Ask IMOAsk IMO

Lansing's Advice Column

Email your questions to IMO at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dear IMO,

My wife and I are getting a lot of junk mail these days. It seems that our mailbox is filled with more and more each week. Is there any way to stop these companies, banks, and other institutions from sending us their junk?

Thanks,

Frank

 

Dear Frank,

Junk mail has always been a serious problem. IMO naively believed that with the increase in internet use and on-line advertisement, most institutions would slowly eliminate home delivery of junk mail, but this has not happened. You might have thought the ever rising cost of postage would have put a dent in the volume of mail these companies send out, but it hasn't. The one to two percent response rate is enough incentive for them to continue their mass mailings.

There are several options to consider. If you are computer literate, then you can go on-line to have your name removed from most junk mailing lists. The Direct Marketing Association offers a consumer opt-out service at www.dmachoice.org/mps. Although this won't eliminate all of your unwanted mail, it will reduce it. There is a one dollar fee for this service. Another group, Greendimes.com, promises to reduce your junk mail up to 90% and will plant 10 trees on your behalf. They charge twenty dollars for this.

Catalogs are a different species all together. You can visit www.Catalogchoice.org and have your name removed from most of the bulk mailers. Along the same lines, visit the website www.optoutprescreen.com to have your name removed from all those credit card offers clogging your mailbox.

If you are not comfortable on the computer, then open up these items, look for the toll free customer service number and ask to be removed from their mailings. Just remember to have the catalog handy as they may ask you for the customer code printed on the mailing label.

Needless to say, junk mail will be with us until the very end. Who knows, they might even have connections in heaven, and most likely deal directly with the devil. So if all else fails, place the reclining bin in a convenient location so you can discard these items immediately without ever having to bring them into your home.

----
v4i17