Mail guides
Family milestones
Change advertising after a life event while protecting personal boundaries.
Plan advertising changes when an adult child moves out
The adult child decides which senders get their new address and which advertising to stop. A parent should not change their preferences or accounts without their permission. You can handle mail addressed to you yourself.
Check postal choices before creating a baby registry
Before you finish creating a baby registry, look for a postal marketing choice and a partner-sharing choice. These may be separate from the setting that controls who can see your registry. If the signup pages do not show them, ask the retailer whether those options exist and write down its answer.
Reduce duplicate catalogs in a blended household
Treat each name line as a possible customer record. Decide keep or stop for each record, not for each sender. If one catalog arrives three times, the sender may hold three records, so ask it which ones match. Each adult marks only their own rows in the table.
Reduce camp brochures after choosing a program
Ask the camps you did not choose to stop sending brochures. Ask the camp you chose to stop only next-season sales mail. Registration, health and safety messages from that camp should keep coming, so name the kind of mail you want to end.
Reduce age-based children’s product advertising
If baby-product catalogs keep arriving after your child has outgrown them, ask the retailer to stop that category and name any categories you still want. Say that the request covers promotions only, so your purchase and return records are not part of it.
Change an advertising salutation after a divorce
Ask the sender to change the name on its promotional mailing record and stop using the joint salutation. Say that the request covers only advertising mail. Name changes with a bank, employer or government agency go through their own channels, so this request does not need to mention them.
Stop promotional mail after ordering family photos
Ask the company that mailed the offer to stop printed promotions. In the same message, say that your completed order, gallery and download access should stay unchanged. Separating the two keeps the vendor from treating your request as a reason to close anything.
Set paper preferences for a membership received as a gift
You can ask the organization about paper mail without touching the membership. Ask about fundraising appeals, the magazine and membership status as three separate questions. That way, a request to cut appeals is not mistaken for a request to cancel the gift.
Review paper offers after adopting a pet
Start with a keep list. Veterinary, microchip and license notices go on it. Pet-store and supply promotions do not, and you can ask each of those sellers directly to stop printed offers.
Reduce retailer promotions after a school fundraiser
For an unwanted retailer catalog that arrives after a school fundraiser, contact the vendor named on the piece. The timing does not prove the fundraiser supplied your address. Keep pickup reminders, receipts and delivery notices with the order, and ask about the vendor's optional catalogs and sales postcards separately.
Review joint marketing records after a separation
Start with the catalogs addressed to both of you. Ask each sender whether it can give you a separate advertising preference or remove your name from the joint record. You can decide only for your own name. The other adult sets their own preferences, even when both names share one label.
Close postal promotions after a wedding registry
A notice that your registry is complete does not tell you whether catalogs will keep coming. Newlywed catalogs and sale cards are marketing, so they need their own request to the retailer that sent them. Write to that sender, ask it to stop mailed promotions, and say plainly that you want to keep order and return records.