Handle promotional mail for a former employee

How to handle former-employee promotional mail

1. Separate obvious advertising, such as catalogs, promotional offers and trade circulars, from anything that looks personal, financial or benefits-related. Set the second pile aside for HR or a forwarding address, following company policy.
2. For each piece of advertising you are authorized to handle, confirm that the company's address is on the mailing label. The request concerns mail delivered to that address and your authority over it.
3. Photograph the label so the sender name and full delivery address are visible. Use a separate photo for each mailer, then review the prepared request before you submit it.
4. Pass the personal-looking mail along unopened according to company policy, or return it to the sender marked with the recipient's changed status, using whatever procedure HR has set for departed employees.

When a piece is hard to classify

Some mail looks like advertising but is a membership renewal, a benefits notice or a professional-society mailing the former employee paid for personally. Opening or discarding that kind of mail is a different matter from handling company advertising. If you cannot tell which kind a piece is, hold it and ask HR before acting. A removal request asks one sender to stop mailing to an address. It does not remove the person's name from every database.

Set up a standing process

Agree with HR on a written rule for future arrivals: what gets forwarded, what gets a removal request and what goes in the recycling bin. That saves repeated decisions and keeps everyone acting within their authority.

Instructions for the next step

• The main guide to stopping junk mail
• How Junk Mail Magic handles your information