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Stop Junk Mail Now!
By JLP | February 6, 2007
Here’s some great advice from Kelli Grant at Smart Money for putting an end to junk mail. I didn’t know this, but you can actually take some steps to get your name off the junk mail list. A couple of things I found interesting in the article:
Most senders of unsolicited junk mail get your name and address from one of three sources: Abacus Catalog Alliance (catalogs), Direct Marketing Association (fliers, brochures, etc.), or the credit bureaus (credit card and insurance offers), says Paul Stephens, a policy analyst with Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a consumer advocacy group. If you do nothing else, take the time to wipe your name from these lists. “That’ll get rid of most of your junk mail,” he says. Here’s how to do so:
- Abacus Catalog Alliance: Signing up permanently halts the catalog mailings from association members. Email optout@abacus-direct.com with your full name and current address.
- Direct Marketing Association: Stops direct mail marketing from association companies for five years. There is a $1 fee. Access forms here for online or mail-in submission.
- OptOutPrescreen.com: This joint venture of the three credit bureaus puts a stop to prescreened credit and insurance solicitations. Sign up to halt these mailings for five years, or stop them permanently. Call 1-888-5-OPTOUT, or fill out a form here.
And this…
Here’s a dirty little secret: One of the biggest generators of junk mail is the post office itself. “The post office maintains a [mail forwarding] database that they actually sell,” says Stephens. So once you move — and fill out the mail-forwarding form at the post office — your new address can wind up back on every junk mail and direct marketer’s list. And asking the post office not to give out your new info won’t work — providing your new address to any company that wants it significantly cuts the cost of rerouting your mail.
So here’s what you do: Mark your move as temporary for six months. This way, your information won’t get passed along, says Stephens. Keep in mind this will involve more work for you: You’ll need to contact those companies with whom you do business (magazines, doctors, insurance companies and so on) to let them know individually of your new address.
Good stuff to know. Read the entire article for some other good tips.
Topics: Miscellaneous | 11 Comments »
February 7th, 2007 at 7:22 am
I opted out a while ago for at least credit card offers. They usually have a little paragraph that says how to opt out.
Also, that’s messed up that you have to pay to be taken off of that one company’s list. They just are getting profit from all ends. That should be illegal. And messed up that the postal service sells your address, even if it does save them some money. I’m sure they could past the cost on to the mass mailing companies somehow.
February 7th, 2007 at 8:28 am
Apparently, junk mail works or companies would not be using it. So, given that they pay the USPS money for this, I don’t care if I get junk mail… they are subsidizing mail service for everyone else. I just use the junk mail to help me start fires
February 7th, 2007 at 11:06 am
Junk mail does work.
So does telemarketing and spam.
Being a marketing bunny, I’m unusual in that I enjoy junk mail. Keeps me informed of trends.
February 7th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
I am getting close to opting out of the credit cards. I get about 2 to 4 a day. My shredder is getting worn out from them.
They are so think now, you have to open them to shred them instead of just dropping the envelope in unopened.
February 8th, 2007 at 7:21 am
Greendimes.com is another company that will (for a fee) mail indidual catalogs and companies on your behalf and plant a tree each month as well.
February 9th, 2007 at 5:21 am
Star Money Articles for the Week of Feb. 5
Here are interesting posts and news this week from the MoneyBlogNetwork members and beyond: Blueprint for Financial Prosperity details his January net worth. Consumerism Commentary gives some thoughts on the debt to income ratio. He’s also starting a …
February 11th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
I second the vote for Greendimes.com. The fee is small compared to the time (and postage!) it would take you to remove yourself by hand from all of the lists – plus, unlike me when I do it myself, they don’t get discouraged and quit when after 6 months you end up on a new set of lists or all the rules change or something. I’ve been using them since the month after they started and I’m really happy with the service.
February 22nd, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Do Not Mail Opt-Out Law would be fair to everyone.
The proposed statewide “Do not mail” is an Opt-Out law. Only those not desiring advertising mail need opt-out. Anyone desiring advertising mail can do nothing – and continue to receive it. Why deny those wishing to avoid advertising mail the power to do so?
I do not consider handling unwanted advertising placed against my will on my personal property to be a civic obligation!
The US Supreme Court said in the Rowan case in 1970, ““In today’s [1970] complex society we are inescapably captive audiences for many purposes, but a sufficient measure of individual autonomy must survive to permit every householder to exercise control over unwanted mail. To make the householder the exclusive and final judge of what will cross his threshold undoubtedly has the effect of impeding the flow of ideas, information, and arguments that, ideally, he should receive and consider. Today’s merchandising methods, the plethora of mass mailings subsidized by low postal rates, and the growth of the sale of large mailing lists as an industry in itself have changed the mailman from a carrier of primarily private communications, as he was in a more leisurely day, and have made him an adjunct of the mass mailer who sends unsolicited and often unwanted mail into every home. It places no strain on the doctrine of judicial notice to observe that whether measured by pieces or pounds, Everyman’s mail today is made up overwhelmingly of material he did not seek from persons he does not know. And all too often it is matter he finds offensive.”
Furthermore, the Supreme Court said, “the mailer’s right to communicate is circumscribed only by an affirmative act of the addressee giving notice that he wishes no further mailings from that mailer.
To hold less would tend to license a form of trespass and would make hardly more sense than to say that a radio or television viewer may not twist the dial to cut off an offensive or boring communication and thus bar its entering his home. Nothing in the Constitution compels us to listen to or view any unwanted communication, whatever its merit; we see no basis for according the printed word or pictures a different or more preferred status because they are sent by mail.”
We need a nationwide “Do Not Mail” law to create a one-stop, convenient place for homeowners to give senders the aforementioned affirmative notice that we do not want certain kinds of mail sent to our homes. http://www.nomorejunkmail.org
Signed,
Ramsey A Fahel
Arvada, CO
February 23rd, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Here are some selected quotes from the President’s Commission on the Postal Service report:
“Once the conclusion has been reached that the Postal Service should remain a public institution, an urgent need arises to modernize and clarify the mechanism that finances its operations—the postal monopoly.
A great deal of confusion exists today, even at the Postal Service, about the true extent of its scope. This confusion is understandable considering much of the nation’s postal monopoly law dates back to 17th century England and is virtually untranslatable in the modern environment.” (p.X)
“The Postal Service employs approximately 843,000 people, making it the second largest workforce in the U.S. Its jobs are highly coveted. As of July 2001, the Postal Service had a backlog of some 400,000 job applicants and virtually no turnover. Contributing to the Postal Service’s ability to recruit and retain employees is the special status within the Federal government of postal workers, who enjoy the right to collectively bargain. The Postal Service is also required by statute to compensate employees at a level comparable to the private sector. In addition, postal employees have among the most attractive benefits packages in the nation.” (p.XV)
Critical to this effort, however, is the ability of management and labor to work constructively together to determine the right size of the postal workforce and to ensure appropriate flexibilities in its deployment. Both are significant issues. More than $3 out of every $4 in Postal Service revenues go to cover the costs of current and retired postal employees. Of the approximately $92 billion in debt and unfunded obligations the Postal Service is struggling with today, more than $48 billion is due to the costs of retiree health benefits alone. Far more Far more than individual benefits, the size of the workforce determines the costs of the workforce. Therefore, getting the right size workforce is the critical issue when it comes to controlling the costs of the workforce and upholding the Postal Service’s ability to compensate its employees in a manner competitive with the private sector. Fortunately, there is a significant attrition opportunity, with some 47% of current career employees eligible for regular retirement by 2010 that can help guide the rightsizing of the workforce in the least disruptive manner possible.” (p. XV)
Gradual Displacement of Mail Volume (billions)
2002 2007 2012 2017
First Class 102.4 98.7 90.5 81.0
Priority 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3
Periodicals 9.7 9.5 9.1 8.7
Standard Mail 87.2 97.1 98.2 88.1
Package Service 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.2
International 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9
Other government 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
Total 202.8 208.9 201.5 181.7 (p.5)
The Mailbox Monopoly: Current Law
“Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits any mailable matter such as statements of accounts, circulars, sale bills, or other like matter, on which no postage has been paid, in any letter box established, approved, or accepted by the Postal Service for the receipt or delivery of mail matter on any mail route with intent to avoid payment of lawful postage thereon, shall for each such offense be fined under this title” (18 U.S.C. § 1725). (p.25)
While the Postal Service should become more businesslike, it remains a government entity. Private carriers have no U.S. Treasury to borrow from at favorable rates, no monopoly markets to reliably generate more than 75% of operating revenues and no government exemption from most taxes and laws imposed on private enterprises. Given that distinction and the Postal Service’s presence in contested markets, it has a special duty to ensure it does not wield its monopoly and government privileges unfairly against companies that have no such advantages. (p.67)
The challenge today, however, is far more complex. Postal workers enjoy special status within the Federal workforce. They are granted the right to negotiate wages, hours, and workplace conditions through collective bargaining. The 1970 Act was debated and enacted against the dramatic backdrop of the first major strike of Federal workers in U.S. history, involving approximately 152,000 postal employees in 671 locations. The strike was particularly paralyzing to business in New York City, the country’s financial center. The strike was over shortly after it began, and in 1971, the U.S. government signed the first comprehensive Federal labor contract ever achieved through collective bargaining. The ongoing right to collective bargaining (absent the option to strike) was a key outcome, in addition to language in the 1970 Act requiring the Postal Service to offer compensation to employees that is comparable to the private sector. (p.108)
The Postal Service Pays More than 76% of its Revenues to Employees
The Postal Service employs approximately 843,000 people in both career and noncareer positions (Exhibit 6-1), making its workforce more than twice the size of the United Parcel Service and more than four times the size of FedEx. All tallied, the Postal Service’s workforce as of 2002 was second in size only to Wal-Mart in the United States and was the fourth largest civilian workforce in the world (Exhibit 6-2). Approximately, one out of every three civilian employees of the U.S. government works for the Postal Service.3 Given these facts, it comes as little surprise that more than $3 out of every $4 earned by the institution in Fiscal Year 2002—some $51.5 billion of $66.5 billion—went to pay the wages and benefits of its employees.4 Unlike their private-sector counterparts, however, total compensation costs are largely outside management’s control. Benefits are effectively set by statute. Costs for retiree health care and pension plans are skyrocketing for all employers, and the Postal Service has unfunded obligations for retiree health benefits of approximately $48 billion.5 Yet retiree health care and pension benefits are effectively “off the table” of collective bargaining. (p.110)
In sum, these benefits accounted for just under $20 billion of the $51.5 billion the
Postal Service spent on its employees in Fiscal Year 2002—almost $1 out of every $3 the Postal Service spent in that fiscal year.13 A lack of negotiating authority with respect to these costs would be intolerable to most private-sector companies. They should be brought within the collective bargaining process at the business-oriented Postal Service, as well. (p.118)
Nearly half a million Americans today are retired postal workers. As a result, pension and retiree health benefits alone comprise $6 billion of the annual $12 billion the
Postal Service pays out in fringe benefits.16 As pension and health care costs skyrocket for all employers, the Postal Service is not alone in its need to manage this large liability effectively. Postal Service employees, too, have a stake in this effort. Particularly given the fact that more than 45% of the Postal Service’s career workforce is within a decade of the minimum retirement age (Exhibit 6-3), involving these benefits in the collective bargaining process will ensure that the health care needs of future postal retirees are adequately addressed as the Postal Service works to control and manage this large category of expense. (p.123)
March 16th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
US Postal Service won’t let you refuse mail.
If the US Postal Service would abide by its own rule, each homeowner could easily stop junk mail from getting into their mailbox by putting a written notice on their mailbox expressing their preference.
The US Postal Services practices are supposed to be according to the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM). The DMM contains provision 508.1.1.2 that says, “Refusal at Delivery: The addressee may refuse to accept a mailpiece when it is offered for delivery.” I interpret this rule to mean that if a homeowner wants to refuse an unwanted mailpiece (i.e. junk mail), the homeowner can do so when the mailpiece is offered for delivery. More to the point – refuse it before it is put into the mailbox!
In practical application, since the postal carrier comes to homes at different times each day, the homeowner cannot be waiting at the mailbox to dialogue with the mail carrier about each mailpiece. The only realistic way to interpret 508.1.1.2 therefore is that the homeowner should post a notice on the mailbox telling the postal carrier about the homeowner’s preference. The notice to the postal service must be specific and unambiguous. For instance, a homeowner should certainly be able to write, “No mail that is not addressed to the Jones” because that does not require the postal carrier to make a subjective judgment. On the other hand, it would not be acceptable to write “no junk mail” because the definition of “junk mail” is subjective and the mail carrier cannot decide.
Unfortunately, the US Postal Service has written to me that they will NOT honor a notice refusing mail, not matter how specifically it is worded, because the postal carrier does not have time to sort through the mail at my mailbox to pick out the pieces that are not addressed to me. Therefore, the US Postal Service is passing their sorting and disposing task onto me by putting all the mail they want into my mailbox, even though this seemingly violates 508.1.1.2.
Since the U.S. Postal Service will not abide by 508.1.1.2, homeowners need to stop unwanted mail at the source (i.e. by blocking the sender from sending it). We need a nationwide “Do Not Mail” law to create a one-stop, convenient place for homeowners to give senders notice that we do not want certain kinds of mail sent to our homes.
http://www.newdream.org/emails/ta19.html
Signed,
Ramsey A Fahel
November 10th, 2008 at 10:34 am
To stop junk mail I been using http://www.MyJunkTree.com to stop junk mail, it provides me with a central location in which I can stop the junk mail and solicitations from more than 1300 catalogs and more than 5000 charity/nonprofit organizations, credit card companies, banks and data brokers, and stopping the delivery of national phone books. This green site also will plant trees with each new membership. As an added convenience you can sign on the Do Not Call list and get a copy of your credit report.