Mail guides
Helping another adult
Plan mail preferences with the person who receives the mail.
Review catalogs after a move to assisted living
Ask the resident which catalogs they still read, keep those, and ask the other senders to stop. Address updates for insurers, doctors and banks go on a separate list. A request to a catalog company does not change where a bill goes.
Set a caregiver check before recycling unfamiliar mail
Sort mail into three piles before anything goes in the recycling bin: known advertising, recipient review, and urgent verification. If you cannot tell what a piece is, put it in the second or third pile.
Check the ANA caretaker list for a dependent in your care
ANA’s Do Not Contact List for Caretakers is a separate registration for people in your care. Its official page says the person’s name, address and email are placed on its mail and email opt-out lists permanently. Read that combined scope with the recipient before choosing it; it is broader than asking one catalog sender to stop.
Hand back marketing preferences when care arrangements change
When a helper steps back, give the recipient a handoff page. It should list which advertising requests are still open and where replies should now go. The recipient's own accounts do not need to change for the helper to leave.
Agree on what a helper may do with advertising mail
Agree on the specific help the recipient wants before making a mail request. Permission to sort a pile may cover reading sender names but leave decisions about catalogs with the recipient. Write down the allowed tasks so both people can use the same plan.
Coordinate a dependent’s marketing requests at two addresses
Keep a grid with one row per sender and one column per address, and fill it in with the recipient's approval. A sender can only match a request to a record it can find, so each request should give the name and address exactly as printed on the piece that sender mailed.
Choose one family contact for advertising follow-up
Assign one relative to each sender, and write down what the recipient wants before anyone writes to a company. If two siblings ask the same company for opposite things, nobody can tell which request reflects the recipient. A short note recording the recipient's own choice settles that.
Help with catalog requests without sharing passwords
Try a call together if your parent wants help ending a catalog without sharing an account password. Your parent can identify themselves and state the preference while you take notes. Ask the company what assistance it allows before discussing an account or supplying anyone else’s details.
Handle different opinions about a relative’s catalogs
If you want the catalogs gone and your relative does not, the decision is theirs. Ask them to name the three mailings they find most useful, then ask what they would change. Act only on their answers. The volume bothering you is not a reason to overrule them.
Choose what a mail helper should read aloud
The helper names each sender or type of mail first. Then the person decides whether to hear it read, set it aside or recycle it. The helper reads details only when the person says yes. Permission to sort mail is narrower than permission to act on someone's money, health or legal matters.
Sort accumulated advertising after a hospital stay
After a hospital stay, divide the pile before anything else. Leave all provider and insurer mail, and anything else that looks official, for the recipient or their authorized care contact. Only then move on to ordinary advertising.
Discuss advertising mail handling with a care facility
Before anyone removes a resident's advertising mail, find out two things: what the resident wants, and how the facility handles mail. Ask staff who delivers it, whether anyone may help a resident contact advertisers, and who answers questions about the routine. The resident decides which mailings stay.
Help a parent keep chosen charity mail
Have your parent name the charity they want to keep hearing from before you send any stop requests. Then write directly to the organizations they want to drop. A general cleanup can silence a cause they still support.
Make a useful mail summary for a distant helper
A distant helper needs sender names and decisions, not copies of letters. Each week, list the sender, a plain category for each advertisement, and what the recipient wants done. Leave medical and financial mail off the list entirely.