Stopping Junk Mail Catalogs: Getting Eco-Friendly and Ridding Yourself of the Paper Barage

Each year, in the U.S. over 19 billion catalogues are sent to potential consumers, and represent a staggering 53 million trees. If you’re trying to reduce your environmental footprint and get a little greener (while reducing the clutter in your mail and recycling boxes!), you can stop the junk mail catalogues that are coming to your home. Here’s how.

Put up a sign. If you have your mail delivered to your front door, you are well within your rights to put up a sign on or near your mailbox stating that you are NOT interested in any unsolicited flyers, brochures or catalogs. Make sure it s clearly visible. This may not halt any deliveries from your mailman (who, legally, must deliver anything addressed to you), but it may well stop any independent sales representatives who drop off catalogs door to door.

Use http://www.cataloguechoice.org.Run by the Ecology Center of Berkley, California, this is a free service whereby you can fill in your pertinent contact information, then identify the catalogs you don’t want to receive. Your opt-out requests (and their status) are kept on a secure list you can access. This site is endorsed by many non-profit organizations, including The Natural Resources Defense Council and The National Wildlife Federation.

Call customer service and request to be removed from their mailing list. Sometimes, you may also log onto the company’s website to make this request in writing or confirm it has been received.

Use your email address. If there are catalogs from companies that you DO use, call their customer service department or go online to see if you can continue to receive their catalogs in an electronic format. Not only is this a more environmentally friendly option, it is cheaper for the company than printing a hard copy. Because of this, often customers who receive catalogs online also receive special offers and coupons that others do not.

Although some mailings will cease immediately, some companies print their mailing labels far in advance (sometimes months). Even after you follow the above steps, it may take a while for your junk mail flow to taper off. Be patient. That said, if it has been two months and you suspect that you have not been removed from a specific mailing list, you should always follow up with customer service.

If you have used http://www.cataloguechoice.org , contact the site again, and they will send another notification to the merchant on your behalf.