Mail Moves America
{{#badges: Front groups}} Mail Moves America (MMA) is a pro-junk mail group formed by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), a trade association of organizations that advertise through junk mail. DMA created MMA to oppose the creation of "Do Not Mail" registries that would give people the option to stop receiving unsolicited advertising through the U.S. Postal Service, similar to the "Do Not Call" list which gives citizens the option to end telemarketing calls. On its Web site, MMA calls such bills "bad public policy."
MMA membership consist of businesses in the paper, printing, mailing, marketing, publishing and advertising industries as well as users of mail advertising. According to Joker.com, the domain name for the MMA website was registered by the DMA on May 22, 2007.[1]
DMA President & CEO John A. Greco, Jr., in a July 10, 2007 press release called state bills to set up "Do Not Mail" lists "misguided legislation" that is "being driven by environmental, privacy, and consumer groups who often distort the facts in their efforts to eliminate advertising mail to consumers." In response to consumer efforts to restrict the amount of junk mail they receive, DMA formed the Mail Moves America coalition, which it claims consist of more than 50 associations and companies. Greco said the coalition responds aggressively to Do Not Mail list initiatives with "convincing information about the consumer benefits of advertising mail." [2]
In response to the accusation that trees are destroyed to make junk mail, MMA calls this position "a myth," saying "Direct mail is not trees, it is printed communication." [3]
Companies can join MMA as a General Member ($100 to $1,000 in dues) or as a Participating Member ($5,000 in dues).
Contents
Hidden involvement of the U.S. Postal Service in MMA
The United States Postal Service (U.S.P.S.) is barred by law from lobbying in its own interest, but in a March 19, 20008 article the Washington Post reported that the U.S.P.S. is "working closely with the Direct Marketing Association ... in its new campaign -- Mail Moves America -- which is designed to quash the Do Not Mail initiatives."[4]
Contact Details
MMA Headquarters is really the headquarters of the DMA:
MMA Headquarters
1120 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036-6700
Telephone: 212.768.7277
Fax: 212.302.6714
Email: PresidenATthe-dma.org (Replace the "AT" with and "@" sign.)
Web site: http://mailmovesamerica.org
Related SourceWatch Articles
References
- ↑ "Mail Moves America", Joker.com, accessed February 2008.
- ↑ DMA President & CEO John A. Greco, Jr. Updates Members on Flats Rates, Next Rate Case, and 'Do Not Mail' Bills Press release, July 10, 2007
- ↑ Advertising Mail and the Environment, Myths and Realities, Page on MMA's Web site
- ↑ Lyndsay Layton, Washington Post Efforts to Block Junk Mail Slowed Postal Service Argues Against Registries to State Lawmakers, Wednesday, March 19, 2008; Page A13
External links
- Lyndsey Layton, "Efforts to Block Junk Mail Slowed: Postal Service Argues Against Registries to State Lawmakers", Washington Post, March 19, 2008; A13.
