It is that time of the year again — holiday shopping. This is the time of year when our mailbox starts to burst at the seams due to catalogs and other solicitations. We have several suggestions for trimming the fat and getting you off mailing lists.

Although the media has focused on spam, the problem of physical junk mail persists. These days, we're continually bombarded by catalogs, cable TV offers, online services, credit card offers and so on.

My problem was so bad, I routinely had a wrestling match to get the items out of my overstuffed mailbox. This was infuriating, as I would toss 90% of the mail in the recycle bin. Often the remaining 10% was damaged. Out of anger, I decided to find out how my name got on so many lists.

The first thing I noticed was there were themes to the junk mail. Although vendors won't tell you how they got your name, there were clues. The first related to politics. Without going into detail, let's just say a well–intentioned relative decided I needed to "broaden my reading" and gave me a subscription to a magazine I wouldn't normally read. I don't recall ever getting so many political solicitations in such a short time frame.

The second clue was the result of a clerical mistake. I have a friend who insisted on paying me for some computer help. Rather than payment, I suggested he make a contribution to a favorite charity. He agreed and I gave him one of my pre–addressed envelopes. Two months later, I got letters from 7 different charities addressed to both of us at my business address. The charity had assumed this friend was living with me and then sold or exchanged my record with other charities. Before that incident, it never occurred to me that charities sold or exchanged addresses. However, in talking to a friend who runs a charity, she said many do name swaps as contributions have decreased.

I contacted each organization and told them to suppress my name. Sadly, it took several attempts before the unsolicited mail stopped. The rest of my junk mail was related to my magazine subscriptions and online purchases.

Often times, organizations will set up links so you can remove your name from offers. Your first step is to check magazine and vendor websites to see if they offer a mailing preference section. This section is usually in the Support or Privacy area. Some sites allow you to remove yourself from "special offers" from marketing partners while others allow you to stop renewal notices.

Mail List Removal Services

Besides magazine and vendor websites, there were three websites that provided mail list removal services.

Direct Marketing Association — this site provides an easy link to print out a form to have your name removed from their Mail Preference Service (MPS) for 5 years. The DMA has online service for faster removal that costs $5.00. All DMA members are required to use this database to purge names. You might think of this service as the commercial mail equivalent of a Do Not Call list. The DMA list is updated monthly and distributed quarterly to DMA members.

Center for a New American Dream - This link is part of a project to simply your life and cutting junk mail qualifies. The site provides form letters for many larger credit bureaus, banks and locator services. After typing a few bits of information, I had 8 form letters printed.

JunkBusters - This site provides a comprehensive list of companies and marketers, but the form process was long. You can click on a company to get a form letter that you can fold, staple and mail off. Although I appreciated the extensive listing, I wasn't as impressed with the layout of the form letter. The letters are designed so you don't need an envelope.

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