 
How to Reduce your Junk Mail The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 90 billion pieces of “direct mail” every year. A significant portion of this advertising mail is unwanted, or “junk” mail. Recycling junk mail is a good start, but reducing the flow of junk mail will conserve natural resources and save landfill space. Don’t Let Your Name Become a Commodity! Every time you enter a contest, make a donation or a purchase, order a product by mail, or subscribe to a magazine, your name and address may be placed on a mailing list. Then the mailing list may be rented, sold or traded. To limit your mail to those items you look forward to receiving, write “Please do not rent or sell my name” or “No mailing lists” next to your name. Also consider not sending in the warranty card for a new product – it’s usually not required. Contact Companies and Organizations Directly To stop receiving mail from specific sources, call the customer service number of the organization or business. Request that your name be removed from their mailing list. You can also make your request via e-mail, from the company’s website. Or, send in a written request. Sign Up For The Mail Preference Service One effective way to remove your name from many national mailing lists is to write to the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service. This free service only works for national mail, not local mail and only for residential addresses, not businesses. For more information on the Mail Preference Service, see the DMA web page at http://www.thedma.org/consumers/offmailinglist.html. Get Off Lists For Credit Offers In accordance with a 1997 federal law, the nation’s major consumer
credit bureaus have established a toll-free number. You can call this
number, which works 24 hours a day, to have your name removed from mailing
lists used for credit offers. Calling this number should reduce the number
of credit card offers you receive: |
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