The next step I am taking is to stop the rest of the junk mail. I have read about some other services that work with all kinds of junk mail, but several require a fee: 41pounds and GreenDimes are a few. The best option I have found so far is through the Direct Marketing Association and costs $1, but in my opinion, that is one dollar well spent. You are able to put up to 5 names per address which is nice since I still get a lot of junk mail sent to my maiden name. I recently signed us up and was surprised by the "are you sure" page. They post the following information to try to convince you to stay on the list (I added the bold formatting to highlight certain content).
Important: you have selected to eliminate all mailings from organizations participating in the DMA Mail Preference Service.
What you will miss.
The average household can save 1200 dollars per year from marketing offers.
You will no longer receive savings offers from these companies.
In fact, you will no longer receive offers and special savings for more than 80 percent of all commercial offers.
And you will miss the environmental benefits of shopping at home rather than driving to the mall!
By replacing just two shopping trips to the mall each year with shopping by catalogs or direct mail, DMA estimates that Americans could:When you click here, your name will be removed from future consumer prospect lists and you will see a significant reduction in all catalog and other commercial offers. If you wish to reconsider, click here and uncheck the box removing your name from DMA's member prospect lists.
- Reduce the amount we drive by 3.3 billion miles.
- Reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 3 billion pounds.
- Save more than $490 million on gas costs.
DMA and all its members support the Commitment to Consumer Choice guidelines designed to better serve consumers and your right to choose to receive more of what you want and less of what you don't want. If you have questions about the CCC please visit the DMA web site homepage.
I found it interesting that they were pointing out the environmental benefits to receiving junk mail. Perhaps some people drive to stores often enough that receiving tons of paper is healthier for the planet, but I don't fall into that category. Also, I would rather spend my time searching online for the few products that I shop for each year, than waste it sifting through junk mail to find the two coupons I would use. So here is to fewer pieces of junk mail and more time to spend reading useful things like books!
3 comments:
I was surprised to see you mention that it costs a dollar to do this. I have had this(http://lifehacker.com/344482/dma-drops-mailing-preference-list-fee) post from lifehacker in my starred Google reader feeds for some time now, stating that the fee no longer applies.
Looking at the form, it looks to me like if you send it via snail mail (there is some irony there anyway) it costs $1, but online it is free.
They do require a credit card number it looked like though, where they would authorize you without placing a charge. I would use one of the disposable numbers offered by your credit card company, just in case.
I think you are right. I signed up using a credit card, but Firefox crashed before I could finish. I went back in and our account had been created, but I wasn't sure if our preference had gone through. That's great to know!
Great post on Catalog Choice
I wanted to give you a heads-up on another great Web site that I thought your readers would find interesting and help them de-clutter their mailboxes and simplify their lives.
Its called ProQuo.com, a free, easy-to-use site that gives you the ability to remove yourself from the most commonly used marketing lists in a matter of minutes!
Who knew that Americans receive nearly four million tons of junk mail each year and the average consumer can be on thousands of marketing mailing lists at any time? We are flooded with unwanted advertisements, credit card offers and political propaganda, which can bury the mail we are looking for…not to mention create a drain on the environment.
Take care,
Carly VanDyke
PainePR
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