Cohousing-L Mailing List: Snail mail privacy

[Brian Bartholomew (bb]

Here are some more personal details that whoever sees the snail mail
stream learns, whether they want to or not:


   Who is getting newsletters from the awful-disease support group?

   How many preapproved credit card offers and unsolicited shopping
   catalogs are they getting each month, and how upscale are they?

   Who is getting quarterly reports from a retirement investment
   company, and who isn't?  Who is getting day-trading confirmations?

   Who is getting promotions from casinos and other kinds of gambling?

   Are they being mailed a long or short tax form, or none at all?
   What is the legal name on the address label?  Any communication
   from the IRS is revealing.

   Who is on welfare?

   Who is on unemployment?

   I imagine that being on parole shows up in the mail.

   Who is getting letters from someone in jail?

   Who is getting job offer letters?

   What insurance companies do they use?  Who doesn't have insurance?

   Is a couple getting mail from two different divorce lawyers?  Is a
   third person getting mail from both lawyers?  Any law office mail
   is revealing.

   Who is getting newsletters, magazines, fundraising requests,
   membership renewals, or catalogs from social or political causes,
   hobbies, or politically-aligned hobbies, that they haven't
   revealed their interest in?

   Does the frequent personally hand-addressed mail appear to be a
   family newsletter, a romantic interest, child support?

   Who gets mail under names they haven't announced?  Names from a
   former marriage, entirely different names?

   You see the return address and company name of every thing they've
   mail ordered, you can guess what's in the box.

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   How many and what kind of alcohol containers are they recycling
   each week?

   Are you really willing to put your underwear up for inspection in
   the common house laundry?

                                                        Brian