Junk mail is overrunning your mailbox!  Now it can be recycled curbside rather than going to the landfill, but why not stop it before it even gets generated and shipped to your home.

Federal ‘opt-out’ laws from 2000 give you the right to tell companies not to sell your name and address, preventing other companies from targeting you with junk mail.

Actions you can take:

1) Contact anyone who sends you a bill, organizations to which you belong, etc. and tell them not to release your name, address, social security number, email address or phone number to anyone else for marketing, mailing, or promotional purposes.  This is the best use the 2000 law.

2) Contact the following major players that will help to reduce your junk mail deliveries:

Major Mailing Lists

Mail Preference Service

Direct Marketing Association

PO Box 643

Carmel, NY 10512

www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist 

“Resident” Mailings

ADVO, Inc.

Customer Assistance

P.O. Box 249

Windsor, CT 06095

www.advo.com/consumersupport.html 

Catalogs and Magazines

Abacus, Inc.

P.O. Box 1478

Broomfield, CO 80038

optout@abacus-us.com

3) Pre-approved credit card offers - call 888-5OPTOUT (888-567-86388) to opt out of Innovis and the three major credit bureaus.  If you are off the lists they sell, then the credit companies will have a harder time finding you.

4) Avoid supplying your address to various collectors of such information.  Sweepstakes, contests, registration cards, customer surveys, supermarket loyalty cards, etc. all collect information about you, including your address, and their sponsors sell that information to other for marketing purposes.

5) Remember to check the "do not share my information" box on any response cards or registrations you submit.  This will help keep your information private.

Thanks to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse for this information on stemming junk mail.  A much more detailed list of actions to take can be found at their website - www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs4-junk.htm.