Day 14 of 20: Hurry now! Offer ends soon!

Years ago, I wrote to the Direct Mail Marketing Service to "opt-out" of receiving junk mail, and it worked. For a long time I didn't receive any. Failure to renew that opt-out, coupled perhaps by a magazine I once purchased with expiring frequent flyer miles, means that I'm now getting enough junk mail to insulate a house. In just the last two weeks, I've received a hefty stack, none of it wanted:  

When I first started noticing that I was getting more junk mail, I simply put it in the bag with paper recycling, except that unwanted mail increasingly comes with plastic cards stuck to the paper with gummy adhesives, stickers, glossy return-address labels, greeting cards, laminated maps, and other stuff that isn't necessarily recyclable.

So, in addition to sorting junk mail into recyclable and non-recyclable waste piles, I started returning some of it with a polite note asking that the organization remove my name from their mailing list. I sent those back using their own postage-paid envelopes:

That hasn't seemed to help at all either, although the guys at my local post office say that they're grateful for the business.

There are a few aggressive internet companies that send a 'hurry now! offer ends soon!' letter every other week. Earlier this year, I pooled their solicitations until I'd accumulated an impressive stack for each company; wrote a formal business letter to the head of their respective direct-mail marketing centers requesting that they stop sending me unsolicited mail; and included the stack for evidence. I continue to get their mail. (Do they really think I would give them my business at this point?)

There's some evidence that paper waste is on the decline since many marketers have shifted to cyber-advertising. Still, waste is waste. Why cut down a tree for something that I won't even bother to read? 

Here's another example: I haven't used a phone book in years. When I researched how to 'opt out' of those, I found instruction on my municipality's website:

“All you need to do is simply place your phone book in your green recycling cart.”

That, folks, is not an opt-out. Said the tree.

So, I'll be renewing my opt-out with the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service again (sigh). Doing this in writing by old-fashioned letter is free; online costs $5.00.  This opt-out lasts for five years, so one has to remember to renew, which I didn't and accounts for the pile of mail on my table.  
***Update: the web links I provided in June no longer worked in November. When I searched for the Direct Marketing Association, I found new 'opt-out' links: one for dmachoice.org (which appears to be a new web link for the Direct Marketing Association) and another for directmail.com. Both enable opt-out online without a fee.

For better or worse, I won't be submitting my information to the Yellow Pages Opt Out. Read this if you want to know why.

There are other things one can do, such as opting-out of pre-screened insurance and credit offers through the Federal Trade Commission. Online opt-out lasts five years. Permanent opt-out requires printing and mailing a form. 
 
If I don't want to do the work myself, I can pay a fee for a company to do it for me.
41pounds.org is an example. They'll even donate some of their profit.  

Is it me, or does living in a world in which companies make money by helping people to stop getting mailings from other companies that are trying to make money make you wonder if we've lost all perspective?