This is why I no longer make charity donations in someone else's name as a gift. That puts their personal info out there to be packaged and sold so they now get bombarded with begging mail. Give anonymously, the only way to go.

My postmaster told me that without junk mail the US Postal Service would not survive.

"Everytime I donate money to a charity, apply for a card, etc, I change the spelling of my first name slightly."

Or you can do what I do... ask that your name does not get put on a list. Tell them up front that if they do not honor your request, they will never see another dime from you. Works like a charm!

I never get junk mail... opted out of everything, even mass mailings.

my husband started giving to the salvation army after he retired and we started getting monthly bills. i returned their mail and ask them to tke us off their mailing list and they would not. i finally demanded it, then my husband got a sympathy card. LOL Then i talked to the head man and finally got the bills stopped. my husband wanted to pass on a little of our good fortune to the needy. i told him you can't get any needier than our grand daughter. Charity begins at home.

I think everyone is selling our information.

Just me, but I think that's what all these special cards at the grocery stores, drug stores, etc., are all about.
I once emailed one store and asked why they needed that and they said so they could notification of special sales, coupons, etc., to their customers. When I asked where my were because after several years, I had gotten nothing, they didn't answer - still have gotten nothing.

I think they not only sell the information as to name, address, phone, etc, they sell other information. A store receipt can tell if you have pets, if you buy alcohol, if you smoke, any condition you might have that requires over the counter medication, etc. It's probably worth quite a bit to them.
A drug store receipt could even show what ailments you have for which you are taking prescription drugs.

You know even if you pay cash at some stores, they always ask for your phone number. I always tell them no - my daughter just makes one up.

867-5309. Sometimes I even sing it;) The young kids don't get it though.

Unfortunately that law we need will never get passed. Something about lobbyists...

I don't mind the grocery store ID card. If they want to know what I buy then go right ahead, be my guest, dig through my receipts and figure it all out. I don't mind getting a discount on my groceries either and at my local store they have a gas station out front where I get a nickle off of each gallon of gas I buy simply because I have one of those cards. They really only want marketing info. It isn't to track down what you have hidden in your cabinets or down in your basement. "You" don't matter all that much. They want to know which brands get picked over other brands, and what happens if we put it up on the high shelf, or over at the end of the row - does any of this make more people buy it??? Most of my friends just give out false addresses and phone numbers anyway - the stores know this. Like I said, their marketing survey doesn't really need accurate personal info just what you buy and how often you buy it.

As consumers get more and more savvy on how info is shared and how products are force fed to us, most of those marketing tricks start to fail - the day will come that people will only fall for a sales pitch the first time and then punish the company for hounding them by never buying from that company again. I have a long list of companies I refuse to do business with and whenever I get the chance to bad mouth them I do it. It usually shuts them up.