Guide to Reducing Junk Mail
1. Sign up with the Direct Marketing Association (www.dmachoice.org)
The DMA represents roughly 80% of the direct marketers in the US and will let you opt-out for three years at a time.
2. Opt-out of prescreened financial junk mail (www.optoutprescreen.com)
The site offers you the ability to opt-out of receiving pre-approved and prescreened offers from Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and TransUnion. A "permanent" opt-out option is even offered.
3. Directly contact the organization behind a direct mail item To request removal from their mailing list:
- Look for a toll free number on the mailing and call to request removal.
- Look for a toll free fax number and fax a removal request with a copy of the mailing label.
- Look on the organization's website for a contact email address. Request removal and include name and address exactly as it appears on the mailing label. Include any "code numbers" not part of address, organizations sometimes subcontract with other companies to use their mail lists and the "code number" will direct them to the correct list that the name is being removed from.
4. Return mail for past employees to the post office
Often mailings will be stamped with "Return Service Requested." Returning the items allows the organizations to update or remove the address from their lists. Contacting the organization directly as in "option 3" can be used as well.
FTC information concerning "www.optoutprescreen.com" and "www.dmachoice.org." [link - pdf]
Initial proposal for this guide provided by Andre Champieux-Miller.
