 |
|
BANG FOR THE BITE
If 10,000 Biters eliminate their junk mail, in a year we'll save the weight of 199 U.S. Postal Service trucks in paper.
COCKTAIL FACT
The average American gets 1.5 personal letters each week and 10.8 pieces of junk mail.
| SAVE TO MY BITES |  |
FORWARD TO A FRIEND:
RATE THIS TIP:
How useful is this tip to you?
(5 is the highest)
home › tip library › How to Stop Junk Mail
Is your mailbox a junk mail graveyard?
The Bite
Help it rest in peace. Unwanted mail crowds out invites and tax refunds, and uses up valuable natural resources like trees, water, and energy. Point, click, and put to rest credit-card offers and catalog clutter once and for all.The Benefits
- Keeps you out of the sanitarium. Each American receives almost 560 pieces of junk mail per year - more than enough to drive you crazy.
- Saves energy. Junk mail consumes more energy than 2.8 million cars every year.
- More trees. Annually, 100 million trees are used to make junk mail.
- More free time. Americans waste about 8 hours per year dealing with junk mail.
Personally Speaking
Ever since we removed our names from junk mail lists, we've had to revert to grade school, writing grocery lists on our palms.Wanna Try?
- DirectMail.com - free, quick way to get your name off commercial mailing lists.
- OptOutPrescreen.com - opt out of pre-approved credit card and insurance offers online or by phone: 1-888-5-OPTOUT.
- EcoLogical Mail Coalition - helps businesses stop mail addressed to former employees.
- Native Forest Network's Guide - five easy steps to stop junk mail.
Jun 25,2007
Sponsor
All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
You’ve Got Mail, But You Can’t Have It
I'm always surprised at how efficiently mail I don't want arrives, while getting mail I actually do want (or really need) involves endless follow-up with the post office or my elusive building manager. Before my flurry of no-call, no-send, no-freaking-way-are-you-allowed-to-solicit-me signups, I'd get a host of catalogs from affiliates of a store where I'd bought something only two days before. Meanwhile, it once took three weeks of fruitless inquiries before a two-day certified-mail package I was expecting found it's way to the top of my mailbox for anyone to nab (without the required signature, mind you).
I just finished the book Entre Nous: A Guide to Finding Your Inner French Girl, and it contained two particularly useful insights: 1) If you feel like taking a nap, take a nap (bien sur!), and 2) make friends with whoever delivers your mail, so they'll be more inclined to deliver your courrier important. I've got the first one covered (and how!), but the second is taking some work. It's either because we literally don't speak the same language...or, well, maybe my cookies just suck.
Got tips for winning the respect and admiration of your mail-delivery peeps? Do tell.
-Jenifer Morgan... off to win postal friends before going postal...
I just finished the book Entre Nous: A Guide to Finding Your Inner French Girl, and it contained two particularly useful insights: 1) If you feel like taking a nap, take a nap (bien sur!), and 2) make friends with whoever delivers your mail, so they'll be more inclined to deliver your courrier important. I've got the first one covered (and how!), but the second is taking some work. It's either because we literally don't speak the same language...or, well, maybe my cookies just suck.
Got tips for winning the respect and admiration of your mail-delivery peeps? Do tell.
-Jenifer Morgan... off to win postal friends before going postal...
Biter Comments...
www.greendimes.com
Greendimes gets rid of your junk mail and plants a tree for you every month for only a dime a day (totaling $3/ month)!! Since signing up with them in November, I have days where I recieve NO mail at all!!
Thanks for the comment, Katie! I am also a greendimer and love it. I gave it as a gift for Mother's Day and it was very much appreciated.
Thanks, Katie! I'm a Greendimer too!! They do great stuff!
Love the sites you provided to reduce junk mail, but not so sure I want to provide my Social Security number to OptOutPrescreen.com. Has anyone had any trouble when providing that info to this site?
Another GreenDimes member here - I'm surprosed this "bite" didn't mention them. I find them to be a very creative, well organized, great environmental organization - they not only drastically reduce my junk mail but also actively work to improve the environment (like by planting trees in strategic places etc).
I've called, written, e-mailed everything I can think of (that is free), and I can get the junk reduced for about 3 to 4 months, then it seems I always have to start again from square one. I cannot tell you how many evenings I have spent on the phone with cataloge companies I have NO interest in, attmepting to get my name OFF their mailing lists. Some of the nicer ones will actually tell you where they got your address, and you can sometimes track down the original company that gave out your address. I find it is frequently a magazine company. I'll be looking into greendimer. Thanks for the great tips!
I recently came across another one that sounds good. Its www.41pounds.org, and only costs $41 for 5 years of service. They work with and are partnered with StopGlobalWarming.org and several other environmental groups, in addition to donating 1/3 of the fee to a community organization or ecological group of your choice. They also have a fundraising program that can help your schools or any other group you may belong to.
another greendimer here. i get almost no junk mail at all, and if i do get a new catalog, i log into my greendimes account and add that to my list. it's also great because you can add the names of others who live with you, or get mail. i also added the name of the guy who used to live in my apt. he gets more crap than i do. and trees!! planting trees! what's nicer than that? surprised as well that ideal bite didn't include this company.
Just FYI, all - we've mentioned GreenDimes in the past, but decided to keep this particular tip on free services only. I actually plan on getting a GD gift subscription for my parents for their next anniversary.
I used to make money working for friends getting them off junk mail lists when I didn't have a "real" job. I stopped nearly all of their junk mail within a month. One main thing you need to do is tell companys when you sign up to get there catalog etc. is do not sell,or give away my name and address to anyone else or I will cease to do business with you. There are other good tips on this blog,follow them yourself and you wont have to pay someone else to get you off junk marketing lists. Bottom line for me is that I literally get about 1 percent junk mail,honest. If I do get something, I immediately call 1-800#'s,or write them at their expense and tell them to remove me now. I tell them I don't order via mail catalogs and I'm not going to start (fib). Also I ask them, what company did they get my number from,and then I call that company and rag on them. It works. If we hit them in their pocket book the junksters will get the message. Remember the unk mail paper was a tree,recycle,but reduce first! It's easy and brainless,and you too can get 0 junk mail.
Another way to reduce your incoming postal mail is to sign up for online billing with your bank. Most utilities will then email your bills to you and you pay online without worrying about envelopes or stamps. I know Bank of America offers this for free with Standard Checking. I am not sure about others.
For all you Biters north of the border, GreenDimes (www.greendimes.com) is now available in Canada!
Thanks for sharing free tips Biters can take to reduce their junk mail. Yes, Biters can do all the leg-work themselves for free, but it takes a lot of time and effort, and most likely you'll still get a lot of junk mail.
As mentioned above, 41 Pounds is a great service that will do the work for you (41 Pounds is named after the amount of junk mail the average person gets each year). For $41 (about 2 cents a day), 41 Pounds will contact 20++ direct marketing companies, plus the catalog companies you select, and get you off a LOT of lists for 5 years. 41 Pounds partners with and donates more than 1/3 of your fee to nonprofits such as Trees for the Future and StopGlobalWarming.org. For people who don't have the time or zest to contact all the sources of junk mail, signing up for 41 Pounds is a quick and easy option.
Junk catalogs really don't seem to be my problem. What is... all the weekly sales ads that go out to each box. I live in an apartment complex where dozens of people just take these ads straight out of the box and throw them in the trash. I try to collect what I can and add to my recycle box. But there has to be something better. If anyone out there has a great way to jump start recycling in apt complexes, please post.
follow up to comment.... forgive my spelling errors. Oh, and I went to both sites to have my name removed from the lists. Does optout cover student loan offers? Anyone with a student loan has painted a target on their mailbox for junk mail.
quote:
Junk catalogs really don't seem to be my problem. What is... all the weekly sales ads that go out to each box. I live in an apartment complex where dozens of people just take these ads straight out of the box and throw them in the trash. I try to collect what I can and add to my recycle box. But there has to be something better. If anyone out there has a great way to jump start recycling in apt complexes, please post.
--------------------
Maybe talk to the manager about placing a green recycle bin near the mailboxes to help raise awareness. You could also suggest a community bulletin board where a copy of ads could be placed and get the local postmaster to stop delivering them. Though I think you can optout of junkmail through the USPS as well. Contact your local postmaster.
junk mail can be safely composted. i believe it was Ryton organic gardens who performed tests and found that the composting process makes all that nasty ink and shiny stuff harmless.I've been integrating it into my compost for years now.
Just scrunch it up into balls to increase surface area and chuck it on in.
It's not so much the addressed mail that's a problem for me, but the wads of flyers. Some of the real-estate ads seem to be coated in plastic. What can I do with them?
For the credit card companies, I take all the bits and pieces ('personalized letter', forms, full-colour brochures) and stuff them in the prepaid envelope and send them back. (I tear off anything with my name or account number). Sure, it's a bit sick but it does make me feel better.
When telemarketers call, I have been giving the phone to my son, however now he's old enough to make sense on the phone so I'll have to stop that (it was funny when he was two).
I can't say enough about how much I love being a Biter. This tip has made my day; I've been trying to figure out how to stop the junk mail for six months now! Since I do 90% of my billing and banking online, almost all of my mail is junk.
I'm going to write about this tip and put your website address on my MySpace Page so everyone who goes to give me inane comments today will hopefully sign up to this website.
I mean, who in there right mind wouldn't? =P
(Note: If doing that will not be cool to you, please let me know.)
I use greendimes.com as my goto gift these days. I get to give someone less as a gift! Though I've had to have follow-up coaching sessions with my parents on several occasions.
On the flyers from the USPS opt-out(or talking to the postmaster)... how do you do that? Is there a website? Just leave them a note?
I am also a greendimer & it's great! There are some days we don't get any mail at all! :)
Gidday,
I am the owner of another online service called www.stopthejunkmail.com, we have been helping our members opt out of postal junk mail online since 2001.
I would like to offer up some advice if I may? My best tip if you who are still trying to do it yourselves is to make sure that you don't shop online or buy from catalogs if you can avoid it. I know that's hard to do because it is sooooo convenient!
Some of you said that you get rid of it all for about 3-4 months and then it starts up again. The reason for this is because once you order again you are back on the mailing lists and then they share, sell and rent your personal info again! So it builds up. That's why an online service is beneficial because you can keep up with it all the time and we keep a history of your requests online within easy access. It is an ongoing process that you need to keep a close eye on.
So how do you shop now? Why not support your local stores and go out and have fun shopping again? When you shop at your stores you are contributing to your town taxes which help build new schools, playgrounds, keep up parks, plant trees in your area, build bike paths and much more.
Keep up the good work everyone!
Cheerio
Margot
I will have to check it out I think
I use greendimes.com as my goto gift these days. I get to give someone less as a gift! Though I’ve had to have follow-up coaching sessions with my parents on several occasions.
On the flyers from the USPS opt-out(or talking to the postmaster)… how do you do that? Is there a website? Just leave them a note?
Toronto Lofts
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Michelle Lynne Goodfellow | June 25, 2007 at 04:59 AM