INDIANA, USA — Mail theft, delayed mail and missing mail has been a major problem for postal customers, with many people reporting they sometimes don't get mail for several days.
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, with most of them requests for money.
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," Beard said. "And this box is filled with a month or two of mailings."
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 her heart, and she has a big heart," Beard 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 from their mailing list, but she says that would take weeks of work and probably several hundred dollars in postage.
So what can you do if you, or a parent, is inundated with junk mail and charitable solicitations?
- 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.
Finally, the U.S. Postal Service says you can refuse any mail and send it back, as long as you don't open it. That way you can hopefully stop most of your unwanted mail, and you don't waste your money.