I get waaaaaaaaay too much mail at my house, ie catalogs flyers, "newspapers". I think I get a flyer from Target and Walmart every single day. I think I should only get mail I ask for ie bills, letters from bussiness' I use, letters from friends, catalogs from companies I buy from. Anyone with any ideas how I can stop getting all this junk? I try not to give out my address to anyone or any business if I dont have too. I bet i recieve about 30 Lbs of junk mail per week!

-- Colin (cew74@yahoo.com), July 27, 2000

Answers

Contact your local post office and ask them for the address for removal from the "Direct Mail Marketing Association" list. They will provide you with the address where you can write to ask that your name be removed. It will take time for removal, and you should know that not all direct marketers are members of the association. Also, that eventually your name will go onto new lists, so this is an ongoing process every few years. Be reminded too that some mass mailings are to "resident", "occupant", etc. along with your address, and you won't be removed from those or those such as Wal-mart and Target. Cable TV is the worst in our area for sending out weekly mailings. You should also know that it is bulk mailings that provide a greater income for the Postal Service than first class income. In other words, if everyone were to stop flyers, ads, etc. first class rates would probably have to go up to cover the costs of service, but at the same time landfills would get less materical and trees might be saved. I use a chipper/shredder and grind it all into compost making ingredients.

-- Notforprint (Not@thekeyboard.com), July 27, 2000.

Best bet is to contact the offending junk mailers and ask them to remove you from their solicitaion list.

But if that fails, and I do hope some marketing people happen to read this - when I get junk mail I didn't request - it goes in the burn barrel - UNREAD!

-- Eric in TN (ems@nac.net), July 27, 2000.

I get almost no junk mail. I get almost no direct marketing calls. I get almost no junk e-mail.

When you write to the Direct Marketing Association (and, sorry I have their address here but can't find it) request to be placed on both of their don't call and don't write lists.

When I get a tele-marketing call, I ask to speak with their supervisor. But it can be a boiler room or a hired individual calling from their home. Tell them in no uncertain terms you do not want to ever be called again by the company they represent.

For the junk mail I do receive, if it comes more than once I send them one of those pre-stamped postcards from the post office, which includes the mailing label, telling them to take me off of their d**m mailing list.

Basically do the same thing for unwanted e-mails.

It must work judged from the very low volume of unwanted contacts I get.

-- Ken S. (scharabo@aol.com), July 27, 2000.

I hate the wasted paper from all the junk mail! I call companies direct if they are sending catalogs that we don't want and they usually stop but the Wal-Mart papers and all that usually just show up anyway!

For the callers, we get calls all the time saying they want us to have such and such credit card. I simply tell them "we don't believe in credit cards" and hang up! They probably think it's some kind of religious thing but we just don't want to go in debt like that! Also, on phone solicitors I usually just hang up! I hate to be rude but when I'm busy I don't have time to talk with them so the receiver just goes boom or I simply interupt when they start their spiel and say I don't have time to talk to you and then hang up!

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), July 27, 2000.

I had a solicitor call one time for my mother. i told him very politely before he started his long story that we weren't interested, thanked him and hung up. He called back and told me he wasn't finished talking to me!!! let's just say he and his supervisor got a huge butt chewing and i'm sure he had been givin the opportunity to look for employment somewhere else.

-- Amber (ambrosia75_@hotmail.com), July 27, 2000.

Go to junkbusters.com and work through their process and print the letters. Will cost about $6 in stamps to mail them all. The nice feeling comes when you get the replys that your name is _permanetly_ removed from their lists.

Only if you move do you have to do it again. Takes about 60-90 days for it to take effect.

I'll be happy to share my experiences if anyone cares to email direct.

j

-- j (jw_hsv@yahoo.com), July 27, 2000.

Suzy, ME TOO!!!!! I hate those calls! I have had the rudest people call me up, asking for my husband by his first name. My husband belongs to a railroad club and I barely know a few of them. Thus, when someone asks for him by name I assume that they are from his club. Needless to say when I find out it is a telemarketer I really start chewing butt. annette

-- annette (j_a_henry@yahoo.com), July 27, 2000.

My requests to the direct marketing assoc. have paid off. I always ask phone solicitors,the very few that still call, to remove me from their call list. This also helps. I don't enter sweepstakes of any kind, or giveaways. That starts everything again!

Try sending back the pre-paid cards with "deceased-remove from list" It works.

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), July 27, 2000.

Our junk mail is EXTREMELY minimal. For these three reasons: 1. We do not have a credit card (Debt is dumb and Cash is King). 2. We do not subscribe to MAINSTREAM magazines (Only our cherished Countryside). 3.When unwanted mail arrives and they furnish the post-paid return envelope I cross through our name and address and write this note on the mailing: "Please remove from mailing list. NO JUNK MAIL! I prefer my trees in the forest, not in my mailbox. Debt is dumb and cash is king. Live simply so that others may simply live." I then include in the envelope ALL of the paper they sent. Maybe I can give the opener something to think about. It's called "planting the seed" in our house. I have been doing this for many years and it really works. It's just so automatic. Friends have actually bought expensive books on how to do this simple exercise! It's amazing all the things people would rather have than money--and then complain about being in debt. The little stuff can add up quickly.

-- Sandy (smd2@netzero.net), July 28, 2000.

My husband once put in a Change of Address Form for both Occupant and Resident. The post office said, you can't do this, but they chuckled and put it through anyhow. It worked for a while....!

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), July 28, 2000.