David Laybourne, managing director of Real Digital, said: "I'm not surprised, it's very disrespectful and I'm surprised the industry hasn't got its act together."
He added: "It's a false economy as, for companies that don't allow the time or budget to use accurate enough data, then response rates aren't going to add up."
The DPS, which was set in 2002 to help prevent cases of unwanted direct mail and identity theft among the deceased, reported that Hull was the worst affected with 268,528 pieces sent to the dead. This equates to 1.12 pieces of mail per person with the town's total living population at 240,000.
Other UK locations that placed highly included Newcastle, Liverpool and Sunderland all receiving high levels of mail from sectors such as financial, holiday and utilities.
Angela Foster, IT manager at The North East Mailing Centre (NEMC), said running the relevant checks "didn't have to be a big process" and would help produce more accurate data.
The company recently invested in Cygnus software for data processing and cleansing, which enables it carry out data suppression, a spend that Foster said has made the operation "significantly more efficient".
Robin Skinner, group sales and marketing director at 4DM Group, added: "The more respectable mailing houses will have access to this data; it's a case of suppliers needing to work together."
Skinner said that "ultimately, it's the client's choice" with constraints often placed on time and cost but added "there is sufficient data available" to remove the deceased.
Evelyn Hamilton, liaison manager at the Deceased Preference Service, said: "As the figures show, consumers are being bombarded by mail to the deceased."
Direct mail industry calls for better data use with 60m pieces still sent to deceased
The direct mail industry has called for improved use of data suppression and cleansing in the sector after research from the Deceased Preference Service (DPS) revealed that nearly 60m pieces of direct mail are annually sent to people who have died.
