Today I’m going to teach you how to stop junk mail. Not just any junk mail, but a massive junk mail problem. I specialize in stopping junk mail from charities that target the elderly. As an example, you send off a $20 check to a charity, and you are put on their mailing list. Your information is then sold to other charities and before you know it your mailbox is filled with every sad story that is looking for money.
In 2014 I had a relative that was getting an unbelievable amount of junk mail. She was getting 130 pieces a week.
I am going to show you how I stopped it. The goal for this project is to receive zero junk mail of all kinds. Sadly, zero is near impossible (I’m looking at you Save and your grocery ads) but it is always the goal.
These tips are for people stopping a massive junk mail problem for a loved one:
If you are doing this for your parents or another relative, I will assume you have their permission, or a Power of Attorney to manage their affairs.
In order for this process to work, you must stop interacting with the mail. No more donations, sending in surveys, cashing checks, or other interactive tasks.
Before you start your junk mail stopping project I recommend devoting an email address to the project. It can be a fresh one or an old one you no longer use. I like Gmail, but use the one you like the best. It will be much easier to keep track of everything if it is separated from your personal emails. Using that email address, sign up the address that is getting all the junk mail for USPS Informed Delivery. They will send you photos of the mail you get everyday. This is very useful if you are stopping mail for a loved and don’t have direct, daily access to their mailbox. You can see who is sending them mail and ask the junk mailer to stop.
Keep notes on everything you do. I have seen huge spreadsheets people have put together with notes of every phone call and email they have sent. Those notes will become the core of your complaint letters when the junk mail doesn’t stop.
No matter what kind of junk mail you want to stop, the first steps are the same for everyone. First, you must put up a wall around your mailbox to stop new junk mail from getting in.
For these first few steps, we won’t be touching any mail. These are all broad strokes that cover lots of different mail.
These are the top 3 things you can do to stop junk mail. Everyone in America should do them today.
They are DMA Choice, direct mail .com‘s National Do Not Mail List and Opt-out pre-screen will stop credit card applications.
It is the official “do not mail list” from the Association of National Advertisers’ Data and Marketing division. It will cost $4, and is supposed to last 10 years. They will stop direct mail from people you have never exchanged money with, either by buying a product or making a donation. When you log in you can edit your profile. You can add up to 5 names and 4 addresses. If you are a normal person with normal junk mail, you would enter all the members of your household. If you live in an apartment or have roommates, you could enter the names of your household members, and the names of past tenants whose mail you receive. If you have a person with an out of control junk mail problem you can enter all the variations of the person’s name you find. At one point I was dealing with 6 variations of a person’s name.
There is a section of the website for caregivers that is free but you can only add one name at a time. There is a section for stopping direct mail for the deceased that is also free.
Many people are hesitant to do this first step. I get it. You wonder if the DMA is legit. And the $4 is stupid and a scam. I agree with you. But sign up and give them the $4 now. The DMA will show up again at the end of this process when you start filing complaints. This whole process is to build a case against a direct mail marketer who will not listen to you.
directmail.com‘s National Do Not Mail List
Directmail.com is a direct mail marketing firm. They have their own independent “Do Not Mail List”. It is free. It only has one name and address field. I would consider it a part B to DMAChoice.
Opt-Out Pre-Screen is the system the credit card bureaus have set up to stop credit card offers that come in the mail. This one is very important because credit card offers that are stolen from your mailbox are a gateway to identity theft. You have 2 choices, opt-out for 5 years online. Or opt-out forever if you mail in a form. They are going to ask for your Social Security Number. This is one of the few times it is OK to give it out.
Sign up for Catalog Choice or PaperKarma (referral link) Use coupon code DJM30 to get 30% off a subscription to PaperKarma.
Catalog Choice is a free junk mail stopping service. It is very simple to use. Type in the search bar the mail you want to stop, enter the information on the mailpiece and hit send. It works best on big mainstream catalog companies and charities. They are a charity themselves. If you use and like their service, toss a couple of bucks their way.
PaperKarma is an app with a paid subscription. You enter your information and take a photo of the mailpiece you want to stop. It also works best on big mainstream junk mail and charities, but because of the machine learning it uses it can also stop some of the more “colorful” charities you may run across.
That takes care of most of America. If you do that for about 6 months most junk mail will stop. But you aren’t here for that. You have a loved one who is getting 100+ pieces of junk mail a week. Let’s keep going. Let’s dive into Big Data
Big Data
This is where I start to go off the deep end of Big Data, data brokers, and robots attacking you. And your information being bought and sold. A junk mail problem is Big data taking your information and weaponizing it to attack you. Every purchase you make every charity you donate to is fed into a machine and out comes the sausage of junk mail.
I’m in California so I may have more rights than you when it comes to my data and privacy.
Tell your bank to stop selling your data
You can ask your bank to not share your personal information. I am talking about more than just your name and address. They sell your purchasing data to data brokers. Data brokers keep track of everything you buy. They sell that data to marketers. Asking your bank to not sell your data, is stopping junk mail before it starts.
Privacy pages of the top 4 banks in America:
If you don’t use one of the top 4 banks, you need to go to your bank’s website and find their “Privacy Center” and set it as tight as you can. Or you can call your bank’s main phone number and ask to “opt-out of the selling of your Personal Information”. If you call be prepared to have all of your IDs on hand.
Tell the credit bureaus to stop selling your data
The credit bureaus are also selling your information. You can fill out a California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Opt-Out Request with each credit bureau. This does not stop junk mail for credit card offers. It stops them from selling your information to 3rd parties.
They are going to ask for your Social Security number and your date of birth. It is OK for you to give them this information it is how they will identify you in their system. Even if you do not live in California fill these forms out anyway. Let me know what results you get.
TransUnion opt-out here
Data Brokers
Data Brokers chop up your information into little pieces then reassemble it for marketers, so they can sell things to you. In the case if Direct mail, your data is extruded into a mailing list like:
CHARITABLE DONORS WHO CONTRIBUTE OVER $100.00 | POSTAL AND EMAIL 89944. That is a real list that a direct mail marketer can buy 1000 names for $85.00. Our goal is to get off this list, and others like it. Don’t contact NextMark asking for help. They either can’t or won’t help. Years ago I asked for my loved one to be removed from their system. They asked which list she was on, I said all of them. They said I had to know exactly which list she was on for them to help. She was on hundreds of mailing lists. There was no way I could figure out exactly witch ones she was on.
Epsilon.com AKA Abacus. They have a whole page about opting-out from them, but if you only want to opt-out of snail mail, email them at privacy@epsilon.com
LexisNexis opt-out of direct marking here. Newer link, Opt-out of their whole system.
Data Axle (InfoGroup) opt-out here
To drill it down for charity junk mail Infocision is a telemarketing and direct mail juggernaut. I will link to a blog post I made that has a partial client list. If you are getting mail from 3 or more of their clients contact them and ask to be removed from their system.
Call them at (330) 668-1400 or email them at infocis@infocision.com
You can sign up for everything: DMAChoice, Opt-out prescreen, the data brokers, in a day. You need to wait for 90 days for all of it to take effect. While you are waiting, every week you should be entering every mailpiece into Catalog Choice or PaperKarma. Let the automated systems of Catalog Choice and PaperKarma do the heavy lifting at this point. Don’t waste your time contacting the good guys that will stop when asked nicely with one of the apps.
Start taking notes on when you do things for this project. Who, what, When. All these notes will come into play when you file complaints when the mail doesn’t stop.
Envelope stuffing
This is one of the more controversial things I recommend doing.
You take a prepaid envelope and stuff it with other junk mail. Take the page of the begging letter with your information on it, circle the name and address, and write “Take Me Off Your Mailing List”. Stuff it back into the envelope. And send it back.
If you want to get creative with this task go for it. No white powder, lumpy stuff, animals or bodily excretions, please. The person in the mail room is more likely to help you if they aren’t covered in poop. It does work, but it is not the most effective thing you can do. It is more therapeutic after dealing with scammers all week.
Blog post about envelope stuffing
After the 90 days are up and you are still getting too much junk mail, start targeting those who are sending you the most mail, looking up who the fundraisers are for the charities, and start filling out form 1500’s.
Start with who is sending the most stuff. More than one mailpiece a week? More than one mailpiece a day? Target them first and hard. Phone calls and emails on the same day.
If it is a charity find their IRS 990 tax forms or Federal Elections Commision (FEC) documents, and find their fundraising company. Call and email the fundraising company.
In this example, I will be using Citizens United. They have both a 501c3 and a 501c4
Start building a database of everyone who is sending you junk mail. Name, address (real address, not the fake PO box return address in Merrifield, VA ), and who their fundraisers are.
I really like using Charity Navigator and ProPublica for finding IRS 990’s.
When you have entered everyone who is sending you junk mail, sort by fundraiser and be amazed at what you see. You aren’t being attacked by a million charities, you are being attacked by a small group of fundraisers. Target the fundraisers next. Call and email them with the list of their clients that are sending you junk mail. If they don’t get back to you in a week go straight to filing complaints.
Take notes on when you contacted them, and ask them how long it takes to flush out of their system. Write that end date down in a calendar or make it a column in your database. If you get junk mail after that date, start filling complaints.
Slowly start working through the list. Always concentrate on whoever is sending the most stuff. That will change once you start knocking down the junk mail.
USPS Prohibitory Order Form 1500 link to pdf
Form 1500 wiki page
Form 1500 became one my best friends during my junk mail project. It is the ban hammer of junk mail stopping tools.
Form 1500 was originally made to stop unwanted porn in the mail. After a lawsuit in the 70’s the rules changed for what qualified.
Now it can be used on any mailpiece that is selling you something, and sweepstakes. It does not work on charities or international mail. If the mailpiece you send in qualifies, the sender must stop sending you mail in 30 days. For commercial junk mail try using Catalog Choice or PaperKarma first. When that doesn’t work fill out a form 1500. I was in a 911 emergency junk mail situation. I needed everything to stop as fast as possible, so I was very aggressive with using form 1500.
I didn’t have time to wait to flush out of the system of every scam sweepstakes or WooWoo pills catalog. I needed it to stop pronto.
I wound up sending over 100 Form 1500’s for my junk mail project. It is a great tool for stopping a very specific type of junk mail.
Filling complaints with the DMA and more
3 more months have passed. You are entering every mailpiece into Catalog Choice or PaperKarma. You have contacted the biggest troublemakers that are sending you junk mail. But there are still groups that are sending you junk mail after you contacted them, and their fundraiser. This is where the fun starts.
It is time to circle back to the DMA. You remember them? You sent them $4 months ago. It is time to put those $2 to work, contact the ANA Ethics Committee.
ANA File an Ethics Complaint About Marketing Offers or Ads You Received
My guide on filing an ethics complaint
This is when you gather up all the notes you have that have taken that document all the things you have done to stop junk mail from these people. DMAChoice, directmail.com, Big Data brokers, Catalog Choice, PaperKarma, Phone calls, emails, and contacting their fundraiser. Lay it all out. Tell them the complete timeline of your trying to stop junk mail. Tell the ANA how the junk mail has affected you and your family. Talk about the content of the begging letters. The lies they use to squeeze money out of your loved one. Whoever you are writing a complaint about will get a copy of the complaint. Sometimes you will get a reply, most of the time the junk mail will just stop. If it still doesn’t stop, file another complaint.
You should also send this same letter to the FTC, your state’s Attorney General, and the Attorney General for the state where the charity is located. This will not stop the junk mail, but it will start a paper trail for a larger criminal case if anyone wants to take the time to look.
I am a firm believer that if a group refuses to take the simple step of taking a person off their mailing list they are doing other shady things.
If it is a Political Action Committee or a 501(c)4 file a complaint with the FBI. They are actively looking for Scam PACs that only spend money on telemarketing and junk mail.
FBI Press release that mentions Scam PACs
That is how I stopped junk mail. It took me over a year to do all of that. And in the middle of the project the person whose junk mail I was stopping passed away. Which changed everything. But that is a story for another day. I think you can stop junk mail a lot faster than I did. Most of my time was spent documenting the mail and writing the blog.
I still get mail for her. She is so deep in the system, I can’t get her out. Every year when my postal worker goes on Christmas vacation I get junk mail for her.
Feeding America is one of the largest charities in America. Its annual revenue is over 3 billion dollars. Charity Navigator gives Feeding America it’s highest rating 4 stars. But somehow they or their fundraiser is too cheap to buy the deceased do not contact list to clean up their donor database. If you donate to Feeding America you need to know that your donation goes toward sending junk mail to dead people. But one piece a year is better than 20 pieces a day. Remember the goal is always zero, but zero is near impossible.
If you think this whole process is stupid and overly time-consuming, contact your congressional representatives, both house and senate. Tell them your junk mail story. Only they can change the rules on how much pain, junk mail, and phone calls charities can inflict on us.
My questions for you are: How much junk mail do you get in a day? Who is sending you the most junk mail?
The following are affiliate links. If you would like to support the work I do, please consider a subscription to the following companies:
PaperKarma the junk mail-stopping app. DJM30 for 30% off a subscription
DeleteMe Use the code PARTNER20 for 20% off a subscription
Drowning in Junk Mail 
Bless you for this project.
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Thank You Kim
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