Stop the Junk Mail Monster!

In 2005 in the U.S., more than $56 billion was spent on the production and distribution of 41.5 billion pieces of mail advertisements, according to the Worldwatch Institute. Each year, the junk mail industry destroys about 100 million trees to cart its promos, pleas and promises to and from incinerators, garbage dumps and recycling centers. The production and disposal of junk mail consumes more energy than 3 million cars, according to Center for a New American Dream.

Each of us will spend an average of eight months of our lives dealing with junk mail (Center for a New American Dream). It's time to reclaim our resources, our time and our mailboxes by stopping junk mail early and often. Here's how:

Step 1: Remove your name

Contacting the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and registering with their Mail Preference Service provides an effective way for you to fight the junk mail glut. The DMA does not provide marketers with consumer mailing lists or do consumer mailings. They provide their Mail Preference Service to marketers for the sole purpose of removing consumer’s names and addresses from their prospect mailing lists. To add your name to the do-not-mail list, register online at www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist or download a mail-in form. Be sure to list each name receiving mail at your address, including misspellings. You can also send a postcard with your name(s) and address to the DMA asking to be removed from their mailing list. Note that mail addressed to “resident” or “occupant” cannot be stopped through the DMA.

Direct Marketing Association
Mail Preference Service
P.O. Box 282
Carmel, NY 10512
212-768-7277
www.dmachoice.org

If your business is receiving mail for an employee who no longer works there, visit the EcoLogical Mail Coalition to remove the person’s name from direct mailing lists. For more information about their service, call 1-800-620-3975.



Step 2: Know the Magic Words

Avoid getting on even more mailing lists by taking precaution whenever you submit your name and address to anyone. If you're filling out a form such as a warranty, subscription, raffle, customer info card, credit card application, membership for an organization, etc., add the phrase "please do not rent, sell, or trade my name or address" next to the other information you provide. (Be advised that it is not necessary to fill out a warranty card to benefit from the warranty on your purchase. The warranty card is usually just a way to get consumer info from you.) Repeat these same magic words every time you're giving a company or organization your name and address over the phone or internet, such as when ordering a catalog, magazine, or making a purchase. The sales rep will then flag your name in their computer.

Information from warranty and registration cards is often sold to direct mailers. Read the fine print to see if you are required to return the card to validate the warranty. Registration may be important if the product you are purchasing is found to be defective and the manufacturer institutes a product call-back or upgrade. If you return the card, all you need to include is your name, address, product information and, if requested, the date of purchase and a copy of the receipt. It is not necessary to answer personal questions other than your name and address. No matter what you choose to fill out on the card, make sure you include the magic words, "please do not rent, sell, or trade my name or address."

Step 3: 1-800 No Thanks

As soon as you receive an unwanted publication in the mail, call the 1-800 number located somewhere on the piece and ask to be removed from the mailing list (they will need information from the label on the catalog). Businesses and organizations are glad to hear from you if you're not interested in receiving their advertising -- it reduces their costs. Remember too that if you actually buy something from a mail order catalog, it increases the likelihood your name will be shared with other similar businesses because you've just proven yourself an interested customer. So when you order, don't forget those magic words: "Please don't rent, sell, or trade my name and address."

If you cannot find a phone number, return the label portion of the mailing to their address with a note requesting removal of your name and address.

Step 4: End Credit Card Solicitations

If you've ever filled out a product warranty card, purchased a new home or auto, supplied your credit information to a lending institution, or simply carried a credit card, you can be sure your name and address is being circulated among an array of credit card companies hungry for your business. Don't despair -- there is help. To eliminate credit card promotional mailings, call 1-888-567-8688 (that's 888-5OPT-OUT) or visit www.optoutprescreen.com. You will have the opportunity to choose either a five-year removal or a permanent removal.

For your personal credit cards, ask the company to place you on their "in house" list that is not sold or traded to other companies.

Step 5: Stop Junk Promo Products

If you've had it with companies sending you products or disks in the mail that you don't want, there is an option. First, look for any of the following phrases:

* return service requested
* forwarding service requested
* address service requested
* change service requested.

If you find any of these phrases, write "refused, returned to sender" on the unopened envelope.

Mail sent to "Resident," "Current Resident," or "Current Occupant" can be refused if it contains one of the above endorsements, or is sent First Class.

When you receive unsolicited products in the mail such as those from charities, you can mark the envelope “Return to Sender” and put it back in the mail, throw away the product or use it. You are under no obligation to send money. If the product is a sample, it must be marked as such and the same options apply. It is illegal for a company or charity to send you a bill for items that you did not order.

If you receive unwanted pornographic or sexually explicit mail, there is a powerful legal tool in your corner called Form 1500. By filling out the form and attaching the specific piece of junk mail you want stopped, a company becomes criminally liable if it continues to send you mail or to sell your personal data to others. You can get a copy of Form 1500 by visiting your post office, calling the U.S. Postal Service, or downloading the form at www.usps.com/forms/_pdf/ps1500.pdf.



Step 6: Catalogs, Charities & Contests

* Call your catalogs to request only as many issues as you want. Cancel unwanted subscriptions.
* If you contribute once a year to a charitable organization, ask them to send you only one donation request per year.
* Watch out for contests and free offers. Their purpose is often to obtain your name for mailing lists or to sell you something.

Register with Catalog Choice

Catalog Choice is a free website that allows you to opt out of unwanted catalogs. Once you register with the site, you can choose the catalogs you wish to stop receiving, and opt-out requests will be sent to those catalogs on your behalf. Catalog Choice is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center in Berkeley, CA.



Step 7: Cover Your Tracks with All the Direct Marketers

There are several smaller list brokers and direct marketing firms in the U.S. besides the DMA. Just as you did with the DMA in step one, send or phone in all the variations of your name and address to the list brokers and direct marketing firms listed below. Start saving the labels of all the variations of the names and addresses which come to your mail box. Every variation, no matter how small (or comical), is another name on a list which gets sold to literally thousands of businesses. Cut and paste actual mailing labels onto a sheet, make 4 copies, add your signature beside each name variation on each sheet, and send them off to each of the 5 addresses below. Indicate the following: "Please remove my name and address from your mailing lists and do not rent, sell or trade my name or address."

* R.L. Polk & Company
Name Deletions, List Compilation Dept.
6400 Monroe Blvd
Taylor, MI 48180-1814
1-800-873-7655 (Opt-out program)

By recording your name and address on their automated system, you are requesting that the consumer credit reporting agency Equifax not share your information with other parties.
* Val-Pak Coupons
Label Order Department
8605 Largo Lakes Drive
Largo, FL 33773
1- 888-797-1896
www.coxtarget.com/mailsuppression/s/DisplayMailSuppressionForm

You can request to be removed from sweepstakes and ValPak coupon mailings. If you like coupons but don’t want to receive all that mail, go to their website to choose and print coupons by geographical location.
* ADVO, Inc.
Consumer Assistance
PO Box 249
Windsor , CT 06095
1- 888-241-6760
http://www.advo.com/consumersupport.html

You can request removal online at the above website, by phone, or by downloading a form to mail. ADVO sends out the “Mailbox Values” advertising pieces.

* Opt Out
InfoUSA/Donnelly Marketing
Database Operations
1020 E. 1st St.
Papillion, NE 68046
888-633-4402

Send a letter with all the variations of your name and address asking to suppress your name from their lists. They are a large provider of marketing lists.

* Abacus, a Division of DoubleClick, Inc.
P.O. Box 1478
Broomfield, CO 80038
303-410-5100
optout@abacus-us.com

Send an email with “remove” in the subject line and your name and address in the message. You can also write to the above address. Abacus compiles statistical information that is sold to catalog companies.



There are several online services who will reduce your junk mail for a small fee:

* www.41pounds.org
* www.greendimes.com
* www.stopthejunkmail.com



For more information on junk mail and its effects, check out:

* Stop Telemarketing Calls
* Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs 2006
* US Postal Service
* Center for a New American Dream


Information derived from "Stop Junk Mail Forever (Telemarketing & Spam, Too)" from Good Advice Press; "Earth Diary-Stop Junk Mail Forever" from Mother Earth News; and the Center for a New American Dream.