Reducing Paper Junk Mail

Take Action

Add your support to the campaign by Forest Ethics to pressure lawmakers to create a national Do Not Mail registry similar to the Do Not Registry created in 2003. Sign their petition. In the interim, they offer an opt-out tool to help you to reduce your junk mail. Do Not Mail efforts at the state level.

• Contact companies directly to be removed from their mailing lists or eliminate unwanted catalogs with Catalog Choice (in beta).

• Register with Direct Marketing Association (DMA)’s Mail Preference Service. By registering, you can reduce your mail from DMA members only (as required by the association), but it won’t necessary stop mail from companies you have already done business with. There are two methods to register (scroll down to the third option):

1. Online form. (fastest)
2. Mail-in registration form. Costs $1 to cover processing.

Note: DMA is a direct marketing association so it is not looking out for consumer interests. They do not make it easy to find the Mail Preference Service registation form and lobbies against Do Not Mail registries at the state and national level. I wouldn’t register with them unless you are getting a high volume of junk mail which makes it inconvenient to contact companies directly.

• For dealing with credit card and insurance offers, read my previous post.
• To take preventative action, when submitting your personal information such as donating money, purchasing tickets, or ordering a product or service, request the organization not to sell your name or address. Also, do not submit product warranty cards and avoid contest and sweepstakes.

Find Out More
Do-it-yourself: Stop Junk Mail, Email and Phone Calls
Junk Mail: How Did They All Get My Address?, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
Junk Busters

For Fun
Check out some of the cool junk mail art featured at Stop Junk Mail Blog.

There is also a campaign to use no-postage-necessary envelopes to return bricks and other heavy objects to the offending mass mailers. I had no idea this would work and I guess you could use them for Wired’s Return to Sender.

http://www.dearbulkmailer.com/
This site is hilarious.