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♻ How-to Guide to Eliminating Junk Mail



Updates:

June 13, 2008 -- For what it's worth, our junk mail is now reduced to almost only local solicitations just two weeks after going through the list below.. So, so far so good! We'll keep adding updates as time goes on.

Introduction:

Ok, so our 10 step guide to eliminating junk mail has now become an 11 step guide to stopping junk mail, but who's counting?:O)

We had a good deal of success reducing our business junk mail volume as well as consumer junk mail, especially pre-approved credit card offers, mortgage and insurance solicitations, and coupon book advertisements. Junk catalogs have never been much of a problem for us, but we were able to make a dent there as well.

So we thought we should share some of our new found expertise on how to stop junk mail. We've provided a simple rating scheme of Easy/Moderate/Difficult depending on how much time and effort it took to opt-out with each of the 11 junk mail, excuse me, "direct marketing" services. Hopefully this rating is helpful for you to gauge the time commitment, and at the very least help eliminate the easiest junk mailers first...

Benefits of Stopping Junk Mail:

There are a variety of benefits to stopping junk mail, including the following environmental and personal risk issues:
  1. Reducing opportunities for identity theft.
  2. Saving time from not opening/perusing junk mail offers.
  3. Simplifying your already busy, chaotic, and distracted day.
  4. Help stop deforestation due to logging
  5. Reducing global warming caused by deforestation
  6. Reducing water and air pollution caused by deforestation
  7. An opportunity to do your part even if you don't have time to join environmental activist organizations.
There are a number of companies which offer full service identity theft protection, which include services to stop junk mail and especially junk mail which could lead to identify theft and fraud. If this is a primary concern for you, please consider one of the following well respected companies:
  • Identity Truth - Full service identity theft including high-feature software and automation.
  • e-Wisdom - Handy identity theft service comparison site.

The Paid Service Route:

There are a number of companies which purport to offer services to automatically opt you out of various direct mailing lists. A couple such paid services are GreenDimes, ProQuo, and OptOutPreScreen, though it isn't abundantly clear what the premium services actually do for you. It's possible they may just gather your data and add it to other mailing lists (yikes!) -- but, the GreenDimes site does gives a good feeling of credibility and appears trustworthy, so we're sure it's fine.:O)

The Free, Do-It-Yourself Route:

In addition to the paid opt out services, there are a number of direct mailing companies which require you to personally make the removal request. Whether you want to stop credit card mailings in particular, or just get your self on a do not mail list in general, we have a list of junk mail opt out links and info to help you reduce junk mail. The following (un)registries are among the self-(un)registration type, and all appear to be on the up and up. So, please, please, please at least work through this list to do your part to reduce wasteful junk mail.

Some Words of Encouragement:

At the end of this list you'll feel accomplished, inspired, and possibly even better looking! You will have eliminated approximately 75 lbs of junk mail from being wastefully delivered to your home each year! The world's forests, ancient trees, and tree-dependent critters will thank you!! Moreover, consider the amount of conserved energy (oil & gasoline) from not generating and then shipping those junk marketing materials, most of which inevitably head straight to the landfill anyway.



Now Let's Get Started:

  1. (Easy) ADVO - Valassis
    • Valassis (formerly ADVO) sends advertising and grocery store circulars to consumers all over the U.S. It services 15,000 business customers with promotional and marketing print material.

    • Quick and Easy Opt-out Process!


  2. (Easy) Money Mailer, LLC

  3. (Easy) DirectMail.com "National Do Not Mail List"
    • DirectMail.com is a for-profit direct mailing company but they seem to take a user's right to opt-out seriously.

      Their website allows you to register very quickly with your basic info, including e-mail address. It then provides a quick interface to select content to opt-in/out of. The website then confirms the decision via your e-mail address.

    • This company says it will contact you a couple times a year to ask for updates to your opt-out request ... for better or worse, we suppose.


  4. (Easy) Abacus, Inc.
    • When you order something from a catalog your name and address are often submitted to Abacus, an collection of mostly catalog and publishing companies. You can request to be removed from Abacus by contacting them with your name (including any middle initial), your address.

    • You can opt out one of two ways, e-mail and snail-mail.

    • We've provided a word doc form you can download, fill out, stamp, and mail directly to them.

    • Snail Mail Form for Abacus Inc.

    • Preferably, you can opt-out via e-mail by sending the above mentioned info to: optout@abacus-us.com


  5. (Easy) Cox Target Media
    • ValPak and Cox Target send coupons and offers in their blue envelope to 45 million households in North America, each month!

      Their site will ask for your mailing address and covers junk mail removal for everyone in the household.

    • Their website will also confirm the request via e-mail.


  6. (Easy) Publishing Clearinghouse Sweepstakes
    • In order to opt out you'll need to send an email to privacychoices@pchmail.com. Be sure to include your name, and address in the email along with a clearly marked subject saying "Opt-out / Removal Request".

    • You'll need to do this once for each person to be removed.

    • Optionally, you can opt-out over the phone by calling Publishers Clearinghouse directly at: 800-645-9242


  7. (Easy or Moderate/Difficult) OptOutPreScreen.Com
    • The Consumer Credit Reporting Industry is a group whose members are responsible for sending preapproved credit, insurance and other financial offers. It is run by Equfax, Experian, Innovis and TransUnion.

    • You'll need to provide each household name you wish to remove under a separate opt-out session -- this means you'll have to revisit the site multiple times, once for each person.

    • You have an option to choose between opting out electronically for 5 years, or permanently via snail-mail -- we chose to try one of each.

    • *** NOTE: They ask for your social security number when setting up the form to be printed -- you DO NOT need to provide that info in order to proceed.

    • After completing the web form for the permanent deletion, the site will prepare a printable page for you to print out and then send to them via postal mail.

    • You can optionally use their 800 number, 1-888-567-8688, to opt-out via phone.


  8. (Moderate/Difficult) Haines and Company, inc.

  9. (Moderate/Difficult) Readers Digest Sweepstakes
    • Reader's Digest sends direct mail for products and services. Note, requesting to opt-out from its direct marketing list does NOT cancel your magazine subscription to Reader's Digest - in case that's important to you.:O)

    • This organization requires that you send your opt out request via snail mail.

    • We've provided a word doc form you can download, fill out, stamp, and mail directly to them.

    • Snail Mail Form for Readers Digest Sweepstakes

    • Optionally, you can opt-out via the phone, using their 800 number at: 800-310-6261.


  10. (Moderate/Difficult) Data Management, Inc

  11. (Difficult/Scam) Direct Marketing Association
    • The DMA site seems to have occasional technical difficulties but when it works it's pretty simple to use.

    • Their site makes you create a user account -- kind of annoying.

    • Their server can be agonizingly slow. :O(

    • This supposedly free service requires a credit card to verify identity -- a little sketchy for our tastes, but we went ahead and provided a credit card for validation any way.

    • While the DMA service is easy enough to use, it's expectations for more information than is necessary plus a credit card seems quite unreasonable. Unfortunately, they make the rules, so you have no choice but to play their way if you want them to stop their annoying practice.

Congratulations - You Made It!!!

Your contribution of time and effort is much appreciated. You should rest a little easier knowing you've done your part to help reduce the wasteful practice of unsolicited direct marketing, otherwise known as junk mail.

Please consider forwarding this guide to your friends and loved ones so they can pitch in and help solve the national junk mail problem. Whether we live in California, Oregon, Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Colorado, we're all in it together and all need to do our part.