Protecting your rights and privacy

Great ideas and comments from everyone, thanks.  Especially stuffing the pre-paid envelope idea.  Never thought of that.

1.  Tip:  Be sure to opt-out on all those little privacy notices the credit card co's send.  I never get credit card offers anymore, so I think it really works.  However, I do get TONS of junk from one of my OWN credit card co's, low-APR checks, transfer checks, ad nauseum.  CapitalOne is the WORST for doing this.

2. Re: catalogues, they ARE a royal pain and clog up my small apt.-mailbox cubicle.  However, some of them I would LIKE to receive, but only like 1 catalogue every six months or so, rather than 1 every 2 weeks, etc.  How to get them to do that? -- BTW, loved the catalogue-fire-logs idea, lol, but I don't have a fireplace.  Otherwise, it would be my extreme pleasure to burn them all, lol.

3.  Another royal pain, and I hate to say this, are Christian ministries who I have either donated to in the past, or from whom I may have bought a product in the past.  But then they bombard you forever more with mailings every month, some more often.  I have emailed and USMailed them to no avail.  I called one that was especially bad w/their incessant catalogues and that DID work but I was so ticked off by then, I wasn't very nice about it.  How totally unChristian of me, eh?  :-/  -- My next plan of action was to do as mentioned in these comments, ie, to send them back "Refused Return to Sender."  I also quit giving to any  ministry that sends junk mail, and only to those who do NOT use their donation money to send out paper-mailings (such as Perry Stone, Les Feldick, etc).

4.  Lastly, I wanted to say I have also always done as one commentor suggested, ie, recycle the junk mail sheets that have one blank side, cut them up and use them as note paper.  I have not bought note paper in years and years!  ;-)

/beegie

This article reminds me of the last doctor I was in practice with. He would actually subscribe and receive huge amounts of junk mail. He would then roll them into log-like cylinders and burn them for heat all winter in his vacation cabin. Now that is a great use of junk mail.

Moving without a forwarding address is one way to get off lists, but it's not feasible for most people.  

Before I moved, I found it impossible to get Guitar Center to stop sending me mailings.  I asked at stores, I called their customer service, and I called their headquarters.  This went on for a couple of years.  They would say that either I wasn't on their list or they would take me off, and it never happened.  I told them I would never shop there again if they didn't remove me.  So now I won't ever buy from them, and I encourage my other musician compadres to do the same.  I've been lucky to be able to find small businesses who are able to be competitive.  Sometimes they have a pro discount.

So even with boycott threats, these companies don't care about the massive amounts of paper that is being wasted on their mailings.  Bulk mail is one of the things I hate the most.  I'll only give anonymously to environmental organizations because I don't want to get all their junk and renewal notices.  Even environmental organizations!  How crazy is that?

I have a great way to slow the tide of credit card offers. I always write "NO THANKS" in big letters on the application and then stuff their postage prepaid envelope full of their paperwork, the evelope their offer came in, along with as much of the other junk mail I've received that day into their envelope, seal it up and send it back to them. They pay by WEIGHT for their return mail. When they get my rejections that can weigh several ounces (or more), they take my name of their mailing list.  It made a dramatic difference in how many of these offers I get in the mail. Hopefully, they recycle their trash so I don't have to worry about recycling all that junk mail at my house!  Hope this works for you too!

I worked for the Post Office for a few years and the Post Office will NOT SEND BACK THIRD CLASS, BULK MAIL,  such as credit card offers that are marked "pre-sorted mail" or catalogs. They always ALWAYS have on the catalogs- "OR CURRENT RESIDENT"  because they cant get the catalog backs through the postal system so they hope to at least get someone else interested.  So to refuse catalogs wont work. You need to do the work and contact the people who send you the catalogs.

What many do not realize is that without this unsolicited mail, thousands, perhaps millions of good employers and their businesses would go belly up. I depend on it in mine quite a bit. I think that's what dclifton was referring to w/ tongue in cheek (?) What we need is a way to solicit business without wasting so much paper. I am amazed at the number and high quality (cost) of catalogs, offers, and solicitatioins for charities I receive every single day. There has to be a better way. I have enough address labels to last me forever at this point! The one thing I do not get is why a mail order company I order from would sell my name and address to a competetor for a few cents, and then watch me order form them instead...

I don't know where you guys went, but I clicked on the first place to click and got opting out of credit cards and insurance offers.  The hitch?  You need to give them your SS# and birth date.  I don't think so.

Am so glad here is a place to vent my frustration, or is it anger?  Hmmm-m-m-m.

Lots of junk mail has nice 8 x 10 letter size paper, blank on one side. Good for printing many of my documents that don't require dedicated stationary. RECYCLE

There is a better way to do this, you can write the DMA.  It's been awhile since I did this, i did a google search to get the address and found a lot of info on the site