Opt-Out of Marketing and Junk Mail Lists: The Direct Marketing Association Mail Preference Service
In addition to the pre-screened credit and insurance offers resulting from the lists compiled and sold by the credit bureaus, thousands of other companies regularly sell their customer lists to other companies. These companies in turn use these purchased lists to market their own products and services, and the lists are frequently sold and resold many times. Scam artists also purchase these mailing lists and then use them to communicate their scams and bogus offerings to potential victims, whether through email or normal mail. With thousands of these lists, they can generate a significant portion of your "junk mail", frequently prompting you to ask "How did I get on that list?"
In some cases, you may inadvertently place yourself on marketing lists. Many companies use contests, special offers, and giveaway promotions that require entry or registration. Buried in the fine print of these entry forms is often a notice indicating that, by registering for the offer, you consent to receive marketing and other promotional information from the organization and its partners.
The Direct Marketing Association
The Direct Marketing Association is a trade organization that governs member companies that use direct mail, email, and telephone marketing methods. The D.M.A. offers consumers three services to reduce unwanted personal (not business) solicitations by its member companies via mail, telephone, and e-mail:
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MPS (Mail Preference Service)
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TPS (Telephone Preference Service)
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E-MPS (E-Mail Preference Service)
In addition to D.M.A. member companies, which must "scrub" their marketing lists against these consumer preference lists, the D.M.A. also makes these preference lists available to subscriber companies that are not members of the D.M.A. so that they can scrub their own lists.
Note: It is important to understand that "opting out" of these official lists will not affect the volume of solicitations sent by companies who do not regularly scrub their marketing lists against these opt-out lists.
D.M.A. Mail Preference Service (MPS)
The Direct Marketing Association's "Do Not Mail" file is updated monthly and communicated to D.M.A. member and non-member subscriber companies four times per year - in January, April, July, and October, so it may take some time before you begin to see a noticeable reduction in the volume of solicitations that you receive.
Registration with the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service (MPS) is free by mail. The Direct Marketing Association's mailing address for removal requests from direct mail marketing lists is:
Mail Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
PO Box 643
Carmel, New York 10512
Note: A Request for Exclusion letter for the D.M.A. Mail Preference Service is included in the FRAUDFacts Download Library.
Registration may also be completed online through the DMA website at: www.dmachoice.org
There is a $5 charge for online registration.
FRAUDFacts Tip: Registration with the D.M.A. Mail Preference Service (MPS) will not affect solicitations sent by mail that are addressed to a business, or those that are generically addressed to "Postal Patron" or "Resident". Further, it is important to remember that these lists are completely separate from the pre-approved or pre-screened offer lists used by credit issuers and insurers.
©Copyright 2008 by Michael Barnett. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use, copying, or distribution without permission is prohibited.