I wonder if there's anyone who is happy to receive junk mail. I really doubt it, but if there's such a person, he's probably going to be happy to hear that the U.S. Postal Service aggressively seeks to increase direct advertising mailings and you probably will see more junk mail coming on the holiday season. For all the rest (the 99% perhaps?) the good news is that you can take measures to avoid this ridiculous amount of waste with the help of Catalog Choice, an organization that is working to help consumers combat the impending tidal wave of junk mail.
This Berkeley-based non-profit launched last week a new service that you might want to check - MailStop™ Envelopes. The idea behind these envelopes is that users can purchase them for $6.75 each, fill them with up to 15 mailing labels from unwanted mail and send the envelopes back to Catalog Choice. Their staff will then scan the labels, fulfill the opt-out requests and record the transaction in customers’ secure accounts.
Companies have 90 days to honor requests before formal complaints are filed and then submitted to the FTC. Customers can use the envelopes to opt-out of any unwanted mail including catalogs, donation requests, circulars and coupon mailers, as well as phone books. The envelopes are available for purchase at www.catalogchoice.org and can also be gifted to friends and family.
Another option Catalog Choice is offering is free opt-out service - this service has been expanded to include phonebooks, coupons, and other marketing and donor solicitations. Now you can use Catalog Choice to opt-out of postal mail and name sharing from more than 3,000 companies.
So no matter what option you choose, the sooner you act the better for you, your mailbox and the environment!
Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!
