The amount of junk mail sent each year in the USA is staggering—some four million tons, nearly half of which is never opened. Reducing the amount of junk mail you receive will lessen the impact that junk mail production has on the environment.
Most companies and organizations rent your name and address unless you specifically ask them not to. To remove your name from most marketing mailing lists, send your name and address to:
Direct Marketing Association
Mail Preference Service
P.O. Box 9008
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008
Include your name and address in all the ways it appears on your junk mail. Your information will be kept active for five years.
Direct Marketing Association estimates that listing with their mail preference service will stop 75% of all national mailings to your address. But it will only discontinue mail from companies that you have never ordered from before.
Opt Out from America Online CD Advertisement Mailing
Call AOL Customer Service to remove your name from the AOL CD mailing list.
AOL subscribers call 1-800-827-6364
Non-subscribers call 1-888-265-8002
Just tell the AOL Customer Service representative you want to be removed from their mail list and they will assist you. This only removes you from the advertisement mail list.
Additional Ways to
Stop Unwanted Mail
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Remove your name from existing mailing lists - If you receive mail you don’t want, let the sender know. Return the reply card or call the 800 number and request to be taken off their mailing list. While you’re it, ask who gave them your name so you can contact the distributor and request that they stop renting your name. |
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Request your name not be shared - When you order a product, give your name to a store, organization, or publication, or fill out a warranty card, always request that your name not be shared. Credit card companies probably sell your name most often. Call and ask them not to release your name and address to anyone for marketing, mailing, or promotional purposes. |
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Track who is selling your name to other companies - Whenever you order from a catalog or make a donation, use the initials of the company as your middle initial (for LL Bean write Jane LL Smith). This way, if unwanted mail arrives at your door you will be able to track who is giving out your name and can request that they stop. |
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Cut back on credit card offers - Call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688) to stop major credit companies from sending you credit card offers. |
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Prepare for next year - Tape these instructions to the November page of your calendar so you remember what to do if you are inundated with unwanted mail again next holiday season. |
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For more information - Visit the following Internet sites for additional information on how to stop junk mail, telemarketing calls, and junk e-mail: |
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