Yesterday Ideal Bite had a great eco-tip for getting rid of junk mail. They listed some free resources that you can use to get your name off of direct mailing lists, including DirectMail.com’s removal service and OptOutPrescreen.com, which enables you to stop getting pre-approved credit card and insurance offers. I’m pretty sure the OptOutPrescreen one is what I did a couple of years ago…sure enough, I don’t think I get pre-approved credit card offers anymore. I signed up for the DirectMail.com removal yesterday.
In the Ideal Bite blog, quite a few people chimed in with comments suggesting two different inexpensive paid services, including GreenDimes and 41pounds.org. Personally, I’m going to see how the free services work out before signing up for one of the paid services. Both cost only a few dollars a month though, and GreenDimes will plant a tree a month on your behalf and 41pounds.org donates more than 1/3 of your fee to the environmental organization of your choice.
My problem at home is not the junkmail I receive, but junk mail meant for the previous tenant. Someone mentioned that with GreenDimes you can add the names of other people who live with you…they had also added the name of a previous tenant so that they would stop getting his junk mail. Perhaps it’s something for me to look into more closely…
You can also use a service like Earth Class Mail, which allows you to go paperless with a digital post office box. This service makes your mail instantly available from anywhere in the world, and you can choose to have your junk mail recycled and they’ll forward you a secure digital copy of any mail you do want to receive. This could be a really great service for frequent travelers or college students.
Or you could just use your junk mail to do what someone did in an art gallery in Portland, Maine, like this image I found on Flickr.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Gidday,
I think it is great that you are trying to do it yourself. There are so many options out there now for consumers to chose from Free to nearly $50 an annual subscription. We personally did it ourselves first and then signed up for an online service back 2001, which we then bought because we loved the idea so much! I am now the co-owner of an online service called http://www.stopthejunkmail.com. So now all we ever receive are catalogs we love to shop from and bills!
I would love to answer your question about whether or not you can add previous tennants to an online service account, yes you can. When you sign up for our service you can add any number of names to your membership all are included in the membership fee.
Here’s how it works, when you receive mail at your home address you usually receive items that are not addressed to you, such as previous tennants or Neighbor or Resident, but you will also receive them under your name spelled many different ways or for other members of your family. You can add all of these to your account so you can pick and chose which householder you are opting out of mail for.
Additionally our service also keeps a detailed history on your account so you don’t have to memorise what you stopped. When we did it ourselves we found that we had a whole filling cabinet full of direct mail that we would sift through each time we got a new peice of mail!
If you need any advice, I will be happy to try and answer your questions.
Love the art gallery!
Cheerio,
Margot
Thanks for the tips Margot! Your service appears to be cheaper than the other paid services I mentioned. It’s always good to know about as many options as possible.
Hey- thanks for mentioning GreenDimes in your post! We really appreciate your taking the time to tell others about our services. In addition to reducing your postal junk mail by 75-90% and giving you the tools to manage your mail, we plant one tree on each members behalf every month. Check out the site to learn more about our non-profit tree-planting partners! Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with and take good care…
Best,
Kendra
GreenDimes
Thanks for the tip! I signed up right away.
Hi – Great tips, and thanks also for the mention about 41 Pounds. When you sign up with 41 Pounds, you can add the names of anyone else in your household at no additional charge (roommates, spouses, etc.). 41 Pounds donates more than 1/3 of your fee to its non-profit partners, including StopGlobalWarming.org and American Forests. (The fee is $8.20/year for five years of service.) Check out 41 Pounds at http://www.41Pounds.org.
We appreciate this post and the discussion about junk mail.
Best,
Debbie (with 41 Pounds)