Stop Junk Mail: My Earth Day Effort
Earth Day: The Day After
It’s the day after Earth Day. I didn’t post about it yesterday because (a) I didn’t get around to it, and (b) I didn’t think there was anything that Mrs. PT and I should be doing that we aren’t. Well, Patrick over at Cash Money Life posted about 12 Energy Saving Tips which reminded me of one thing I need to be doing to help Mother Earth: I need to stop receiving junk mail.
Here’s what I’ve done so far:
OptOutPrescreen.com
Today I completed the opting-out process at OptOutPrescreen.com which removes my name from lists supplied by the Consumer Credit Reporting Companies (Equifax, Experian, Innovis and TransUnion) to be used for firm (preapproved / prescreened) offers of credit or insurance. This took less than 5 minutes and is effective for five years. You do have to provide you SSN and birth date.
Mrs. PT and I get no less than five credit card offers in the mail every week. It’s ridiculous. We instantly tear them up and drop them in the recycling bin. Such a waste of time and paper.
DMAChoice.org
Today I also registered with Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service which allowed me to remove my name from advertiser’s mailing lists. I complete their form, which they will send to their members, asking them to honor my preferences. This process also took less than 5 minutes. A credit card (for ID purposes) is needed to register. It is not charged. Since this process gives me a login and password, I can come back and change my preferences at any time.
Challenge to You!
I’ll promise to do a follow-up post soon to let you know if the mailings have stopped. Now I’m challenging you to get rid of your wasteful junk mail. Not only are you helping the environment, you are eliminating a lot of unnecessary spending temptation from your life.
If you’ve used one of these services and seen an effect let us know in the comments below.
6 Responses to “Stop Junk Mail: My Earth Day Effort”
By Michael on Apr 23, 2008 | Reply
Thanks! I used this and hope to be saving paper and wasted time too!!
By Patrick on Apr 23, 2008 | Reply
I hate junk mail too! Thanks for the mention.
By Shanti @ Antishay on Apr 25, 2008 | Reply
THANK YOU.
I opted out of the cc offers over a year ago (I think?) but I have been wondering how to get off all the OTHER lists that keep sending me crap. I am SO HAPPY you found the link! Now if only my local grocery stores that I never go to would stop sending me (well, “resident”) a freaking newspaper of all the deals currently going on, we’d really be getting somewhere.
By PT on Apr 27, 2008 | Reply
By Jared on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
Hi there - great post. I was on the internet researching for some work I am doing for a non profit organization based in Calif. called JunkMailFixIt. These guys spend countless hours helping people reduce junkmail through their website as a win-win partnership. Their focus is of course on the internet. The problem with junk mail is getting out there and people are finally realizing there are options to opt out of this useless waste of paper. Thanks for getting people in gear! If anyone is interested and if you don’t mind me posting a link, the website can be found here:
Stop Junk Mail!
By Garetjax on Jul 12, 2008 | Reply
Stopping Junk Mail can be a challenge, but it can be done. I use MyJunkTree and they produced results. It takes time, but the junk mail was reduced. I stopped teh credit card offers, misc junk mail, weekly coupons, phone books and all the catalogs I no longer wanted. I even signed up on teh National Do Not Call Registry from thier web site. Check out thier website.