Here is the overall volume by month since I started tracking my direct mail.
What this shows is somewhat alarming:
- In the beginning of my experiment, despite my efforts, the volume of direct mail started going up!
- It took a very long time and an enormous amount of effort before the total direct mail started going down.
- Despite all of my effort, I am not all that much better than when I started, and I can't get the volume of direct mail below a certain volume.
Here are some quick statistics on what I received.
Breakdown by type:
| |
Type
|
%
|
Description
|
| |
Catalogs |
13 |
Catalog retailers |
| |
Charitable |
2 |
Requests from charitable organizations |
| |
Coupons & Ads |
5 |
Supermarket ads, missing child cards, ADVO, etc. |
| |
Credit |
3 |
Credit offers |
| |
Domain Name |
3 |
Offers related to domain name registrations |
| |
Magazine |
5 |
"Free" regional magazines |
| |
Mailer |
39 |
Postcard type mailings |
| |
Mortgage |
17 |
Mortgage refinance offers |
| |
Other |
8 |
Anything else |
| |
Political |
6 |
Politically related |
Breakdown by addressed to:
| |
Destination address
|
% |
| |
To me directly |
79 |
| |
To "current occupant" or "neighbor" (saturation mailing) |
14 |
| |
To an old resident at my address |
7 |
The single most abusive segment of direct mail is the mortgage industry. Making up an astonishing 17 percent of the total direct mail volume (one of every six pieces received), this category proved to be the most difficult segment to effect. Second to mortgage offers were catalogs. Almost every retailer I purchased from online put me on their catalog mailing list, despite in many cases my specifically asking them not to. Many also started sending me catalogs from related retailers. Some retailers told me that whenever I ordered something I was automatically added to their catalog mailing list, despite my asking when I ordered not to be put on their list, and having previously asked as well. However, unlike mortgage brokers, most catalog retailers were very responsive and the number of catalogs over time dropped significantly.
My results show that you can have some effect, given enough time and effort. My results also show that there is no possible way to stop all direct mail. The current legal framework and the way the USPS operates do not allow for this.
One of my goals was to become a HUGE pain in the ass to everyone that sent me direct mail. In this I definitely succeeded. I figured to waste their time since they were wasting mine.
|
