New suppression lists let dead rest in peace

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Sept 1, 1991 by Karen Burka

Two new suppression files are giving business-to-business and business-to-consumer mailers a chance to clear the dead wood from their lists.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 15 percent of all companies went out of business in 1990. To help business-to-business mailers screen such firms from their mailings, TRW Marketing Services has developed PurgePlus, a list of companies that are out-of-business, in bankruptcy or have undeliverable addresses.

The one-million-name file will be updated quarterly and dates back 12 months for out-of-business and undeliverable companies, and 18 months for bankrupt companies. TRW says the list has been compiled through several sources. Bankrupt companies have been identified through public records, on a state-by-state basis. Undeliverables are business listings that have failed TRW's address standardization and verification process. Closed businesses are those that were in TRW's database, but do not appear in quarterly updates. TRW also runs these records against its credit database to make sure there has been no activity over the past 12 months.

PurgePlus is available by business category or as a complete unit, and may be bought for a flat fee or on a per-record match. For more information, call TRW's Texas office at 800527-3933.

On the consumer side, Wiland Services Inc. has found a way to raise money from the dead with a new suppression file of deceased individuals. The 1.5-million-name list covers the past five years and will be updated semiannually.

Curt Blattner, Wiland's director of product marketing, says the list is compiled from a national credit bureau and will be useful for mailers with a mature market customer base who want to ensure that they are mailing only to live prospects. For more information, contact Wiland Services at 303-530-0606.