What a load of rubbish!
Just a quick one today on how to stop junk mail, this info is for my UK based readers but the sentiment goes for anyone out there, stopping junk mail is always a good idea.
My pal over at Insourcelife has a great post on Planned Obsolescence which is well worth a read, but the first paragraph gave me a kick up the arse to finally go and do something to stop all the junk mail we tend to receive! There are many reasons to opt out of receiving junk mail, the most obvious of which are:
- It’s so annoying!
- It is a huge waste of resources!
- Save money! You will be less likely to buy stuff with less exposure to advertisements
Virgin Media for example have been sending me not only a leaflet, but a huge A4 booklet about their TV packages, once a month, for a least the last 2 years. It has been driving me insane and it’s time to stop moaning every time it comes through the door and actually do something about it.
How to stop unwarranted junk mail
Turns out, stopping unwarranted mail coming through the post is actually surprisingly easy, and free!
Here are two free things you should immediately do if you want to stop unwarranted junk mail:
- Go to the Mailing Preference Service and hit the register button. It took me about 2 minutes to complete the forms. Easy!
- Read the details for opting out of Royal Mail’s Door to Door service here – It’s a bit harder as you have to email to get a form sent through the post (oh the irony!) but once you send that back it should stop any unaddressed mail being put through your letterbox within 6 weeks. Still pretty easy though!
Those two should cover the bulk of the junk mail you receive and that should save around 8 kilograms of wasted paper a year.
You can also remember to tick the box when you register to vote, to take your name off the “Edited Register” – This is a version of the electoral register that can be bought by anyone (companies) and could be used for direct marketing purposes. If you are already registered I am not sure if you can “untick” the box so to speak, but you can find more info here.
***UPDATE***
You can go here to update your election details online: https://www.register-online.co.uk
You need a unique reference number and a password which you should get through the post. If you receive this or find it laying around the house somewhere, be sure to use it to opt out of the Edited Register, as discussed above!
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Finally, to really reduce your impact and stop as much waste mail as possible, remember to always opt out of paper statements and go online instead, this normally ends up saving you a couple of quid a month as well so it’s a win-win situation!
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Further info: US readers can sign up to DMAchoice which is the US equivalent of the Mail Preference Service, as expertly pointed out by Insourcelife at the start of his article.
Glad to see a similar service is available in the UK. We have a “standard” US size mailbox (7″w x 8″h x 20″d i.e. huge) and we can’t leave town for more than a week without having someone take in our mail or it would be on the sidewalk. Since we use e-bills for everything, most of it is junk.
Yea same here, so much junk! Thanks again for the inspiration as it’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while 🙂
A buddy of mine takes the return envelopes with the stamps and sends back the blank forms or a page from the newspaper just to be a jerk and cost the junk mailers a few cents…
Haha, that’s pretty funny, although can’t imagine bothering to go that far to make a point myself 🙂
We’ve done this in the US and it definitely helps. I’ve noticed that you have to keep registering every couple of years though, as the junk mail starts to creep back in over time.
That’s good to know thanks! It said it can take between 6 weeks and 6 months to filter through to all junk mail distributors, so I guess I’ll have to wait a while to see any effects.