How to Stop Unwanted Junk Mail

Mailbox full of offers for secured credit cards and solicitations to save the whales? You can reduce the clutter by writing a few letters or making a few phone calls. These instructions are for paper junk mail, not email. (See How to Stop Unwanted Email.)

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Contact the company sending you the unwanted mail and ask a supervisor there to remove your name and address from the company's mailing list. Insist that the supervisor tell you where the company got your name. If your request is continually denied, ask to speak to the supervisor's superior.

2. Contact the company that provided your name and request that you be removed from its database as well. This company will likely specialize in selling names and addresses for mailing lists (a "list broker"). Insist that the person you speak with tell you where the list broker got your name.

3. Contact the company that provided the list broker with your name and request that it not disclose your name and address in the future.

4. Contact any company that regularly sends you a bill and ask that it not release your name and address to other companies.

5. Write to the Direct Marketing Association Mail Preference Service and ask that your name, address and phone number be deleted from all mailing and marketing lists.

[ynohtna]

on 7/5/2009 Thanks for the great article!

[sc1quail]

on 11/26/2008 I been using www.MyJunkTree.com to help stop unwanted paper junk mail from my mailbox. It provides me with one central location at which I can stop the junk mail and solicitations from more than 1300 catalogs and over 5000 charity/nonprofit organizations, credit card companies, major banks, and data brokers, as well as stopping phone directories. This green site also will plant trees with each new membership. A great site!

[GreenDimes]

on 12/26/2006 - Or if you don't have time to get yourself off direct mail lists, let GreenDimes do it for you. GreenDimes is a service that removes your name from direct mail lists, unsolicited credit card offers, and any catalogs you no longer wish to receive. They do this for you for one dime a day, and they keep you off the lists and plant a tree for you every month. www.greendimes.com for more info.

on 3/21/2006 When various companies send you unwanted offers, often they provide a prepaid mail-back envelope. Use it to send their offers back to them. Just place the junk you received in their envelope and mail it back. Don't put anything else in there.
It costs the company to receive these envelopes back, and very quickly they will realize you are not going to buy anything, and are costing them money. I guarantee you they will quickly stop sending you offers.