If you move to a new home, you may need tips about how to stop junk mail. This is because you may receive many mails from the previous resident. You may get credit card offers, leaflets, coupons, catalogs, and other mails that you don’t really need. This is, of course, annoying. Well, if you experience this, you had better read this.
Why Should We Stop Getting Junk Mail?
Receiving mails from distant relatives may be one of the most interesting things in life. However, receiving too many mails that we don’t really need will be a waste. As a waste, it, of course, has an impact on our environment. Moreover, we don’t always have time to recycle all of those mails.
Mails are made from paper produced by cutting trees. This means that the more junk mail we get, the more trees are cut for it. Hence, stopping junk mail also helps us to save the earth because it reduces the frequency of tree cutting in the forest.
Besides, for your information, junk mail may ruin your privacy because it contains your identity, such as your name and your address. This may be dangerous since it may be misused by people for crimes. Indeed, everyone will agree to declutter the mail after knowing this fact.
The number of junk mail itself, based on the statistics data, is quite huge. According to USPS (United States Postal Services) Postal Facts, USPS sent 75.7 billion pieces of mail in 2019. This huge amount is definitely worrying due to the huge number of trees cut for this. Thus, if we stop mail that is unwanted, we also contribute to the environment.
Research conducted by the New York University School of Law showed some facts about the ecological impact of junk mail as follows.
- the production of junk mail creates greenhouse gas emissions as 3.7 million cars annually
- around 44 % of junk mail is unopened, and only half of the amount is recycled.
- American household, on average, receives 848 junk mail, which is equal to 1.5 trees each year. This also means more than 100 million trees for all American residents.
Those facts are more than enough for us to realize the impact of junk files and start decluttering. You can try to declutter step by step.
In addition, some statistics stated the other facts about junk mail as written below.
- Between 1990 and 2017, junk mail sent by USPS increased by over 18 %.
- In 2019, USPS sent 75.7 billion mails.
- Mail is not so effective as a marketing tool that it becomes unwanted. There are only 2.9 % of prospective customers who is never purchase anything before that responded to the mail sent by USPS.
Besides, mail decluttering is also a part of minimal living. Once you get a new home for living, of course, you are dreaming of a cozy and calming home. Well, to have such a cozy home, sometimes you need extra space and a clean home. Thus, decluttering mails from your inbox may be one of the solutions.
Mail decluttering not only offers you a less guilty experience because of reducing the paper waste but also offers you extra space due to the reduced waste at your home. Less waste, less guilty. Feeling less guilty will make your life happier.
For email itself, even if it is paperless, it still has an impact on the environment. OVO, an energy company, said that English people send around 64 million unimportant emails every day. These emails increase carbon emissions. OVO also stated that if people send one lesser email than they usually do, it can decrease around 16.433 tons of annual carbon emissions.
Well, using electrical devices also means producing carbon emissions. Thus, even only typing in our laptops also means that we increase carbon emissions. Moreover, emails are saved in cloud storage that needs electric consumption in huge amounts. We can’t see the smoke coming out from our PC, but we do realize that it also increases carbon emissions. So, reducing unwanted emails also helps to decrease carbon emissions.
How to Stop Junk Mail
You can stop receiving junk mail by telling the Data and Marketing Association (DMA). DMA is the largest data and marketing association in the United States. The member of this association often sends mail that later becomes junk mail to us. To stop this, you can just contact the association through its eMail Preference Service with 3 dollars for the cost. This will reduce the amount of junk mail that you receive.
Besides you are also able to open the website, www.dmachoice.org. There, you can tell them what you want them to offer. Thus, you can stop unsolicited mail. To use this service, you will be charged about 2 dollars. It is so much cheap since it is for ten years mail stop.
You can also access optoutprescreen.com to do this. By accessing this URL, you will be able to stop those junk mail for about five years. For a permanent stop, you can send a form using traditional mail. 41pounds.org is also a great choice to help you remove your name from direct marketer lists.
When you access optoutprescreen.com, you will be asked to give your address, full name, social security number and phone number. You can select to have your name removed for five years. But, if you prefer a permanent stop by sending the printed form, you can send the same information to the addresses of the major reporting companies.
Experian
Opt Out
P.O. Box 919
Allen, TX 75013
Trans Union
Name Removal Option
P.O. Box 505
Woodlyn, PA 19094
Equifax, Inc.
Options
P.O. Box 740123
Atlanta, GA 303374
Innovis Consumer Assistance
P.O. Box 495
Pittsburgh, PA, 15230
The other type of mail that you may receive is political mail. During the election period, you may receive these political mails. If you feel annoyed by the mails, you can check on the mails and see if there is any phone number. Contact the number if you want to opt out of junk mail sent by the political sympathizer in the future.
Return to Sender
Sometimes junk mail offers us a choice to respond to it. It may be written on it as “return service requested” or “forwarding service requested. If you get this in your junk mail, you can write “Refused: Return to Sender’ on the envelope that is unopened. After that, pop it in the outgoing mail.
If you do that, USPS will return it. Usually, the marketing officer of a business will stop sending the mails once you write it on the mails. They do it since they don’t want to waste their money on customers who aren’t really interested in their products.
Unsubscribe
This tip is applicable to your email. One of the reasons why you get junk mail in your inbox is if you subscribe to any websites. Therefore, you will get continuous mails from the service providers. To overcome this problem, you, of course, need to unsubscribe. Once you unsubscribe it, you will not get any mail from it too. Hence, that is how to opt out of junk mail.
After unsubscribing, make sure that you won’t carelessly subscribe to any websites. Try to refuse a subscription so that you won’t receive many junk emails. Also, avoid writing your name or address every time you join a contest, send in a warranty card or the other things that need your identity. They may sell your identity and send you many junk mails. It helps a lot if you keep asking how do I stop getting junk mail.
Cut Credit Card Offers
Receiving credit card offers will make you get more junk mail. This may be annoying sometimes. Thus, cutting credit card offers can be one of the solutions the reduce junk mail in our homes.
Besides, using a credit card may make you waste more money than if you don’t. Hence, it will be even better if you don’t use any credit cards either. You can spare more money if you stop using a credit card. Therefore, if you are asking how I can stop junk mail, these tips may help you to be more mindful in spending your money.
Ban Prospect Catalogs
Sometimes, we are sent mails because we have purchased something in the past. But, sometimes we get any mails from a certain company even if we have never purchased anything from it. Well, if you get any catalogs because you are a prospect (the one who has never purchased the product before) and you want to unsubscribe, you may use catalogchoice.org.
Through this website, you can choose and pick junk mails that you want to receive. It is free to use, and you can unsubscribe as a prospective customer but still let you subscribe if you are a true customer in the past.
Seek Help from Professionals
If you can’t help yourself to how to stop receiving junk mail, it means that you need the help of professionals. There are some professionals out there who offer apps that can help you to stop getting
junk mail. However, these professionals usually work for junk email. So, it helps you to clean your email inbox from unwanted mail.
Putting A Sign on Your Door
Besides those tips, you can try putting a sign on your door. You can write ‘No commercial pamphlets’ or ‘No free newspaper’ there. By doing this, we hope that there will be fewer junk mails delivered to our homes. Even if this tip is not very effective sometimes, this is really worth trying.
This tip is traditional; however it can be the last alternative that you can take if you keep asking how to stop getting junk mail or how to stop unwanted mail.
USPS FAQ
- Is mail always delivered as addressed, and can it be refused/returned?
USPS will deliver the mail, but it depends on the homeowner to accept it or not.
- What are my refusal options?
Mails that are sent can be refused by giving a ‘refused’ mark and returning it unopened in a reasonable time. You should make sure that you can return it if it has been opened. If you want to return it after opening it, you should put it in a new envelope with new postage and the correct address.
- Do I have to return unsolicited merchandise received in the mail?
If you get a gift from a company when you don’t request it, the gift is yours, and you don’t need to pay anything. There are two types of merchandise that you can receive legally without your agreement i.e.
- Free samples
- Merchandise from a charitable organization
Final Words
In the end, junk mail opt out is not only about making our lives simpler. In fact, by doing mail decluttering, we are also able to contribute to the environment. By reducing junk mail, we decrease the number of tree cuttings. Besides, reducing email also means reducing carbon emissions. Hence, it is really a good option if you decide to declutter junk mail from your inbox. To declutter junk mail, some steps above may help a lot.
In addition, mail decluttering is also a part of minimal living. This new lifestyle lets you manage all of the things at your home so that you won’t get wasted. Living less waste is truly calming because it leaves no burden for us to use the things that we don’t actually need. Thus, if you ask ‘how do I stop junk mail’ or ‘how can I stop junk mail’, you also contribute to making your life happier.
However, not all solicited mail is useless. You can consider which mail is useful and which mail is not useful. You may need some of the mails especially when you move to a new home, and you need discount offers from home appliance or improvement stores. So, don’t forget to select the mail carefully before deciding to declutter the junk mail.