Stop Junk Mail

What would happen if you accepted all those credit card offers that come in the mail on an almost daily basis? Might be an interesting experiment, but it could easily get out of hand. And what about the insurance offers? Refinancing your mortgage?

I’m assuming that these come-ons must work or companies wouldn’t keep mailing them out, right? It’s discouraging when you think of the sacrifice of paper, energy, and resources. Normally I tear the offers in two and throw one half in the recycling and one half in the trash. And then I worry that some creative thief will figure out my system and start pairing up my trash and recycling and steal my credit/identity/money. I’m sure no one’s this resourceful, no matter how desperate. My worries are simply a result of the paranoid mindset that overcomes you when you read far-fetched stories on Facebook.

Alas, I have solved this problem and don’t stress sorting the mail, what there is of it now that I no longer get all these lovely offers. How did I do it?

OptOutPrescreen.com is the official Consumer Credit Reporting Industry website to accept and process requests from consumers to Opt-out or Opt-in of firm offers of credit and insurance.

It’s fairly simple to get your name off the books. You can choose to do so online and it’s good for five years, but you can also print out the forms and sign them, mail them back and have your name removed PERMANENTLY. Pretty cool, huh? I had no idea that one agency could control the mass of mailings that have littered my life.

I do remember passing by this site years ago, but I didn’t believe it would really stop all of the offers, so I never took the time to print out and mail in the request. About six weeks ago I finally did and walah! no more credit card offers! This has reduced our mail load significantly. Sorry for the USPS, I know they need the business.

I’ve mentioned it before, but if you’re tired of getting catalogs you don’t need/want/care about, you can put a stop to them also by removing your name through www.catalogchoice.org.

I’m waiting for the day when we get zero mail. We’re getting closer. The only stuff we get now are bills, magazines, real letters, and mass mailings from local businesses. I figure the time it took to cancel catalogs through catalogchoice and send in my Opt out request is more than made up by the time I’m not spending circumventing identity thieves and recycling mass amounts of mail.