How Did they Get My Address?

Members have contacted us recently because they've received unsolicited mailings and wondered if the Wedge was selling or sharing the membership mailing list. The source of the concern seemed to be that the format on the address label was identical to the one that comes on mailings from the Wedge.

Firstly, we want to assure you that we never sell or share the mailing list (except with our own Twin Cities Natural Food Co-ops organization, for the sole purpose of mailing out Mix - the other newsletter that is a benefit of your membership). Secondly, the address label is no longer a way to trace the route your name takes from organization to organization. The U.S. Postal Service has format requirements for bulk mail and mail houses use software that prints address labels to these specifications. The only thing that will be distinctive anymore is your name - for example, a misspelling, a nickname or the presence or absence of an initial.

Here is our privacy policy in full:

Types and uses of personal information. Your personal information is used in the following ways:

• Membership Information. These tell us who you are, how to contact you by telephone or e-mail and your mailing address. We will use this information to mail our newsletter, patronage rebate checks and other member mailings. It is also used for meeting notifications and voting ballots.
• Customer Comments and Questions. Provides a mechanism for requesting information from the Wedge. Also used to tell us how we can improve our products and services.
• E-mail Correspondence. Used to raise and respond to issues and inquiries of all types. Also used to notify subscribers of newsletter availability.
• TCNFC Mailing. Member's addresses will be shared with the Twin Cities Natural Food Co-op (TCNFC) for mailing a bimonthly newsletter (Mix). TCNFC does not sell or share this information with any other organization. Members can decline this benefit by contacting the membership department.

For your privacy, the Wedge does not sell or share our membership list, mailing list, or e-mail lists with other organizations or businesses without your permission, except under conditions explained above.

If other organizations are doing activities we feel you should know about, we may notify you of that information, but we will not turn over our mailing list to any other group directly.

When we send out e-mail, it is sent "blind" so that other people do not see your e-mail address.

E-mails we send out to our subscription lists have convenient unsubscribe information located at the bottom of each e-mail.