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Mom passed away unexpectedly in March, Dad is with us now. I am surprised at the amount of junk mail arriving daily in moms name. Some may be due to the change of address. There is an opt out phone # but what else other than contacting credit bureau.

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Well, this is weird, the past couple of weeks I've been receiving congratulation and welcome to the neighborhood type mail for being a new homeowner.... say what?.... these stores are a bit behind on their mailings because I've been in my house for almost 25 years ;)
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there is a feature in dma for caretakers of elderly parents. We used it to control the overwhelming junk mail and it has worked so well. The main thing, I think, is that Grandma is not ordering more stuff through the mail; so her name is not continually being re-added to mailing lists. When we started the process about four months ago, there was close to a bushel of junk mail a week; now there is very little other than her magazine subscriptions and personal mail.
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1tired, you will like this...I used to take the Omaha Steaks mailings to my mom, who died of diabetes/obesity issues that they certainly did not help with, and make a little ceremony of tearing them up into little bitty bits before recycling them. She had put me on their mailing list too, so I had double the fun. It took about 3 years for them to give up on us. I sent all the notices possible to my dad's workplace, but there is apparently one part of the system that has still not communicated with all the other parts and I'm expecting at least one more official notice of benefits to come in. Everything else has trickled off. I did not find it all that emotionally upsetting and I had to tell my son who was afraid it was bothering me NOT to just dump it, occasionally something important might come through.
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I suggested earlier about mixing up the information and returning it to the wrong business in their prepaid envelopes, my friend did something different with the prepaid envelopes he returned it with information about his business and a short letter expressing his desire not to receive any more of their information and he in return would not send them information about his business so far it has worked in most of the situations, he always made sure he added their information to the prepaid envelope with a short note on it to.
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Tonight the phone rang. They asked for Betty. I said "She does not live here. That is my MIL." He said great. Perhaps you can help me. Then, he tried to collect for the police benevolent society.

Geez. This never was my MIL's number.
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Something I tried was when I get the junk mail hold on to the prepaid envelope and then mix up the information and return it to the wrong place imagine business A getting business D"s junk mail, something else you can try is return the junk mail in their envelope with a religious tract in it.
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As I posted earlier if you have access to a computer - I am now up to 19 unwanted mail & catalogs stopped via PaperKarma. And after 4 800 service calls in a row at 9 am ( I get anywhere from 8-15 of these a day- by the way DO NOT ever pick up the phone if you get these, no one will answer & immediately your phone number & information that you are home will be sent to 1000's of companies) so today I found Nomorobo - now you have to have a digital phone to use this company ( we have comcast & our home phone is part of the package) with a few clicks all those 800 nobody calls are sent to Nomorobo phone number - so far so good, it's been 2 hours & no 800 calls! Goodness I hope this works.
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Send it back. Some soliciting offers have prepaid envelops. Sent it back with the original papers.... you might stick few other junk mail pieces there too. It works.
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One of my absolute favorites mail was sent from the Marlboro company repeatedly and often to a family member who died of a smoking related illness. Good Job!
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Nothing works to stop it. We still occasionally get mail for my husband's uncle who died nearly 42 years ago.
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Debi1306, it's my understand that only works if the letter you are returning was sent *First Class Mail*. Otherwise, any REFUSED mail the post office gets will just toss out. Also with today's mail, you need to blank out the long bar code under your address, otherwise it will come back to you.
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If you write "refused" on the mail and send it back, the company sending it has to pay for the return postage. It will stop !
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OK, so the website notes on both posts were removed GAH! I suggest googleing Direct mail Marketing - Deceased mail to get the website. If you cannot find it, PM me and I will give it to you. They worked wonders for us! It's free!
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WildHorses, does DMA stop junk mail from charities, including those which purchase mailing lists from other charities? That's the primary source of the junk mail. It just never stops, and some of the so-called charities are the scam artist ones.

When I order catalogues or make mail-order purchases, I use variations of my name so if I get junk mail under those names I know who's selling mailing lists. Then I tell them I don't appreciate being a marketable commodity and won't do business with them again. It's not a foolproof way of reducing junk mail though.

In the meantime, it gets recycled and I get a whopping $.025 per pound for all that junk mail.
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Prior to my father passing away in 2011, I registered myself & both my parents online:
www.DMAchoice.org

It made a huge difference! If you care about the environment, don't want the constant sad reminders of your loved one's passing, or are worried that your aging parents will give money to every solicitation (as my father was doing), then simply register online & get the junk mail out of your life!

If I remember correctly, DMA will halt the junk mail for 5 years, then you just register again. We caregivers have so much on our plates, we don't need one more item to juggle. That's why my motto is: "Simplify"
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Pam, your response is absolutely hilarious! It made my day!

I've tried just about everything legal, but it still keeps coming. Putting "Unwanted junk mail; please return to sender at sender's expense" does not work. I do fill the SASEs with junk mail and send them back with notations that the mail is unwanted but it still keeps coming. If I can find info on the executive staff salary, I add that -querying why they would be harrassing senior citizens when their execs make over 6 figure incomes.

I call, and sometimes that does work.

What I'm doing now is invoking the Michigan anti-stalking and no contact statute, advising that if they contact us 2 more times after my cease and desist notice, I can file for injunctive relief and possibly get a PPO. Realistically, no judge would likely consider my request, but at least I feel good letting them know there is legal action.

My sister died 11 years ago and the hospital where she had chemo is still soliciting her.

I can only suggest notifying the post office, and then her mail would be stopped. However, we first did that when my mother died and they stopped my father's mail as well! Can't win for losing.
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Has anyone ever attempted any of these actions AS IF the recipient were deceased, even though they are only progressing through the stages of dementia? I have seriously considered returning much of this mail, marked DECEASED, but have never really thought through or investigated the possible ramifications.

I have enough trouble keeping up with my own junk mail (and NON-junk mail, for that matter). Mom's is out of control. But it goes hand in hand with the phone... If I don't catch the call, she is promising some fool solicitor money they will never see - but which results in another barrel full of junk mail as they try to collect (and probably add her to a dozen other mail lists). Oy vey. [Please don't suggest turning off the phone here. In addition to other impractical reaons, we have a medical alert system that is tied into the phone line - despite the fact that Mom DOESN'T/WILL NEVER use the alert system. Cancelling that is on the list of things that never get done...] I do try to trash as much of it (the junk mail) as possible as soon as it arrives, but often have to just pull it out and hide it from her, then deal with it later. (So it still piles up and becomes clutter.) Heavy sigh.
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Ask the Post Office to stop any unwanted mail. Check, they have request forms for that.
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i recently found paperkarma on line, you just take a picture of the unwanted mail, submit, and it stops that mail. I have entered around 15 pieces so far and they could eliminate all but 1 as of now. I can tell the difference already.
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I use the Direct Marketing Association opt-out.... been using them for decades [one has to update every 5 years], never had any issues with the service. They also have an opt-out for junk e-mails.

https://www.dmachoice.org/
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Anais43: I just got a security warning from that link..
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My father passed away 4 years ago and my mother moved 3 years ago and she still gets mail for him about once a week. It's always a sad reminder that he is gone. I wish it would stop.
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I would suggest you open the envelopes first. . .it could be the $1,000,000 check they were waiting for! Otherwise, keep the shredder handy. . .
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These people work wonders, have used the service and it takes a while but it DOES work. Also contact your county voter registration office and report the person decease, they generate a HUGE amount of junk mail from selling the list of voters.
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I would try marking the envelopes refused, return to sender, recipient deceased, may work. I would certainly try it. I imagine there is nothing advertisers hate more than having to pay additional postage for their own junk mail being returned to them.
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Probably the easiest answer is already given have a bonfire or shred and use for compost. We have had junk mail come to the house "times 7" they had the first name right but spelled the last name wrong and this was all on the same day. I feel sorry for the poor postman if they did this several times in the same neighborhood.
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Pam, I love your answer! And so true!

The amount of junk mail my father was receiving was unbelievable. And before we moved him from his house, we were concerned he might try to send money to every solicitor. He let mail pile up everywhere! (Beginning stage of dementia).

In trying to at least curb the amount he received, I took the time to send back the reply envelopes with a message I had typed out and printed that said that (insert father's name) could no longer contribute to their cause. Include the street address too. Legit businesses will honor the request. It helped some, but it takes a long time! I also contacted the Direct Mail organization.

In addition to anais43's site, there's also info here: http://www.ag.nd.gov/brochures/FactSheet/JunkMail.pdf.

If all else fails, save the junk mail for awhile, invite the neighbors, and have a bonfire or shred and compost for your garden. (lol)

Good luck!
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I just googled this question and found a website that will help you with this:
Hopefully this will help.
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You can't. When the mail arrives, go through it standing by the bin and drop it in as you go. It's the closest I've managed to get to holding up my palm and saying "talk to the hand coz the face ain't list'nin'."
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My dad's former bank still sends him offers five years after he died. So Pam is right - stopping junk mail while someone is still at the same address is virtually impossible.
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