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junk-mail
junk-mail
Thank You For [Not] Being A Chase Customer, Here Is Your Junk Mail
By Laura Northrup on November 9, 2011 9:00 AM
40 Comments
Jonathan received a letter from Chase thanking him for being a customers, and asking him to send it back in order to opt out of receiving promotional mailings. Which is interesting, because Jonathan not only isn't a Chase customer, he doesn't live at that particular address full-time or normally receive mail there. Concerned about identity theft, he learned that he wasn't the only non-customer being thanked for patronizing Chase. But they won't let him get off their mailing list, either. More »
Proponent Of Costing Banks More Money By Mailing Back Weighted Business Reply Envelopes Defends His Cause
By Ben Popken on November 4, 2011 5:00 PM
131 Comments
Earlier this week I wrote about a viral video that promised you could "Keep Wall Street Occupied" by sending back credit card business reply envelopes stuffed with anti-corporate messages and wooden shims. The video said this would increase mailing costs for the banks and force them to engage in a dialogue with their customers. Responding to my review where I called this idea "terrible," the video's maker sent me a note defending his campaign. More »
Sending Back Protest Messages In Pre-Paid Credit Card Envelopes Isn't Going To Occupy Wall Street One Bit
By Ben Popken on November 2, 2011 10:00 AM
125 Comments
A YouTube video has racked up over 300,000 hits promoting the idea that you can really mess with the banks by sending back activist messages in those pre-paid response envelopes that come with the credit card junk mail. The theory is that if enough people do it, it will force people in the bank mailrooms to have a meeting about all these Occupy Wall Street slogans showing up in their mail, and making banks engage in a dialogue with their customers, revolutionizing how they operate to a way that's more responsive to the common good. This is a terrible idea and a waste of time. More »
Chase Sends Letter To Non-Customers To Tell Them They Have To Opt Out Of Receiving More Unwanted Mail
By Chris Morran on November 1, 2011 12:15 PM
69 Comments
It's one thing to receive unwanted mail from a bank you don't patronize. It's another to receive a letter from that bank telling you that if you don't reply to the letter, you're opening the floodgates to even more unsolicited shredder-fodder. More »
Tweet Gets Citi To Stop Junk Mail Deluge
By Ben Popken on September 27, 2011 10:00 AM
23 Comments
Dan and his wife were getting hit by two pieces of junk mail from Citi almost every day. One to him, and one to his wife. He couldn't figure out how to tell Citi to stop, until he remembered the online service with the little blue bird that goes "Tweet, tweet." More »
Caught In A Never-Ending Torrent Of Political Spam
By Laura Northrup on August 18, 2011 9:30 AM
124 Comments
Somehow, a political group Jeff happens to disagree with got hold of his e-mail address, and started sending him junk mail. Then another got his address. And another. He's not sure how he got on the lists, but he wants right-wing groups to stop sending him stuff and sharing his e-mail address with each other. How? More »
Capital One Sends You Over 20 Credit Card Offers In 3 Months
By Ben Popken on July 5, 2011 4:00 PM
88 Comments
One after another, they keep popping up at his door. Brad didn't ask for them and doesn't know why they're there. Over 20 have showed up in the past three months. Sometimes three of the little envelopes of annoyance appear a week. They're credit card offers from Capital One, who seem keenly desperate to acquire Brad. Each of them gets sneakier and sneakier with fewer identifying marks on the outside until they almost look like regular mail from a real person. However, "What's really been accomplished," writes Brad, "is I now have a strong opinion about a brand that I never previously cared about either way." More »
(geognerd)
AT&T Annoys With Fake "Your Receipt Enclosed" Mailer
By Ben Popken on June 15, 2011 5:00 PM
56 Comments
Reader Sean got an odd notice from AT&T. It had "Receipt Enclosed" written on the outside of the envelope. He thought that was strange as he hadn't used AT&T for a few years. Recently someone had tried to charge some unauthorized items on his credit card so he was worried that someone had bought AT&T service using his info. See, that's how they getcha! By preying on that nagging doubt that maybe, just maybe, the letter is for real. More »
If You Get This Green Postcard, Don't Call The Number
By Ben Popken on June 14, 2011 4:00 PM
57 Comments
Reader Michael reports he got a funny little green postcard in the mail telling him he had a package waiting for him. It said that he should call this toll-free number to schedule a pickup. Suspicious, he Googled around and it turns out that if you call the number they try to pitch you on vacation rentals. The "package" is simply a packet of brochures pimping their services More »
(orion_ax)
Stop Junk Mail For Someone Who Is Dead
By Ben Popken on May 3, 2011 11:00 AM
40 Comments
In this world where even dogs and toddlers can be pre-approved for credit cards, it's important to register the names of loved ones who have passed on in order to get junk mail in their name to stop arriving. The Direct Marketer's Association maintains a free "Deceased Do Not Contact List" that friends, family members and caregivers can used to stop the name of someone who has passed on from being passed around by junk mailers. More »
Please Stop Sending My 16-Year-Old Daughter Credit Card Solicitations
By Laura Northrup on March 22, 2011 1:00 PM
77 Comments
Theoretically, a 16-year-old shouldn't be on the mailing list for unsolicited credit card offers. Neither should a 13-year-old. Yet companies just can't stop sending solicitations to J's teenage daughter—even after J. specifically opted her out of the offers. Permanently. Or so the family thought. Now they've started up again, and J. isn't sure how to make them stop. More »
(Dustin)
Chase Does Its Part To Keep Postal Service In Business
By Phil Villarreal on January 20, 2011 12:30 PM
45 Comments
Dustin says Chase usually checks in with a couple credit card solicitation mailings a week, but decided to step up its game in the past couple days, cramming his mailbox with seven letters advertising zero percent balance transfers. More »
Guess Which Charter Envelope Has Important Billing Information?
By Chris Walters on September 29, 2010 12:30 PM
61 Comments
Here's an excellent example of how a company will put more effort into getting you to notice its junk mail than any important account related information. David says this happens to him all the time, and it's usually a serious notice (as in "impending disconnection") thanks to a recurring billing error. More »
Chipotle Is Hungry For More Junk Email
By Phil Villarreal on July 20, 2010 1:30 PM
21 Comments
Last month Chipotle put out a call for customers to forward 500,000 junk email messages to nojunk@chipotlejunk.com, pledging to donate $50,000 to charity in return. Now the maker of foil-wrapped burritos has upped the ante, asking for another half million male enhancement and fake dating site queries in order to hike up its donation to $100,000. More »
You Want Off Our Mailing List? Wait 3 Or 4 Months
By Phil Villarreal on July 16, 2010 1:30 PM
61 Comments
Noel discovered what the "Beyond" in Bed Bath & Beyond stands for — the point past reason it intends to stretch his patience when he requests to be taken off its junk mail list. More »
How Can I Free Myself Of The Crate & Barrel Catalog Scourge?
By Laura Northrup on July 15, 2010 8:00 AM
51 Comments
Tor has a simple request. He wants companies to stop wasting paper and sending him printed catalogs. He would also appreciate it if companies would stop selling his name ad address to each other in order to send him even more catalogs. This is a tall order—well, at least it is for Crate & Barrel. More »
Extended Warranty Junk Mail Designed To Look Like DMV Letter
By Ben Popken on June 29, 2010 11:00 AM
45 Comments
The letter was from "Motor Vehicle Services." It warned Serra that his car's manufacturers warranty is expiring. It accurately listed the monthly payment he was making on his car, and the number of payments he had made. It was even written in that typewriter font beloved by mechanics and bureaucracies. But it wasn't from the Department of Motor Vehicles, it was a piece of extended warranty junk mail gussied up to look official. Here's the letter: More »
(jm3)
Thanks For Letting The World Know I Bought Sex Toys, Adam & Eve
By Laura Northrup on May 6, 2010 11:00 AM
158 Comments
G. writes that she placed an order from Adam & Eve, a venerable seller of adult merchandise. Discretion was crucial, since G. has packages sent to her at work instead of her home mailbox. Fortunately, this company ships packages in unmarked boxes. They do not, however, practice the same discretion with their promotional mailings, which caught G. by surprise. More »
Terminix Will Never Stop Sending Me Junk Mail
By Laura Northrup on April 3, 2010 9:00 AM
46 Comments
David wants to know why Terminix won't stop sending him mail. He just wants to them to leave him alone. The company received his requests to stop sending mail...and instead started sending junk to him and to his imaginary wife. This was not helpful. More »
Jewelry Store Ruins Engagement Surprise With Pointless Junk Mail
By Laura Northrup on March 24, 2010 12:10 PM
156 Comments
How important is the element of surprise? Do you want to be surprised when you receive a gift? When people are about to throw a surprise party for you? What about when you accidentally learn that your boyfriend is about to propose...thanks to a stray piece of junk mail? More »
