LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — Mail theft, delayed mail and missing mail has been a major problem for postal customers in the past year, with many people reporting they sometimes don't get mail for several days.
But one Indiana family has the opposite problem: they get too much mail, and are at wit's end trying to stop it.
Their mail carrier has been getting a workout, bringing stacks of letters to one older woman at her Lawrenceburg home, most of them requests from money.
Daughter Monte Beard doesn't know what to do.
Her senior mom receives dozens of requests for money every week.
"Yesterday she got a whole stack of letters," she said. "And this box is filled with a month or two of mailings."
The mail never lets up, like the invitations to Hogwart's School that showered young Harry Potter every day.
"They come every day," she said. "There is not a day she doesn't get some kind of mail like that."
Most of the letters are from legitimate charities.
But Beard said her mom has a tough time saying no to requests for donations.
"It tugs at hear heart, and she has a big heart," she said.
Beard suspects every time her mother donates, her address gets shared with other groups.
She said she could probably write to all the organizations and ask them to remove her mom off their mailing list, but she says that would take weeks of work and probably several hundred dollars in postage.
How you can stop unwanted mail
So what can you do if you, or a parent, is inundated with junk mail and charitable solicitations?
The Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance says:
- When donating, tell charities not to share your name.
- Register with DMAChoice.org, the direct marketing association. Signing up can stop most junk mail.
- Ask your mom or dad to have their mail forwarded to your address, just like when you go away on vacation.
- If it is an older parent, consider a "durable power of attorney" which lets you get their mail and pay their bills.
Monte Beard said she needs a solution.
"We are willing to do about anything to get it to stop," she said.
Finally,the U.S. Postal Service says you can refuse any mail and send it back, as long as you don't open it.
Read more of the USPS's suggestions here.
Read about how to register at DMA Choice to stop most junk mail here. (Note that they require a $2 credit card payment, from a card linked to your address, which is to prevent teenagers and criminals from simply stopping your mail).
That way you can hopefully stop most of your unwanted mail, and you don't waste your money.
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