WHAT do you do with all the junk mail you get?!

I get tons of junk mail daily. Anything and everything, especially credit card offers. It piles up and I can't get rid of it! I put the envelopes etc. in the recyle stack and then I have to shred everything that comes with our names and info on it. GGGRRR!! I have a huge stack of things now that I need to shred because I never throw it out, and even with that I've had someone try to get a credit card using my name! I'm hoping there is a way to get them to stop!

If you find one let me know we get tons here to.

Sure will Mitch, but it'll cost you a plant. ;)

Any junk mail you get that has paid envelopes to send in your info send it off blank inside of course. If all did this the companies would have to stop for all the time and money spent to pay postage and the people to open blank forms. At the very least the satisfaction they are getting JUNK mail back! LOL

This is a different scenario, but you may want to know it. Companies like Mobil, etc, who include a lot of "offers" with their monthly statement, which I hope we all just throw away, will stop stuffing them into your envelopes if you simply call their toll free numbers and ask them too. Also, if you want to stop getting a lot of those "junk" catalogues, call their toll free numbers and ask them to take you off their mailing list. I did it with Victoria's Secret and a couple of others. They're happy to do it because it's a waste for them to send them to you if you're just throwing it out.

Yeah, I'd have to chunk that VS cataloge too. No need to be frustrated AND depressed! lol

Sure thing - well worth the cost... are you heading to the trade Sunday? Will see you then...

I have thought about getting all the mailers with the prepaid envelopes - stuff everything back in there with a note to please do not send more and see if that helps. For mags just take them to the PO with a note return to sender taped in the address area (you will have to drop them in the outside boxes or they will not take them) and so far with the three I tried it works.

Mitch

You may be able to sort out some of your mail and handle it in the following way. Any mail that says "Address Service Requested" (or anything simular) under the mailers address can be returned by writing "REFUSED"on the outside of the mail peice. Any mail pieces that are sent to you at first class or presorted standard (PRSRT) rates you can do the same. Mail sent at non-profit or bulk rates will not be returned to the mailer, they will end up in the "dead mail pile" (unless the mailer has printed "Address Service Requested" on it). Using the Business Reply envelope provided by the mailer, to enclose the original envelope with your address on it and REFUSED written on it, will cost them money and hopefully encourage them to do the right thing and remove you from their mailing list. Personally I would not want to put a credit card offer back in the mail I would destroy it. Also remember that it may take a couple of months for the company to remove you from their mailing list. This is because they send the jobs out to large mailing companies that do the work well in advance, and it can not be pulled from the system at that point. Probably more info. than what you want or trouble you want to take but just thought I would share. :)

Luckily I live way out in the country and can burn all that stuff.

i've been shredding everything and i'm going to use it for mulch. maybe it will work, maybe not, but i'm trying it. debi

Thanks Merigold, I will start looking at the postage and see what I can return.

Debi, I've thought about that too, or at least adding it in to compost or something. I went thru old bills last night and now I have another huge stack.

If I got all my bills by ebill I would have less to shred, but I'm still old fashioned in that I like to see them. Actually, it's more like I need to see them or I'll forget them.

Stuff that I think is "sensitive", I will shred and put in the compost pile. I don't have enough that I have to worry about the possibility of toxins or heavy metals or whatever it is that might be in colored paper or inks. I have also saved stuff up and burned it in the fireplace in the winter. The rest goes into the recycle bin. We're fortunate that the city collects all clean paper for recycling. Sometimes I will use catalogue pages for wrapping things for mailing, since they are cleaner to handle than newspaper. Of course that's just a tiny, tiny dent in the catalogue population.


At least they've stopped sending out AOL CDs.

I recycle all of it. It would be nice if they had a no junk mail list, like the do not call list! At least the junk mail isn't as disruptive, though, so I just recycle it with the envelopes from the bills.

I don't burn it as that contributes to particulate pollution in the air. I have asthma, so I'm especially sensitive to that-- and I'm sure there are lots of other people out there like me, too. I've become a lot more sensitive to problems like that since I've developed one. :)

Try this:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/optoutalrt.htm

mg

FANTASTIC!!! I'm bookmarking this right now! Thanks!

Oh yes! That's IT!! Thank you!!

That's terrific information. Thank you. I'm going to get that all done within the next few days. I just keep thinking that if I wanted credit from all these places, I could contact them. I wonder if anyone ever takes them up on it? I guess they must or the companies would stop doing it. They make me nuts. They should not have the right to check my credit unless I give express permission, like buying a car or something.

In my experience, the NY address referenced above works for catalogues from companies that you have never ordered from. However, if you have ordered from a place, you'll be on their mailing list forever.