DMA Rallies Troops to Fend off Do-Not-Mail Legislative Threats

The Direct Marketing Association called a special conference on Dec. 17 at its New York City headquarters to engage its cataloger members in helping take preemptive strikes against a growing number of states seeking to enact do-not-mail legislation.

The first half of the more than an hour-long meeting, co-hosted by the DMA’s President/CEO John Greco and Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and Corporate Responsibility Steven Berry, served primarily to remind catalogers of the merits of catalog shopping on society and what catalogers and the DMA do to be environmentally responsible with catalogs. Then Greco and Berry described ways the DMA intends to lead catalog members — some fully drawn out, others still in the planning stages — to get environmentalists off their backs.

In summary, among the key points the DMA executives addressed were the following:

* The DMA intends to “strengthen” its Mail Preference Service (MPS), a requirement among members to enable customers a means of opting out of their mailing lists.

“You’ve asked us what to say to groups that ask for suppression over and above MPS,” Greco said. “DMA needs your insights.”

Specifically, he said the DMA would move MPS away from being a binary choice — or an “all or nothing” opt-out. And effective Dec. 17, DMA began accepting MPS requests online.

Further, Greco said the DMA would eliminate the $1 verification charge DMA uses as a security measure.

* Greco called on members to consider broadening their individual consumer mail preference practices beyond MPS. “Each organization needs to look at all of its options,” he said. “You’re already invested in a process (MPS) that works, and now it’ll work better. But whether to accept names [that opt out] from other means has to be based on your individual business model and needs.”
Four Questions