Once upon a time, we looked forward to checking our mail. There might be a letter!
These days, you are more likely to see a notice that you are pre-approved for a credit card, catalogs, coupons, charity solicitations and similar items.
Communication from friends and relatives is more likely to appear in your email inbox.
So what should you do with that junk mail?
You can β and β should recycle it, but still, itβs a waste of resources. Stop it at the source.
Here are ways to stop at least some of the junk mail from making it to your mailbox in the first place. Most require a computer, but if computers arenβt your thing, we hope you have a friend or relative who can help.
There is also a bit of work involved, but we hope youβll only have to do each thing once.
Pare down those credit card solicitations at optoutprescreen.com or by calling 888-567-8688 or 888-5-OPT-OUT. You can choose a five-year or permanent removal.
Then call your credit card companies using the customer service number on the back of the card or on your statement and ask them to stop selling your name by placing you on their βin houseβ list.
The companies with which you do business can still send you mailers, but they have to stop selling your name when you tell them to.
It could take up to three months to see results because your requests have to filter to all of the companies and some mailings are set up months in advance.
DMA Choice is a bit like the βdo not callβ registry. It can stop a lot of the mail you donβt want by removing your name from mailing lists, but it will take up to 90 days before you see results, since many mailings are already in production. Register at dmachoice.org
This was once a free service, but now costs $2 for 10 years. Thatβs still a pretty good deal since you can even stop some unwanted emails.
Catalogchoice.org will help you unsubscribe from catalogs that land in your mailbox. You can choose which catalogs to unsubscribe, so you wonβt be canceling the ones you really want.
If you havenβt used a real phone book in several years, you can stop getting them, too. In fact, you can save Dex money when they print fewer phone books. Go online to therealyellowpages.com where youβll find a link for opting out.
Are you getting tired of charity solicitations? Perhaps you gave once, but now they send you something requesting money every month. If you still want to contribute but only want to send something once a year, ask them to only send a solicitation once a year β there should be a phone number on the solicitation or you might be able to find one online. Youβll be saving them a bit also. If you donβt want to hear from them at all, say so.
If you still get their solicitations after a couple of months, you can drive your point home by sending a note in their return envelope. Yes, itβs a little mean, but you tried to be nice first.
Stop the direct marketers. If you get envelopes full of coupons for new garage doors, duct cleaning, carpet cleaning and other household maintenance items, you can reduce those mailings, too. Keep the address labels from the envelopes and check them against each other. Youβll need to register every variation of your name and address.
For Valpak, go online to tucne.ws/valpak and fill out the form using the information from your mailing label. If you want some of those coupons, go to valpak.com and print the ones you want based on your location.
For Valassis Direct Mail Inc., Redplum or Retail Me Not, go to tucne.ws/retailmenot and fill out the form. Again, use the information from your mailing label.
Other direct marketers may send mail to you. Try Googling the company name to see if you can find an unsubscribe link.
If you get promotional mail that has such phrases on the envelope as βreturn service requested,β βforwarding service requestedβ or something similar, write βrefused, return to senderβ on the envelope without opening it and put it back in the mailbox. If the mail was addressed to βResidentβ or βCurrent residentβ and it has one of those phrases, you can mark it βReturn to sender.β If it was sent by First Class mail β these are often sent at a commercial bulk mail rate β you can also return to sender. Since the company doesnβt want to pay return postage, one try may solve your problem.
Download the app PaperKarma on your phone. It allows you to take a photo of your junk mail and the app will unsubscribe for you. The app is available on Google Play and the App Store.
When you do business with a new company, send in a warranty card or give your address for any purpose to a non-governmental entity, it never hurts to write on the warranty card or wherever you are writing your address, βPlease do not share my information with other companies without my permission.β Reputable companies should honor your request.
Sources: ecocycle.org, huffpost.com and rd.com
