State Farm’s Direct Mail Follies
May 5th, 2009 by Jeb Foster
The Consumerist reports that one unlucky person received 16 State Farm mailers in one month.
The recipient of the unwanted advances, a guy named Terry, contacted an agent listed in one of the letters in an attempt to stop the deluge. The agent replied that the mailers came from corporate and there was nothing he could do to stop the onslaught.
So Terry sent a pleading email to corporate. He received this response, which is both helpful and sort of depressing at the same time:
Dear Terry,
Thank you for contacting State Farm regarding our Privacy Policy. No, but there are ways you can reduce the number of solicitations you receive from companies with whom you do not have a customer relationship if they are members of the Direct Marketing Association. You can write to the following addresses: • For marketing solicitations received by mail, write to: Mail Preference Service, c/o Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008. • For marketing solicitations received by telephone, write to: Telephone Preference Service, c/o Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 9014, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9014. You may also contact specific companies and ask that they do not contact you either through direct mail or telephone solicitations. This will not stop calls relating to your existing relationship with the company. Certain states may have state-run programs whereby individuals can be placed on a “do-not-call” list to avoid marketing calls from businesses with whom they do not have an existing relationship. Your state will provide details on how to be placed on such a list. The Privacy Policy can be viewed online at If you have further questions regarding the State Farm Privacy Policy or would like to indicate your do not share preference, please call the State Farm Privacy Information Line at 800-865-6035.State Farm Insurance®
Internet Support Representative
On one hand, State Farm producers ought to be happy that corporate is spending big bucks in an attempt to generate new business. On the other, these producers ought to demand that those big bucks be spent in a better way. [On, say, internet leads from InsureMe—where consumers are already looking for insurance.]
Despite a mixed track record at best, direct mail continues to litter mailboxes and annoy recipients. Scanning the comments to the Consumerist article, I learned that some people are so irritated by junk mail that they use return envelopes to send candy wrappers back to the soliciting company. Another commenter says he turns junk mail into ‘fireplace logs.’
That’s where your advertising dollars are going, State Farm. Right into Blueskylaw’s fireplace.
