(4 of 8)
Even so, direct mailers maintain that junk mail is the most cost-efficient way to reach out to customers. They claim that a single mailing on average draws 10 times as many responses as newspaper ads and 100 times as many as TV ads. Plus, they note, they can judge the effectiveness of a mailing with far greater precision than most other advertisers can.
Small wonder so many advocacy groups turn to the mails. Take the American Association for Retired People and the National Rifle Association, two of the nation's most powerful lobbies and, not by coincidence, two of the largest direct mailers. In addition to the literature it sends its 32 million members, the A.A.R.P. each year puts into the mail stream 50 million pieces simply prospecting for new adherents. The N.R.A. generates up to 12 million pieces monthly. Each group has the capacity to flood Capitol Hill with thousands of letters when it feels its interests are threatened. Earlier this year the N.R.A. sent out 10 million "membership alert" mailings, urging gun owners to oppose legislation that sought to ban semiautomatic assault weapons and impose a waiting period on the purchase of handguns. Neither restriction passed Congress.
Cynics might say such pitches know no better target, since the Senate and House are two of the country's biggest users of the mails. Through the franking privilege, which enables members of Congress to use their signatures as postage, elected officials can deluge voters with mail at taxpayers' expense. During the past presidential election year, 805 million pieces of political literature spewed from Capitol Hill, at a cost of about $113 million.
Critics contend that little of that outpouring went for its authorized purpose: to enable elected officials to conduct a dialogue with constituents. Most of it, they argue, went to help incumbents consolidate their hold on power. The outcry has given rise to some reforms. House and Senate members up for re-election are prevented from issuing mass mailings just prior to elections. This year the Senate prohibited members from transferring individual franking allocations to colleagues, and the House agreed to restrict franking funds to about $180,000 for each representative.
Commercial and nonprofit direct mailers have to work much harder than members of Congress to address their pitches to specific audiences. To sing their siren songs effectively, they rely on a bewildering variety of list compilers, list brokers and list managers. In short, the mail-order industry is teeming with precisely the sort of people Montgomery Ward set out to eliminate: middlemen.
The listmakers wed advanced computer technology to an ever expanding data base to churn out highly specialized rolls of potential customers. They aim to know not only where you are but also who and what you are. By cross-indexing lists obtained from credit agencies, political parties, mail-order companies and other organizations, a direct-mail specialist can merge and compare the data to identify the groups you belong to, the car you drive, the party you vote for, the amount you paid for your house. All this helps direct marketers identify the goods, services and causes that might be of interest to you -- and whether you are a good credit risk.