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February 17, 2008Take the additional steps below to minimize your paper clutter AND keep impulse buys at bay!
(Please also see my post “2 Ways to Receive Less Junk Mail”)
If you take the steps in my first post and below, you will still receive some junk mail, but you will receive less than you did before.
Distribution companies may have to be notified more than once to make sure your address has been removed from the list. Persevere, keep trying, and eventually the amount of paper clutter coming into your home, or office will almost stop!
Remember, junk mail is only junk when you do not want to receive it. You may want to be on some mailing lists. If you want to receive some of this mail, notify companies individually and tell them you want your name removed from their lists. Also, tell the companies you do business with to keep your name and address private. A growing number of businesses that rent their mailing lists are including statements in their literature to let you know you have this option.
NOTE: The Postal Service returns only first-class mail to senders, so sending back bulk mail labeled “return to sender” does not work.
Catalogchoice.org, whose motto is “You decide what goes in”, cites staggering statistics about the environmental impact of the “19 billion catalogs” mailed to American consumers each year. The annual volume of catalogs, it says, consumes 53 million trees, 3.6 million tons of paper and 38 trillion BTUs of power while emitting 5.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions (equal to 2 million cars) and discharging 53 billion gallons of water (equal to 81,000 full, Olympic-size swimming pools.
Catalog choice is a free service, sponsored by the Ecology Center and endorsed by groups such as the National Wildlife Federation, allows you to opt out of catalogs (it helps if you have your catalog source numbers handy) and promises results within 10 weeks.
Abacus compiles a cooperative database of catalog and publishing companies’ customers. When you order products from one catalog, that company is likely to sell your contact information to other catalog companies. To opt-out of the Abacus database, write to:
Abacus
P.O. Box 1478
Broomfield, CO 80038
Or email abacusoptout@epsilon.com or mailto:abacusoptout_ca@epsilon.com?subject=Optout:%20Abacus%20Cooperative%20Database for Canada.
Include your full name (including middle initial) and current address (and previous address if you have moved within the last 6 months). For more information, visit http://www.abacusoptout.com/
To Reduce Mail Addressed to “Resident” and “Occupant”
Contact ADVO, Inc. and Val-Pack Savings Coupons, two of the major companies, which send this type of mail.
To contact ADVO, Inc. call 1-888-241-6760 or log onto www.advo.com/consumersupport.html.
To contact Val-Pack, send your request to the address printed on the envelope you receive. If you receive a blue envelope, log onto www.coxtarget.com/mailsuppression/s/DisplayMailSuppressionForm.
To have your name removed from the major nationwide sweepstakes, contact the following:
Publishers Clearing House
Consumer & Privacy Affairs
382 Channel Drive
Port Washington, NY 11050
Tel: 1-800-645-9242
Email: privacychoices@pchmail.com
Readers Digest Sweepstakes
Phone: ( 800) 310-6261
Reader’s Digest
PO Box 50005
Prescott, AZ 86301-5005
Contact the following To Reduce Mail from Stockbrokers & Mutual Funds:
Dunn and Bradstreet
Customer Service
899 Eaton Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18025
Info USA.com, Inc.
1-402-930-3653
consumercomplaints@infousa.com
R.L. Polk & Co. Opt Out Line
1-800-464-7655
Acxiom U.S. Consumer Advocate Hotline
1-877-774-2094
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