Reduce your Junkmail

Reduce Residential Junk Mail

The average person gets only 1.5 personal letters each week, compared to 10.8 pieces of junk mail. Collectively, that adds up to 4.5 million tons of junk mail produced each year! 44% of all junk mail goes unread and directly into the trash. - Native Forest Network

Use the printable letters provided and the contacts listed below to keep junk mail from finding its way to your doorstep.

  1. Get Your Name Off Those Lists!
  2. Make It A Part of Your Routine!
  3. Are You Overrun with Spam?
  4. Telemarketers Waking You on Weekends?
  5. Removing the Names of Deceased Individuals from Marketing Lists!
  6. Fee for service to get off lists; includes tree planting.

Get Your Name
Off Those Lists

The average adult is on 50 mailing lists.

  • You must make a separate request for each family member you wish to have removed from a mailing list. The same goes for former residents.

  • Contacting direct marketing companies will not get your name off mailing lists of catalogs or brochures that you have indirectly solicited by utilizing their services in the past. You must contact these organizations directly and ask to be removed from their mailing lists.

Contact the Following Organizations to Reduce Junkmail:

Contact:

Credit Bureaus — Equifax / Trans Union / Experion

Services:

These three credit bureaus send out most of the unsolicited credit card offers.

Method:

To stop credit card promotions from coming to your house, call 888-5OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688) or visit www.optoutprescreen.com. They will ask for your name, address and social security number. Your social security number is used to locate all variations of your name that appear on their mailing lists. You should update every two years.


Contact:

Direct Marketing Association (DMA)

Services:

DMA is a trade association of businesses who advertise their products and services directly to consumers by mail.

Method:

There is a $1 fee to file the form by mail. Fill out a letter, add the $1.00 check, staple it closed, add a stamp and address and mail. This method takes approximately 90 days to go into effect. You may also fill out their online form, which will go into effect sooner.


Contact:

ADVO

Services:

ADVO is the direct marketing company behind the ShopWise™ and Missing Children ads. They claim to be the single largest private customer of the US Postal Service.

Method:

Call and ask to be removed from their list: 1-888-241-6760. You may fill out a free online form. You may also fill out a letter, staple it closed, add a stamp and address and mail. Any of these methods takes 6-8 weeks to go into effect. ADVO's ads are often delivered with your local supermarket's monthly coupon book. If you do not want to receive these additional coupon bundles, you may also have to ask your postman to stop putting it into your mailbox.


Contact:

Harte Hanks Communications

Services:

Harte Hanks sends a wide variety of coupons and ads throughout the country, including Penny Savers.

Method:

Call and ask to be removed from their list: 1-800-422-4116. Fill out a letter, staple it closed, add a stamp and address and mail. Alternatively, you may visit their website (scroll to page bottom).


Contact:

Valpak

Services:

Sends regular mailings full of coupons.

Method:

Call and ask to be removed from their list: 1-800-237-6266. You can also fill out a letter, staple it closed, add a stamp and address and mail.


Contact:

Publisher's Clearinghouse

Services:

Sends sweepstakes promotions.

Method:

Call and ask to be removed from their list.

Phone:

800-645-9242


Contact:

Catalogs or magazines that you don't want

Method 1:

Visit Catalog Choice. Fill out online registration form, indicating which catalogs are not wanted. No charge.

Method 2:

Locate return address on catalog or magazine. Fill out a letter, staple it closed, add a stamp and address and mail.


Contact:

Computer CD Disks that you don't want

Method:

Call 1-800-827-6364 (America Online)


Contact:

Your bank, wireless provider, member organizations, insurance providers, etc.

Method:

Companies and organizations that you do business with are the source of the majority of your junk mail. Contact each of them individually via email through their website or via their toll-free number and request that they stop sending you promotional mail.

Make It a Part of Your Routine

Approximately 40% of the solid mass that makes up our landfills is paper and paperboard waste. Tax dollars spent to dispose of junk mail: $320 million. - Ecofuture


You may be initiating junk mail without realizing it. Engaging in following activities often leads to increases in your junk mail load:

  • Entering sweepstakes or contests
  • Filling out warranty cards
  • Donating to charity organizations
  • Registering at meetings or conferences
  • Having your address listed in a publication
  • Ordering from a catalog
  • Signing up for a service (such as car insurance or health care)
  • Having a credit card

To keep these activities from leading to more junk mail, practice preventative junk mail care and make the following a part of your routine:

checkbook
  • When you sign up for a service or order from a catalog, tell them to not sell your name or send you promotional materials.

  • If you do want to receive a particular catalog, but not as frequently as they send it, you may request to receive the catalog less frequently.

  • On the bottom of checks made out to magazines, catalogs or charities, write, "DO NOT SELL MY NAME."

  • Do not give out your address unless it is necessary.

Are You Overrun with Spam?

Electronic in-boxes are being increasingly deluged with spam, commercial e-mail that consumers have not "opted in" to receive. Join the anti-spam crusade by following the suggestions below.

  • To remove your email address from e-marketers lists, go to www.dmaconsumers.org, click on the "privacy" section, and fill out their on-line form.

  • Report spam to the Federal Trade Commission. Either send a copy of the unwanted message to uce@ftc.gov or fill out the complaint form at www.ftc.gov/spam. They use emails stored in this database to pursue law enforcement action.

  • Contact the sender's ISP. Virtually all ISPs forbid their members to send SPAM. If your complaint is valid, there is a good chance the spammer will lose connectivity.

  • Spamcop.net provides a quick and easy online spam reporting system as well as filtered email accounts.

Telemarketers Waking You on Weekends?


Contact:

DMA Telephone Preference Service

Method:

Write a letter with your name, phone number, and address and request to be deleted from their phone lists, or go to the privacy section of their website and fill out the telephone preference service form.

Mail:

Telephone Preference Service
Attn: Dept. 7033368
DMA
P.O. Box 282
Carmel, NY 10512

Web:

www.dmaconsumers.org


Contact:

National Do Not Call Registry

Method:

Visit the website and fill out their form to add your name to the do-not-call list.

Web:

www.donotcall.gov

  • Federal law prohibits telemarketers from initiating a telephone call to a person who has previously stated that they do not wish to receive calls from that particular company. Therefore, you may ask the telemarketer to permanently remove you from their calling list.

  • If you continue to receive calls from a telemarketer to who you've requested not to call you back, you may file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by email at fccinfo@fcc.gov or by phone at 888-TELL-FCC. They use information from this database to pursue law enforcement action.

Removing the Names of Deceased Individuals from Marketing Lists



Contact:

Direct Marketing Association (DMA)

Method:

Register with the Deceased Do Not Contact List (DDNC) online. This service requires a $1 verification fee.

Web:

dmaconsumers.org

  • When you register a name with DDNC, the person's name, address, phone number and e-mail address is placed on a special do not contact file.

  • All DMA members are required to eliminate these individuals from their prospecting campaigns.

  • A new, updated file is distributed to members at least once every three months, therefore the number of commercial contacts from DMA members should begin to decrease within three months.

Fee for service to get off mailing lists; includes tree planting



Contact:

greendimes

Services:

Removes members from dozens of direct marketing lists and plants a tree on every member's behalf each month. Included in membership is an auto-renew feature: the organization keeps track of opt-out requests and renews them as needed. Individual plans are either $3 per month or $36 per year.

Method:

Sign up at website.

Web:

greendimes.com

For information on how to reduce junk mail in your office, please see our Office Junk Mail page.