other companies or charities.
2Whenever you sign up for a new service, subscribe to a magazine, fill out warranty information, participate in discount programs, order over the telephone, by mail or the Internet or make a donation, write on the invoice asking the receiver not to sell or share your name and address.
3Complete “opt out” requests with your insurance company, bank and credit cards that you deal with regularly. Information is on your statements. If not, contact them and ask them not to share your name and address.
4To stop credit and insurance offers based on your credit reports, you can “opt out” by going online to the site www.optoutprescreen.com or calling 888-567-8688. This is the official Consumer Credit Reporting Industry Website to accept and process those pre-approved credit-card offers. You can request your name to be removed for five years or permanently. (Note: You do need to share your Social Security number so the credit bureaus can block the correct credit report.)
5Register with the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), which represents nearly 3,600 organizations, including most of the leaders in the direct marketing community. This gives you the power to manage offers such as credit, catalogs and magazines. To stop unwanted mail for three years, you can visit www.dmachoice.org and opt-out for free or you can mail in your request by sending in a check (no cash) for $1 payable to DMA to the Direct Marketing Association, P.O. Box 643, Carmel, N.Y. 10512.
To remove the names of deceased individuals from marketing lists, there is also a Deceased Do Not Contact List and you can sign up at that same website.
6Avoid sending in product warranty cards. If you do, contact the National Demographics & Lifestyles in writing to be removed from lists generated from product warranty cards at: National Demographics, List Order Dept., 1621 18th St. #300, Denver, CO 80202.
7It might take up to 12 weeks before you see a reduction in junk mail. If you still find items coming, contact the company directly and ask them to add you to their do not contact list.
The free service for Summit County consumers starts with collecting your mail for one month. The office will personally write to each organization or business and ask them to take you off their lists. The office will also assist in signing you up for the various lists.
You can contact the office at 330-643-2879 or go online to www.co.summit.oh.us/consumeraffairs .
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/blinfisher and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty
