My spouse accepts the junk mail we receive as truthful. What do we do?

I agree. I told PCH to take me off their mailing list. They sell ur name. Lots of junk mail stopped. I buy no magazine subscriptions. Don't join any contests. If a prepaid envelope is included, then I circle my name and address with "take my name off mailing list". And send back all the inserts. Stopped that mail. I also have gone on-line and requested no mail.

I thought my mother was the last person on earth to still be receiving PCH envelopes!! She enters every single time...along with ordering some piece of garbage that she does not need!!! I "cleaned" for her a couple of years ago, she had a stack of boxes stuffed with the PCH envelopes and ALL the inserts. Stated she had to hang on to them or when she won, she couldn't prove she was who she was. Big fight ensues. I ended up putting 5 huge boxes in storage, marked "Super Important papers" which meant "If mother ever dies, these can go right into the recycling box". And she still hoards...everyday she gets between 2-5 catalogs and she keeps them all. She waits for her mailman at the door, everyday, b/c if my SIL (with whom she lives) gets the mail first, mother thinks she'll take her catalogs. She wouldn't, but mother needs those.
I wonder if I could get her on the "no catalog list". She's wasting thousands of dollars and certainly doesn't need ANYTHING. If the catalogs stopped coming, maybe she'd forget about them and all the stuff she doesn't need, but can't live without. Hmmmm....(BTW, she has entered every PCH contest for over 65 years and has won..nothing. She states that this is our "inheritance". Well, yes it is. All those envelopes. All that garbage. Super!)

My father blows much of his social security check on fake sweepstakes he gets in the mail. When I diverted the mail to my home, a right i has because I have POA, he and my mother reported me to the local post office and tried to get me convicted of a felony. I had to hire a criminal defense attorney to get out of it. Moral of the story: don’t help your aging parents unless you want to be a felon!!!!

This is what works for us. I have discontinued the land line. I have programmed his cell phone to ring ONLY when people on his contact list call him. Thus, no telemarketers or scam callers. He does not use the computer at all. Has never had an interest in it.
As for the mail, after it comes, it has a habit of "disappearing". Out of sight, out of mind.

Edna you've reminded me of the appalled expression on my mother's face when I held the Saturday newspaper over the bin and shook out all the leaflets and flyers and inserts straight into it. You'd have thought she was expecting there to be a winning lottery ticket in there somewhere.

Same with my grandmom ~ mostly religious stuff (from every part of the country) but some regular charities too. I went online for the charities that I could - requesting that the remove her name. Most of the time it worked. But for a few of the more stubborn ones ~ I would stuff the return envelope to the brink with assorted paper junk, etc and send it back. Usually after about 7 or 8 times they take the hint. I had one particularly obnoxious charity that had the nerve to send yet another request for money... with a hand written note, asking if I forgot to send money last time. UGH... got together 10 regular envelopes as well as their latest solicitation - filled to the brink, making it heavy as possible — included a hand written note that had some very unkind words on it. Never heard from them again... currently it’s very rare that we even get junk mail, usually just the normal household bills. Such a change of pace...not shredding every piece of junk mail that comes in the door. Now for unwanted telemarketers and other assorted vermin (scammers) ~ that’s another story. Still trying to figure that one out.

Interesting to look back at my posts from two years ago. God, this was a frustrating issue!

The stamina of these charities is truly impressive. My mom passed away a little over a year ago and prior to that while she was living in the nursing home, I got all her mail forwarded to me - plus had all of her checks and banking info - so no charity donations for that year as well.

So, a little over two years since any of them have heard from my mom and received a penny from her. You’d think this problem would have passed by now as well, right?

Nope. Everyday there is at least half a dozen charity requests addressed to my mom. The other day I counted 15!

I’m thinking of doing another forwarding address for my mother. Do you think I’d get in trouble if I had moms mail forwarded to the most persistent and annoying charity? The one I’m thinking of has pictures of dead horses on the outside of their envelopes- so you pretty much can’t avoid the gruesome pic - unless you sort the mail with your eyes closed.

I had a few of those for my grandfather (telemarketer) ~ I would very sweetly tell them that he ‘moved’ and gave them the cemetery address along with the plot number. Stops them quick...

Lol, midnight. My hubby did that with his mothers debt collectors.

Another fond memory ...my grandfather passed away in 1991 - he kept getting letters about his 2010 Corolla (..yea, the car I have - now how he got associated with it, no clue) - called the company... said that I’m acting as the representative for my grandfather. Said he’s moved...but I’m sure he’d love the chance to upgrade his 2010 Corolla. The representative seemed happy ~~ until I said...
“He’s a very dignified man for sure...and I’m sure he’d love to have the chance to test drive a new car. Hopefully y’all won’t mind the ashes/dirt that his body likely is...after all he’s been dead since 1991.”

Boy oh boy that representative sure shut his mouth. Attitude changed from pushy rep to totally speechless.

My current strategy for future mailings (if/when) if needed. Seems to work due to the shock value.

There is a website you can sign up for that may help stop junk mail. I am finding companys are getting smart, but if they enclose a stamped self addressed envelope send the mail they sent back with your address circled and "take me off ur mailing list" written on it. I have also sent emails requesting they take me off their lists. It cut down on most of the junk mail. Calls are another thing. I finally got caller ID. If not a number I know, I let it go to voicemail. Most of the time they disconnect when the VM comes on. The PO Box is a good idea.