friday, november 18, 2016
How to stop getting paper junk mail
When I get a piece of paper mail addressed to me — or to somebody who moved out of my apartment years ago — a game begins: how to unsubscribe so that I don’t get mail from that place again? I win this game when I get zero pieces of unwanted mail in my mailbox.
If you want to win this game too (and you also live in the United States), here are my tips for unsubscribing from almost every kind of commercial and nonprofit promotional mail.
Overall strategy: As I sort my mailbox every day, I stash a representative sample of each kind of junk mail. Then about once a month I find 15 minutes and a bit of energy to do unsubscribe requests, and I go through the stack and file a bunch of requests. Sometimes I don’t want to bother and just recycle everything instead, and that’s fine too.
Quick wins
Fill out these online forms to stop receiving entire categories of unwanted mail:
- OptOutPrescreen.com: opt out of credit card offers (more info from the FTC).
- DMAChoice.org: opt out of several kinds of direct marketing mail.
- Yellow Pages Opt Out: opt out of phone books.
- CatalogChoice: this is designed to help you opt out of catalogs. It can tell you the right way to unsubscribe from something, such as telling you the customer service email address to use. It can work, but it hasn’t consistently worked for me; I’ve had better luck directly emailing the companies/nonprofits.
- PaperKarma: this app is meant to help you opt out of junk mail. It costs money. I haven’t used it, but friends like it!
- Turn off paper statements from your banks, utility companies, etc., unless you like getting paper statements. Most of these have “paperless” options in your account somewhere. Some give a discount for going paperless.
Look up unsubscribe info
After you do those quick opt-outs, when you get a new piece of unwanted mail from a company or nonprofit, try opting out with these strategies:
- Look in the fine print for opt out instructions.
- Go to the company’s website, look at its privacy policy, and see if you can find opt out instructions there.
- Check the company website contact page to see if it has an opt out form.
- Google “opt out company name” or “unsubscribe mail company name”.
Not addressed to you? For many kinds of promotional mail, you can also use these methods to unsubscribe from mail not addressed to you (such as to former residents). Most companies don’t verify identities for opt-out requests.
If you can’t find easy opt-out instructions, move on to the next steps.
Send emails requesting no mail
Go to the company/organization’s website, find the contact page, and look for a relevant email address. Relevant email addresses may include: member services, donations coordinator, giving, privacy, or a general contact/info address. Then send a polite email to ask them to stop sending mail.
Here’s a basic email template I use:
Opt-out from mail from nonprofits
Subject: Unsubscribe from paper mailing list
Hi! I receive mail from your organization. I support your mission, but I’m reducing the amount of paper in my mailbox, so I’d like to be removed from your paper mailing list. My name is ___, and my address is ___.
Thank you very much!
Opt-out from mail from companies
Subject: Unsubscribe from paper mailing list
Hi! I receive promotional mail from your company. I’m reducing the amount of paper in my mailbox, so I’d like to be removed from your paper mailing list. My name is ___, and my address is ___.
Thank you very much!
Call them to opt out
There are some companies and organizations that ignore emails or can’t process requests by email. Call their customer service line, go through the phone menu to find a person to talk to, and politely explain that you want to unsubscribe yourself or somebody else from promotional mail. Typical script: “Hi! I receive mail from your company/organization, and I’d like to stop getting it since I don’t need it. Can you remove me from your mailing list?”
Sometimes the customer service person doesn’t know to do that, so they need to find a supervisor. It’s ok. It’s good to be patient and kind with them and not argue about it if they can’t do it. It’s just mail.
Reduce mail to people who no longer live at your address
First, if you have housemates who move out, ask them to set up mail forwarding with the USPS and also ask for their new address so that you can forward them straggler mail that shows up.
Non-junk mail: For significant-looking mail (such as bills or a jury summons) to people who no longer live at your address, try these methods:
- If you know their new address, write “this person moved — forward to [new address]” on the envelope, cross out the address and barcode with one line (so that it doesn’t get returned to you), and drop it in the mail. Usually this gets to their new place.
- If you don’t know their address, write “this person moved — not at this address” on the envelope, cross out the address and barcode with one line, drop it in the mail, and hope that something useful happens.
Junk/marketing mail: For nonprofit/company mail to former residents who moved away a long time ago, I try to find an opt-out form on the nonprofit/company website, and if I can’t find one, I use this email template:
Opt-out email template for promotional mail addressed to former apartmentmate
Subject: Unsubscribe from paper mailing list
Hi! My apartment receives mail from you, addressed to a former apartmentmate who no longer lives here and didn’t provide a forwarding address. I’d like to reduce mail in my mailbox, so please remove this name and address from your mailing list.
Name and address: ____
Thanks!
And as above, if emailing doesn’t work, I call the org/company to put in an unsubscribe request.
Lifehacker offers a couple more options for dealing with persistent unwanted mail to other people.
Mail you can’t avoid
Political mail: I don’t know how to unsubscribe from local political mail, such as the pounds of flyers and brochures you receive from politicians and groups near election time. Sorry.
Southwest Rapid Rewards: If your house gets Southwest Rapid Rewards mail for a person who no longer lives at your house, Southwest won’t process an unsubscribe request unless you somehow know the person’s Rapid Rewards number (which isn’t written on the mail).
Bonus round: write down the kinds of mail you like
As you get mail and unsubscribe from most things, make yourself a list of companies/organizations/etc. that send you mail you like getting. Also write down a list of companies that don’t regularly send you mail due to paperless billing, but need to have your correct address on file so they can send you occasional important mail (such as your bank or health insurance company).
Next time you move, you’ll have a tidy list of places to notify about your address change. This prevents the next resident of your apartment/house from receiving mail they don’t want. Yay!
