Neither one of us is big nor tall. Saks Fifth Avenue sent the Goldsmiths the most material. The department store chain sent 64 catalogs, which collectively weighed 22.5 pounds. According to experts, the Goldsmiths are an excellent but perhaps extreme example of what can happen when companies selling everything from clothes and home furnishings to vitamins and military paraphernalia find someone willing to buy a few items through the mail. As soon as you are born, you go on a public records database which direct marketers buy.
Direct marketers plunder every public record they can get.
Catlett added that people who buy homes in upscale neighborhoods also are likely to be targeted. And if you ever buy anything from a catalog, there's a good chance your name and other information will be sold to other companies. Mills said that more than 17 billion catalogs were distributed in the United States in 1998. That's 64 catalogs for every man, woman and child in the country. More than 3 million tons of paper from 7 million tons of trees were used to make catalogs in 1999.