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If you submit a change of address to the USPS, they sell that data to marketing companies. One workaround is to submit a 'temporary' address change for 6 months

If you submit a change of address to the USPS, they sell that data to marketing companies. One workaround is to submit a 'temporary' address change for 6 months at a time instead.

dheera 5y ago
I don't submit change of address to USPS for this reason. I hate the USPS with a passion for doing that to people.
- bashinator 5y ago
  Hate the politicians who cut USPS' funding to such an extent that this is necessary.
  - mistrial9 5y ago
    USPS wasted huge money and the Union demands even bigger pensions, while USPS is losing market to commercial carriers at the same time in the open market.. no one is clean in that fight
- cptskippy 5y ago
  The purpose of the function is to update any entity that legitimately has your name/address as to your new address. It's used by Magazine publishers to automatically update your subscription addresses. It's also used by companies you've done business with but might not have updated your address info such as a specialist doctor you visited once or your old insurance company. I personally think that's of more value than stopping junk mailers from sending me personalized junk mail. You're going to get the junk mail either way.
  - dheera 5y ago
    No, screw that. 99% of people who get updated address via USPS are illegitimate. If they think they're doing me a service, they're not. Specialist doctors can just e-mail me. This is 2021. My physical address has changed at least 8 times in the past 2 decades. My e-mail address hasn't changed in that whole time. I don't subscribe to magazines, and even if I did, you'd be sure as hell that I would update my address if I was paying for something.
    - cptskippy 5y ago
      > 99% of people who get updated address via USPS are illegitimate. Is there any evidence to back that up or is that one of those "Feel Facts"? So it's not beneficial to you but many people change their email address with greater frequency than they do their mailing address so your solution wouldn't work either.
      - dheera 5y ago
        In my case it's 100%. I change my address with anyone who needs it. Anyone who doesn't get contacted by me doesn't need to know. It's my personal information and before they try to do me a "service" by giving it away, they should ASK me. What next, give away my address to stalkers who knew where I lived before? Fuck that.
        cptskippy 5y ago
        So no then? > they try to do me a "service" by giving it away, they should ASK me. You realize this is a voluntary service you sign up for? They make it clear the reasons for doing it.
        dheera 5y ago
        I agree it's voluntary, which is why I don't do it. But no, they don't make it clear that they will GIVE my new address to people. It's FAR from clear. They should have a service that does mail forwarding without handing out new address to people.
        cptskippy 5y ago
        It explains exactly what the information is used for at the bottom of the first step in the Privacy Act Statement. They even provide a link to the NCOALink page explaining how the COA DB program works. https://moversguide.usps.com/mgo/move-combined https://moversguide.usps.com/mgo/move-combined
throwawayboise 5y ago
I thought there was a (perhaps non-obvious) opt-out for that? Am I misremembering?

If you submit a change of address to the USPS, they sell that data to marketing companies. One workaround is to submit a 'temporary' address change for 6 months at a time instead.

dheera 5y ago

I don't submit change of address to USPS for this reason. I hate the USPS with a passion for doing that to people.

bashinator 5y ago
Hate the politicians who cut USPS' funding to such an extent that this is necessary.
- mistrial9 5y ago
  USPS wasted huge money and the Union demands even bigger pensions, while USPS is losing market to commercial carriers at the same time in the open market.. no one is clean in that fight
cptskippy 5y ago
The purpose of the function is to update any entity that legitimately has your name/address as to your new address. It's used by Magazine publishers to automatically update your subscription addresses. It's also used by companies you've done business with but might not have updated your address info such as a specialist doctor you visited once or your old insurance company. I personally think that's of more value than stopping junk mailers from sending me personalized junk mail. You're going to get the junk mail either way.
- dheera 5y ago
  No, screw that. 99% of people who get updated address via USPS are illegitimate. If they think they're doing me a service, they're not. Specialist doctors can just e-mail me. This is 2021. My physical address has changed at least 8 times in the past 2 decades. My e-mail address hasn't changed in that whole time. I don't subscribe to magazines, and even if I did, you'd be sure as hell that I would update my address if I was paying for something.
  - cptskippy 5y ago
    > 99% of people who get updated address via USPS are illegitimate. Is there any evidence to back that up or is that one of those "Feel Facts"? So it's not beneficial to you but many people change their email address with greater frequency than they do their mailing address so your solution wouldn't work either.
    - dheera 5y ago
      In my case it's 100%. I change my address with anyone who needs it. Anyone who doesn't get contacted by me doesn't need to know. It's my personal information and before they try to do me a "service" by giving it away, they should ASK me. What next, give away my address to stalkers who knew where I lived before? Fuck that.
      - cptskippy 5y ago
        So no then? > they try to do me a "service" by giving it away, they should ASK me. You realize this is a voluntary service you sign up for? They make it clear the reasons for doing it.
        dheera 5y ago
        I agree it's voluntary, which is why I don't do it. But no, they don't make it clear that they will GIVE my new address to people. It's FAR from clear. They should have a service that does mail forwarding without handing out new address to people.
        cptskippy 5y ago
        It explains exactly what the information is used for at the bottom of the first step in the Privacy Act Statement. They even provide a link to the NCOALink page explaining how the COA DB program works. https://moversguide.usps.com/mgo/move-combined https://moversguide.usps.com/mgo/move-combined

throwawayboise 5y ago

I thought there was a (perhaps non-obvious) opt-out for that? Am I misremembering?