New clues emerge for the source of mystery Texas mass mailers on transgender issues
While the source of the mass mailers sent to Texas households over transgender issues remains unclear, CBS News Texas has identified more clues as to who exactly is behind them.
The I-Team spoke with executives at multiple mass mail companies in Texas to learn more about the process, and what the mailers may reveal. All of the mass mail executives spoke on condition of anonymity. All denied their companies were involved in the mailers, but said it appeared to be a very large operation, potentially a "mail house" located out of state.
Are the mystery mailers more than they seem?
The flyers began showing up in mailboxes across the state as early voting got underway for the midterm elections. They were addressed to Texas students, purporting to be a resource guide for LGBTQ+ students as young as kindergarten, with the Texas Transgender Student Union listed on the return address.
In a twist, the organization appears to not exist. It has no website, social media presence or other online footprint, and the I-Team traced it to a newly formed company registered in Wyoming. The revelations have raised more questions about who is behind the mailers, and whether they were an attempt to drive voter turnout among Republicans. The Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, state Rep. James Talarico, supports LGBTQ+ rights, a stance that has drawn attack ads from groups supporting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the GOP nominee. CBS News Texas contacted the campaigns of Ken Paxton and James Talarico. Both said they had no involvement with the mailer.
How mass mailers work and what they might reveal
To qualify for presorted marketing mail, a company must agree to ship at least 200 pieces, all of which must be organized so that USPS carriers can easily combine the mailer with a household's regular mail. This typically involves putting the mail in the same or similar order as the carrier's route, with the mail delivered to the post office in trays that can be transferred directly into USPS vehicles.
Sending bulk mail via the USPS requires a permit. Permit holders are typically identified in the upper right corner of the address panel, also known as the indicia. While in many cases the indicia will include a company's name or permit number, the transgender mailer indicia lists the permit holder simply as INO.
According to one mass mail executive, the USPS requires permit holders to disclose the "owner" of the mail. That means the Postal Service knows "who INO is and they know who they are mailing for," the executive said.
The I-Team has contacted USPS and a local postmaster asking for information about INO and are awaiting a reply.
How many mailers were sent?
The numbers above the address give an idea of the scope of the trans mailer operation.
One mass mail manager told the I-Team the first group of digits represent the record number in the address list. One mailer obtained by CBS News Texas has the number 213687 meaning it was one of at least 213,687 addresses in the batch. Another mailer delivered to Fort Worth included the number 1007536, meaning the address was one of more than one million.
The next sequence is T followed by a series of numbers. Mass mail companies call this a "tray number," for the number of USPS trays used to hold the mailers during delivery. The trays are typically two feet long and can hold hundreds of pieces of mail, depending on their size and thickness.
Then there is the barcode underneath the address, which contains a number of hidden identifiers, including something called a mailer ID. The mailer ID is a unique code for a company that tracks the mailers through the USPS system. In the case of the transgender mailers, the mailer ID is connected to a Maryland-based tracking company, Snailworks. They told the I-Team, "Snailworks is an administrative mail tracking company. Our name has only been connected to these mailings because we provide mail tracking services as mail moves through the U.S. Postal Service, using scan data supplied by USPS. We do not design, write, print, prepare, or send mail, we have no role in or visibility of its content, and we do not create, sell, or rent mailing lists."
