Do you and how do you combat junk mail?

i found that writing to the DMA and whatever that phone number is to have "preapproved offers of credit no longer sent to you" cut out a huge percentage of the junk mail we got. to finish it off had to call a lot of catalog companies (and lenscrafters like 30 times) and have them remove me from their lists. (still not sure if lenscrafters has gotten the message)

i also found it wasteful, irritating, etc.

now if only i could get the mail carrier to quit putting those huge flyers in my mailbox twice a week... i think i'd be satisfied.

 

I use a big black marker and write NO all over the offers and such. Then I mail them back in those envelopes provided...come to think of it Capitol One must have finally gotten the message. I use to get crap from them up to 4 times in one week!! My mother gets every "missionary" and medical funding request known to man. She will send certain ones $3-7 up to 4-6 "donations" a month. I always ask her if she knows who is cashing her checks, she is 90.

 

I hadn't thought about it, but I had my name taken off using the above and it just occured to me....the junk mail is way down.

I only get the cataogues I actually order from. I know they *say* "this is your last one unless you order" but I guess the price of postage finally made them carry out their threat. No more Harriet Carter. Woo hoo.

I think contacting the DMA is a great start. I have also told all of my credit cards, etc, whenever they send one of those "can we share your info..." NO, you may NOT share or use it for anything. So it's way down.

Before I used to switch out the offers and put them in each others prepaid envelopes and then mail them back.

 

I like the switch out thing even better! Really confuse them. I threatened those stupid dating services with a story of being a recent widow and if they did not stop sending things to me that I was going to sue them for emotional distress....no more mailings!

 

Junk snail mail I don't mind too much. As for any business replay mail I get like the credit card applications I just rip those into shreds and stuff everything in the reply envelope and send it back. Lately i've been sending them my garbage ( nothing that stinks or is illegal to send but useless stuff like paper or broken stuff like appliances or computer parts or even heavy objects like rocks ) in boxes. You can attach those business reply envelopes to boxes and send that company anything you want on their dime up to 75lbs. In fact I have a bunch of old dead cdrom drives I need to get rid of. Hope someone sends me a credit card application soon. Who will be the lucky one to get them? [evil laugh] HAHAHAHA! :lol: [/evil laugh]

As for junk email I have a catch all emaill address with my host. That means I have unlimited email aliases. Whenever I sign up at a new site I use [email protected] and when the site starts to send me spam I just add it to my block list and never see a spam again.

 

I write "fraud" in big bold letters and stuff everything into the prepaid postage snail mail envelope.


For email I use an underscore as part of my email address, i.e., [email protected]. Using the underscore appears to eliminate 99% of unwanted mail. Also I work through .mac (the Apple-sponsored site). This is another factor that eliminates most junk mail.

More than two years ago I was with Earthlink and even with the spam filters turned to maximum, I was still overwhelmed with spam. With .mac life is good.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(theforce @ Jul 26 2006, 06:32 PM) [snapback]292844[/snapback]</div>

Really? I didn't know that but that's good to know. If I ever start getting stuff again.....I'll be getting rid of some junk myself.

I use .mac. Their spam filter seems to "learn" and it's been doing great. I get very little and it all goes directly to the junk mail file. I have a hotmail account and I can only receive from addresses already in my address folder. So if there is any spam, it also goes directly to junk and is deleted automatically. I never even see it.

 

You call the opt-out number that one of the three credit bureaus lists on their website. That stops all the people scanning your credit file and sending you offers.

If you actually get to talk to any direct marketing person, ask them to put you on their DO NOT CALL/MAIL list. Taking you off the their current list has no guarantee you won't be put on very soon since they share/sell their (YOUR) info around a lot.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NuShrike @ Jul 26 2006, 08:30 PM) [snapback]292905[/snapback]</div>

Yep, do both of these things. The do not mail lists are suppressed before every mailing. Same with do not call. A reputable, DMA member company will always comply with your requests. Plus it keeps them from wasting money on someone they know won't respond.

I actually do respond to direct mail offers on a regular basis, but never telemarketing, even if it is something I'd like. I find telemarketing very intrusive.

Even the credit card offers, which I shred, don't bother me too much except when they start sending me multiple offers per week.... Bank of America was sending me one to my maiden name and one to my married name, 3 times a week. I finally told them to put me on their Do Not Solicit list. Bah. I did read in the paper yesterday that the credit card companies are finding it less cost effective to solicit via direct mail though, and they are supposedly backing off.