How to Stop Junk Mail
How to Stop Junk Mail: A Few Simple Ways to Eliminate Unwanted Mail
It’s always a pleasure to receive good news, a card, a letter from a friend or a package when you open your Mail Boss locking mailbox. But who wants a pile of unwanted junk mail and advertisements cluttering up their mailbox?
Your mailbox and your recycling bin can only hold so much junk mail, so you probably want to do everything you can to eliminate unwanted mail. There are a variety of services that will help you reclaim your mailbox for the types of mail that you do want and here we highlight three of them.
Catalog Choice
Catalog Choice makes it easy to stop unwanted catalogs from filling up your mailbox. This is a free service that allows consumers to opt out of receiving materials in the mail that they did not request. This includes catalogs, credit card offers, advertising circulars, coupons and even phone books.
The Direct Marketing Association
The Direct Marketing Association, whose members produce most of the marketing materials that some consumers consider junk mail, has been a leader in helping consumers eliminate mailings that they have no use for. This helps to ensure that direct mailings are targeted to those who actually find them useful and not wasted on those that are likely to just throw them away. The Direct Marketing Association’s Preference Service is a free online way to remove your name and address from their mailing lists. Consumers can also write to the DMA’s Mail Preference Service c/o Grand Central Station, NY to identify what names and addresses should be deleted from all of their mailing lists.
OptOut
OptOutPrescreen.com is the official Consumer Credit Reporting Industry website to accept and process requests from consumers to opt out of offers of credit and/or insurance. This service allows you to opt out for 5 years, permanently or even opt back in if you have previously opted out. This can help to greatly decrease the number of credit card offers that you receive.
These services can be extremely helpful in reducing the amount of junk mail that you receive but I still have one last tip. Always remember that when signing up for contests and special offers online to uncheck the box giving the company permission to add your name to their mailing list.