Junk Mail: What can you do about it?
For the majority of junk mail, you can actually opt out of Junk Mail. It may seem strange, but companies want to stop junk mail they are sending if you’re just going to throw in the bin or recycle. They’d rather spend their money sending junk mail to the people who want to read it – who might be tempted by their special offers or too-good-to-be-true deals.
Opting out is exactly what it sounds like – you just inform the companies to stop junk mail that they are sending because you don’t want to receive it any more, and more importantly that you don’t want them to pass on your name and address to other companies who might also want to send you junk mail.
In some cases, opting out will involve contacting a company you already do business with, such as your bank or credit card company, and telling them not to stop junk mail – all those offers of cut-price loans or “premium” credit cards. It’s worth taking a look at the Privacy Policy of any company you'd like stopping junk mail, as “opt out” instructions may be available there. You will also need to ensure that every time you give out your name and address to a company in future, you read the small print concerning privacy, and tick any relevant boxes to say that you don’t want to receive communications from the company in future. In some cases, you may find that you need to write to head office again to stop junk mail.
Companies do make it hard for you to stop junk mail, so you’ll need to be alert and read that small print – most companies are sneaky about not stopping junk mail, and have you opting in by default, when you don’t tick the relevant box or write to the relevant department so stopping junk mail.
Other times, by “opting out,” you’re actually having your name and other details placed on a central list of people who want to stop junk mail from any company or other organisation at all. There are two main lists you will want to be on, if you want to stop junk mail: the Royal Mail’s Opt-Out list, and the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service list. This new guide tells you exactly how to do that, and includes a set of form letters for you to send off, stopping junk mail from these sources.
You can get the Stop Junk Mail here, and start stopping junk mail today.
