She's dead Jim, but the junk mail continues

Elizabeth, my wife of 25 years passed away two years ago after a protracted battle with a rare form of cancer. All-in-all, it was an ugly situation.

All of the schools, charities and organizations Elizabeth contributed to continued to send her mail soliciting donations. At first, whenever one of these unwanted messages would appear in my mailbox, I'd call the customer service line and ask that they stop sending mail. Did that stop the messages coming to my mailbox? No.

I was remarried, sold the house and moved.  Mail addressed to Elizabeth followed me to my new address. I continued to call the companies and still the mail continued. It appears to grow in volume each time the organizations sell their distribution lists to others. Some marketeers have learned my new wife's name and have started sending material both to her and to Elizabeth.

I moved again. The mail for Elizabeth followed me to my new address.

The most irritating organizations sending this unwanted mail are the political parties and candidates.  I'm now seeing messages from three different locations and can't get them to stop sending messages. Calling and writing to them doesn't stem the flow of unwanted messages.

I've taken to crossing out the address, writing "deceased, return to sender" on the mail and putting them back into the mailbox. So far, this approach hasn't stopped the flow of unwanted mail.

It is clear that there is no way to stop the deluge. Marketeers don't care that they're wasting their money and causing irritation.