Is unsolicited coin mail acceptable?
botanist
Posts: 524 ✭✭✭
Is it acceptable for someone to send you a very conspicuous flyer about rare coins, in the mail, without your consent? Especially if you're trying to keep a low numismatic profile?
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You don't need someone's consent to mail them something. Now, would I rather it be more private? Absolutely.
You could return to sender with a note not to ever solicit you again. Maybe they will get the hint but make sure there is nothing you might want to buy first. Just a thought.
That's true, but also the legal answer, not the good business answer. A mailing like that could easily cause a customer to walk if they are angry that you advertised their hobby too loudly.
All the more reason to get a PO box.
And a Doberman named Hal.
Look at the bright side. If your mailman knows that you’re a coin collector, he’ll be less likely to leave your registered mail sitting on your doorstep.
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Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
I don't like it personally. The mint seems to be the worst offender, bought some of their overpriced coins years ago and have been getting spammed ever since.
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One of the reasons I have a PO box is so my house isn't associated with these types of US Mint/GovMint mail solicitations. They still end up finding my home address (when I don't provide them with it) and I get sent big conspicuous brochures of "rare US coins".
No call lists don't work on phones so it won't be much different for mail
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I get timeshare related material all of the time so is that sending a BIG RED FLAG that I'm gone a lot and easy pickins for a burglar?
My question involves not the sending of the piece of mail, if it were done unobtrusively, such as inside a wrapper, or from a non-revelatory return address, not loudly announcing the contents.
For one thing, it amounts to an invasion of privacy, such as if you had a medical condition you wanted to keep secret, and the mailing you received countered that by unmistakably revealing what you had.
But then with coins, it can be much worse, lots of people will kill you for a single valuable coin. Every day there are coin crimes, the situation exacerbated since the steep rise in value of precious metals. When the word gets out you are a rare coin collector, you risk being targeted by thieves, home invaders, murderers, and other criminals.
Yep, That's why I have kept a P.O. box for years. I NEVER let a coin related concerns get my home address. All it takes is one hole in the dike and they will sell your name and address to everybody and his brother. After a while you will have sales notices filling your home mail box full of signs that say "come rob me!"
Back in the early 1970s I lived in an apartment with an ourside mail box next to the front door. I joined a local club. One day when I came home, there was letter with coin pictures all over it for every one to see. I learned my lesson from that. I got a P.O. box right away.
You can use USPS Form 1500 to create a prohibitory order against a mailer. The form is designed to prevent adult mailings, but the definition of pornographic content is solely in the eye of the receiver. IF you go all the way through the process AND they send you a subsequent mailing there are significant fines.
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Thank you @BStrauss3, I was not aware of the PO form.
Except whether you get your mail in your mailbox or P O box, the same people will see it. Are you more concerned about postal employees or random strangers?
I expect that more people get P O boxes in order to hide stuff from a spouse than for keeping their mail from being seen by strangers.
Probably better just to call or email the offender and remind them of form 1500 IMO.
yes I use the po box to hide things from my wife. Primarily the existence of my 3 other wives , so far so good
P O Form 1500
Well, there was that ad with a Type 1 SLQ...
Yes, there are bad postal employees, but at least using that cuts down the audience to a considable degree. When it’s coming to your house, anybody who can open the box can get in there. Back in Mass., I had a house box that had a locking door. Now I got one with a door anybody can open.
When I was in Mass. on a walk, I went by the mail box bank when the postman was sorting the mail. I was amazed at how many copies of “Coin World” he was putting in those boxes. An observant cook could make a mental note of where those “Coin Worlds” were going.
Nothing is perfect, but for me, the PO Box is best I can do. Look at it this way. It does not matter if you have coin stuff delivered to your house or the PO Box. Either way, postal employees know you are getting it.
I occasionally get the Littleton junk mail. Tear it up put in the trash keep the penny either throw in roll or change purse for fast food drive thru.
If the mail is delivered to a post office box I don't see any problem. Delivered to a business address, for me at least, is somewhat iffy. To a home address......definitely not!
ADD; I wouldn't have posted this if I had bothered to READ all the previous posts. The agree button is my usual method. Sorry.
I have all coin purchases go to my office; nothing goes to my home. Ever. Biggest reason is porch pirates, but also I don't have to worry about anyone associating collector coins with my address. Doesn't hurt that the wife doesn't know either.
Cross out your address. Write on the envelope "Deceased. Return to sender." with an arrow pointing to the return address.
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Why I have a PO box, because of coins.
Appreciate the thread, because I was considering mailing out solicitations for collections.
Even though my home address goes to a secured box, a PO Box is a must.
Have dealt with an identity theft ring and it's alarmingly simple...
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got a few of them in my email thus it going right into the spam can.
Too bad there is no Post Paid return envelope. Then as I do, you can attach it to a large envelope and stick in a bunch of heavy coin magazines with the address labels removed. That way you may get some disagreeable folks interested in collecting coins and you'll be helping out the bottom line of the USPS.
Just about the only business that can have problems sending unsolicited mail are porn operators. They haven’t used the mail in years since they basically invented Internet selling.
You don't have to accept it. Just mark "return to sender."
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At least nobody sees [should see] them except you.
Too bad that doesn't also render it unseen.
The fact you collect coins is probably on 213 different data bases that can ultimately be tied to your home address.
You do not think your IP address and what you are accessing is not visible to all sorts of data miners?
I would be more concerned about data hacks.
It doesn’t work that way unless it is first class mail.
I don’t worry about my mail carrier but do hide my coin magazines when we have our carpets cleaned, or the furnace checked etc.