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Banish junk mail

By Lori Bongiorno

Posted Thu Mar 5, 2009 2:42pm PST

More from The Conscious Consumer blog

Sick of all the junk mail piling up in your mailbox and home? While it's virtually impossible to stop all unwanted mail and catalogs, there are ways to seriously curtail the onslaught.

It's worth the effort, when you consider that junk mail is a colossal waste of time and resources (paper, energy, etc.). The average American household gets 848 pieces of junk mail a year, and we'll each spend about eight months of our lives dealing with it.

The easiest and cheapest solution to stopping junk mail doesn't exist yet: A national Do Not Mail registry (similar to the Do Not Call list Congress created in 2003).

In the meantime, here are some options worth trying while we wait for the government to take action. You'll have to decide for yourself how much time or money you're willing to spend and adjust your expectations accordingly. Don't expect to see significant results for the first 2 to 4 months.

Free services and DIY strategies

Catalog Choice helps you control how many catalogs you get. The free service has a huge database of retailers that have agreed to honor requests. Some companies (Garnet Hill, Gaiam, CB2, and more) allow you to choose how many catalogs you'd like to receive in a year. So if you like flipping through catalogs featuring sale items or holiday gift ideas, you can still get them. It took me about 15 minutes to create an account and cancel a medium-sized stack of catalogs, although I'm pretty sure I'll have to do this again. I won't mind, since it was relatively painless and I felt a huge sense of satisfaction when I was done.

ForestEthics helps you do the legwork yourself by giving you a relatively short list of direct mailers to call or email. Click links to the Direct Marketing Association, Val-Pak, and OptOutPrescreen.com (to put an end to all those preapproved credit card offers), where you can request to have your address removed from various lists. Some large junk mailers require you to make removal requests via U.S. Postal Service. Enter your name and address into this form to download request forms for each one. I printed out the PDF form, signed 18 pieces of paper, slipped them into envelopes, and popped them in the mail. Total time spent: 30 minutes (not including expected follow-up). Estimated cost for supplies and postage: $10.

Eco-Cycle and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse also offer their assistance in helping you tackle junk mail on your own. Although I found the combination of Catalog Choice and ForestEthics to be easiest for me, these might be easier for you.

Services you pay for

41pounds.org, named for the amount of junk mail the average adult receives in a year, is a nonprofit that says it will get rid of 80 to 95% of unwanted catalogs and junk mail. Everyone in your household is covered for 5 years, even through name changes and moving. If you're not satisfied with the results, you can ask for your money back. Added bonus: $15 of the fee is donated to a charity of your choice. Cost: $41 for 5 years ($8.20 a year).

MailStopper (formerly GreenDimes) says it will stop up to 90% of your junk mail in 90 days. Includes catalogs, grocery store circulars, credit card offers, and more. Added bonus: The company plants five trees when you join. Cost: $20 for 1 year.

Stop the Junk Mail claims that it will reduce your junk mail and catalogs by up to 90%. Added bonus: One tree is planted for every new subscription. Cost: $19.95 for 1 year.

Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green's users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book "Green, Greener, Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-Smart Choices a Part of Your Life" is available on Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon.com.

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Showing 226 - 238 of 238 comments

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Posted by Lollypop Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:17pm PDT
So where will all the endangered Tigers, Lions, Horses, Donkeys, Lizards and Polarbears go once the trees of their habitat are turned into junk mail. We should feed the junk mail people to these critters to help them stay alive and survive.
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Posted by meeso77 Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:17pm PDT
I throw mass mailings away at the garbage can next to the mailbox in my apartment complex. No big deal.
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Posted by Amelia Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:45pm PDT
banish it all - get the trash out!
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Posted by Daniela Sat Mar 28, 2009 11:09am PDT
It is about time our government takes action to stop junk mail. With the state of our Earth, it is completely unacceptable that so much paper is being wasted. As the nation responsible for the majority of the world's pollution, the U.S. owes it to the world to END JUNK MAIL!!
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Posted by KevinM Sun Mar 29, 2009 9:24am PDT
Been tired for years of junk mail and have tryed many ways to stop it to no avail.When is the P.O. gonna get it and be part of the solution? Never I guess as long as they get thay 44 pennys,if that.And they wonder why our postal service is such a mess as well as otherr things going on there
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Posted by affiliations Sun Mar 29, 2009 12:27pm PDT
Nothing more annoying, wasteful and useless. Cut the postal service down to 4 days a week, lower the price of stamps to $.20 each, cut junk mail to solicited only and eliminate thousands of unneeded, non-economic government jobs. We need to be a more efficient society and this would be one way.
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Posted by sdclapp20 Wed Apr 1, 2009 10:26am PDT
Yes! Get rid of junk mail! The only attention I give to junk mail is to throw it in the recycling bin at the post office! What a waste!
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Posted by WHITEBOY Thu Apr 9, 2009 5:01am PDT
PLEASE STOP THE JUNK MAIL --IF THERE IS SOMETHING OUT THERE THAT I WANT ILL GO GET IT MYSELF. I DONT NEED ANY COAXING.IVE ALREADY GOT INSURANCE,IVE GOT CREDIT CARDS.ETC...QUIT WASTING PAPER.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Posted by olalekan o Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:52pm PDT
no more junk mail
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Posted by JoeK Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:11am PDT
I think if the postal service would go ahead and charge all charities twenty-five cents for each piece of mail and cut the mail deliverly to four days a week it would really help cut down on the junk mail. It's time the charities start paying their fair share of mailing their junk mail. When you put junk mail in the shredder it really makes good fertilizer in the flower beds.
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Posted by GamiyaL Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:53am PDT
i hate junk mail it makes me mad!!!!!!! sometimes my friends send me stuff but i have to all the way down because of junk mail ... im fed up with this
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Posted by snowflake Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:56pm PDT
My hottie mailman told me if it wasn't for junk mail he wouldn't have a job. Get a grip and recycle it. For those of you with children- Elmers makes a "paper recycling factory". My child loves making her own paper for cards and decorations.
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Posted by freddy Wed Sep 9, 2009 7:34pm PDT
Ijust mail back the prepaid envelopes and postacrds they send me with false info filled out to clog up THEIR mailboxes and waste THEIR time.You'd be surprised how fast they stop sending you junk.
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