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Home > Articles > Stop Junk Mail

How To Stop Receiving Junk Mail

For as long as there has been junk mail, people have been looking for ways to stop it. Here are some of the most common ways to get rid of it -- both the standard postal junk mail and the junk email that keeps filling up your email box:

• Firstly, make sure that you register your name with the Mail Preference Service of the Direct Marketing Association (called the DMA). When you do this, the service lists you in the “Do Not Mail” category. Companies that send out large volumes of bulk mail – junk mail – use the DMA service to check and see who is favorable to receiving their mail. If they see your name there, they won’t want to waste money sending their mail to someone who doesn’t want it.
• Also add your name to something called OptOutPreScreen.com. A relatively new website, this allows you to remove your name from credit card, insurance, and mortgage companies who send out unsolicited offers nobody wants.
• Also add your name to Catalog Choice, a newer organization that lets you opt out of receiving many catalogs in the mail. By adding your information, it lets catalog companies gauge your interests and if they see you’re not interested in their catalog, they won’t waste money sending it to you.
• If you are having serious problems with a little extra money to spend, try a junk mail reduction service like Mailstopper. These companies only charge a little bit and know ways of contacting companies and getting your names off their mailing lists. As you are paying them, they have extra incentive to make sure they do a good job.
• When filling out subscriptions or warranties, make sure you write on the form: “Do not rent, sell, or trade my address.” This method has been around for a very long time. When a sales representative sees this on the form, they flag your name in the system because they don’t want any trouble.
• Contact the company that sent you the junk mail. The oldest method in the book, contacting the company lets them know directly that you do not plan on buying their products. More importantly, it tells them that you are willing to cause problems if they don’t stop. No company wants to waste time like that.
• You can also call 1-888-5-OPTOUT to opt out of credit card offers. An older method, you call the number, give your information and the system lets you permanently remove yourself from their database. With your information gone, they can’t send you anymore junk mail.
• If your company is receiving junk mail from a former employee, you need to sign up for the Ecological Mail Coalition service. This newer, private service will tell mailers directly that they are sending mail to a wrong address and it will stop. If the mails are still coming, call the Business Junk Mail Complaint Bureau, which will deal with your complaint.
• Do not enter promotional giveaways! Not only do those promotional giveaways usually end with you not winning anything, the company usually turns around and sells your contact details to other promotional companies, who then send endless amounts of junk mail to your address.
• For people with a lot of junk email, try singing up for a new email account. Many of them have built-in spam filters!
• Flyers can also be a problem. If you receive a lot, look for a contact number there as well. The oldest method is often the only one that works with flyers because they are hand delivered. Calling a company directly lets them know it’s a waste of money to deliver mail to you so they’ll usually stop. 

But how do you know if something is junk mail or if it’s legitimate?

• Look and see if it’s addressed specifically to you. It’s not hard to just drive around and write down addresses but now that there aren’t names written on mailboxes in some places, they have no idea who lives there. So junk mail is simply addressed to “resident.” If it doesn’t have your name on it, it’s most likely junk mail.
• For email, if you’re unsure if it’s junk mail, look for misspellings. People sending out spam purposely misspell words so they slip by spam filters!
• Check the postage on it. Most junk mail is sent “standard” instead of first class because it’s cheaper, and often it will have a code like “ECRWSS” which means the mail was sent to everyone in the area. 

Like all of life’s problems, whether you want to fix a sink or create pdf files, junk mail is something you have to deal with. However, there are ways to make it less annoying!

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