@Flash wrote:
About fifteen years ago a friend's wife died. The request was 'in lieu of flowers' send a donation to the cancer unit at the local hospital. My check was clearly marked 'In Memory of __________'. This has gotten me on every mailing list from the hospital it would seem. I can't get off and I can't get them to stop mailing me their quarterly newsletters etc. Truly a waste of resources and postage. On a certain level I also feel it is very disrespectful to the deceased and her family's wishes.
That brings back a horrible memory. Many years ago, we moved to Maryland, just north of Annapolis, and purchased a home. The previous owner left a lot of furniture, large appliances, and things like that. We decided to donate the items, and I called Salvation Army, who came out and picked them up and seemed quite grateful. I felt good about donating rather than selling to make a couple of bucks until I began receiving a huge number of telephone and mail solicitations, and one charity even sent a truck to my home . The driver knocked on my door to ask if I had anything he could pick up (I'm sure he probably was on a route to pick up donations and just made a planned stop at my home because it was close by). After this personal visit and many phone calls, I asked a couple of them why they would call me unsolicited. They told me Salvation Army had shared not only my name, but my address, AND my telephone number with them. I immediately called Salvation Army angrily and told them what I thought of that. I concluded our discussion by telling a very apologetic guy I would never donate to Salvation Army again. Since then, Goodwill has been my choice and I ALWAYS request that my name, address and phone number remain confidential and specify I do NOT want to be contacted by them or by any other charity.