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Reduce Your Junk Mail in Time for the Holidays
If you are frustrated by all the junk mail that you receive and just throw away, here is a two step remedy which will help reduce your unwanted mail and spare a few trees. The two biggest sources of junk mail are from catalogs and credit card pre-approvals. 
Credit Card Opt-Out www.optoutprescreen.com
Run by the credit card industry, this service will reduce the pre-approvals you receive by about 80% after a few months. It’s mandatory for the large issuers to purchase this list.
DMA’s Mail Preference Service www.dmachoice.org/MPS
All large catalog mailers must update their records against this opt-out list every few months and add you to their do not mail list if your name is included. Remember to do this for each person living at your address. Registration lasts five years.
You can see more tips like this at the Bobby’s Best Tips and Tricks Page
November 30th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
There is a little-advertised means of stopping unwanted postal advertisements from reaching your mailbox. It is a law, and it is under the authority of the United States Postal Service (USPS).
Use of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) preference services to opt out of mailings is somewhat successful but not all advertisers belong to the DMA. Many of these nonmembers are the ignoble companies that you want to eliminate the most. Too, the DMA preference list is a blanket application. The mail customer may not want to stop all advertisements, just certain, select pieces of commercial advertising. The DMA also charges $1.00 for this service whereas critics say this service should be free.
Nearly all advertisements are third class/Standard Mail - also called “bulk mail.” By law, the Postal Service “disposes of” (translation: trashes) all unwanted third class mail - now called “Standard Mail (A)” - that you mark “refused” or “return to sender.” So, if you want to be eco-friendly, this method is not an option.
Here’s a method of stopping unwanted direct mail advertisements from entering your mailbox – and it’s environmentally correct. All the information can be found on the internet but it is hard to find in one place. Don’t look in any postal regulation as you won’t find it there – as it applies to normal direct mail.
The procedure is the only method I can find for stopping unwanted mail at its source where you are not required to pay money other than postage, you don’t have to join a club, it is selective in nature, and it is 99.999 percent effective.
Federal law (Title 39 USC § 3008), states that if a postal addressee who receives an unsolicited advertisement offering for sale matter that, in the addressee’s sole discretion, is “erotically arousing or sexually provocative,” may, by completing PS Form 1500, obtain a prohibitory order from the Postal Service (USPS) directing the mailer of the advertisement to refrain from mailing further material to that addressee.
The key phrase is “…in the addressee’s sole discretion…” For example, if a pizza advertisement or a pre-approved credit card offer strikes you as sexually provocative, you can use the Prohibitory Order process to stop the mailings.
Should the mailer continue sending mail after receiving the USPS Prohibitory Order, the USPS turns the matter over to the United States Department of Justice for prosecution.
While the law was originally intended for sexually explicit, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its decision - Rowan vs. U.S. Post Office Department, 397 U.S. 728 (1970) - ruled that the law under Title 39 USC § 4009 (now 39 USC § 3008) includes ALL unwanted commercial mail. Thus, Form 1500 is no longer used just for sexually explicit or provocative mail - although it still reads as such.
Unfortunately, because the law and Prohibitory Order process are still difficult to grasp by many citizens, there is need for more detailed guidance.
Nevertheless, do not be intimidated by the instructions, the form or the law.
If you receive unwanted advertisements and you no longer want to receive them, simply click below, print out the form and instructions, fill in the form, and mail it to the U. S. Postal Service at the address shown below - along with the advertisement.
Do not be confused by the letter’s wording - it all relates to sexual mail that you decided you did not want. Just think of your unwanted advertisements as sexually explicit mail.
Obtain PS Form 1500 and the instructions for completion here:
http://www.usps.com/forms/_pdf/ps1500.pdf
Action Steps:
1. Open the advertising envelope or wrapper (if there is one), take out all the contents and attach everything to the form. The USPS WILL NOT accept unopened envelopes or wrappers. Put all this into another envelope.
2. Make sure you put an “X” in Block 1. and write your initials next to Block 1. In the middle of the form put the mailer’s name and address on the three lines indicated.
3. Send your completed PS Form 1500 and material directly to:
Pricing and Classification Service Center
US Postal Service
PO Box 1500
New York NY 10008-1500
Tel. 212-330-5300 FAX: 212-330-5330
Don’t give the form to your postmaster as that office will only send it to the above address.
4. Mark your calendar about 15 days out from the date you mail your form. If you do not receive a response by the date you expect to receive it, start squawking. Call/FAX the above number.
5. If you don’t get prompt service from these folks, report this directly to the Postmaster General at:
Postmaster General
U.S. Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW
Washington, DC 20260-1000
Tel. 202-268-2020 FAX: 202-268-5211
6. The Postal Service gives the company a grace period of 30 days to stop sending you mail. If you receive mail after that (experience confirms you won’t), open it and write on the envelope and its contents a statement that you received it and the date of receipt. For example, “I received this mailpiece on December 14, 2007.” Apply your signature below your statement. Include a photocopy of your prohibitory order, if possible, or a notation of the order number and send the mailpiece to the address noted in paragraph 2., above.