Maybe I can help you to rid yourself of it, for a while at least!!
Did you know that the average person receives 41 pounds of junk mail every year?
Holy crap that's a lot of trees for the over 300 MILLION people in America, am I right? And these days, with everyone trying to "go green", what better time to rid your mailbox of that tired junk mail?
Now, what can you do to lessen the amount of junk mail you get every day? Well, there are a couple of things.
Believe it or not there are services out there that you can hire to call companies on your behalf to get rid of the junk mail. In particular, there are two non-profit organizations who are there to help.
The first one is called 41 Pounds. From their website: "41pounds.org is a nonprofit organization working to eliminate a big personal nuisance and environmental hazard — junk mail. Our name comes from the amount of junk mail the average person receives each year (credit card applications, catalogs, coupon books, etc.) which for the most part goes directly into the trash can or recycling bin. Even with recycling programs all over the country, the majority of household waste is junk mail, and paper takes up about 40% of landfill space!
41pounds.org was founded by three brothers in Ferndale, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit) in 2006. Since then, 41pounds.org has grown by word of mouth and through partnerships with nonprofit organizations who share our goals and our excitement about the impact of stopping junk mail."
Once you sign up for their service they contact about 20-30 companies to stop the mail. They charge $41 for 5 years of stoppage. I guess $8.50 a year isn't too bad...
The second company is called Green Dimes. They promise to reduce your junk mail by 90% in 90 days. They have your name removed from 9 common mailing lists (used by thousands of marketers) and call all of the companies who are already sending you catalogs. Then, they monitor the marketing lists on a monthly basis to assure that your name remains off the list for good.
As a bonus, they plant five trees for every member!
The price? Well, it's kind of hefty at $20 a year. But they seem to more closely monitor your status than 41 Pounds does.
If you don't have the money to spend on a service you can always resort to the always trusty "do it yourself" method. How do you do it? Well, you start off by calling all of the companies who mail you catalogs and ask them to stop!
An even more effective thing to do is to call the people who maintain the databases yourself! (Novel idea, right?)
There is a group called the Abacus Catalog Alliance who maintain a database that marketing companies use to send catalogs. You can contact them and have your name removed from their list. You can find their "opt out" information by clicking here.
You can also contact the Direct Marketing Association and choose which mailings you'd like to receive and which you'd like to discontinue. once you make your choices they remain in effect for 3 years. You can click here for more information on choosing your mailings from the DMA. You can also be removed from commercial e-mail lists (effective for 5 years).
Lastly, are you tired of all the credit card offers you get in the mail? Well, you can visit OptOutPreScreen.com, which is the official Consumer Credit Reporting Industry website. They accept and process requests from consumers to Opt-In or Opt-Out of firm offers or either credit or insurance. The best part? It's FREE!!
For more information on junk mail and responsible consumption please visit New American Dream.
What are you waiting for? Start making calls!! Until you can opt out, be sure to recycle that paper!! ^_^
