Frequently Asked Questions

Back in August of 2005, we were getting a lot of junk mail, including about 10 credit card pre-approved offers each week. USPS.com didn't help me at all, most likely because they want people to send bulk mail and get the postage revenue. I did a search on the web for junk mail removal, and many sites references Direct Marketing Associates (DMA) mail preference service, and an opt-out service for pre-approved credit/insurance offers. Even the FBI's web site recommended them. The services take a little while to go into effect but once they do you have less junk that you have to sort through. However, you have to manually contact companies that:

ou've already conducted business with
those who don't subscribe to DMA's MPS
are local (pennysaver, etc)
Here's all of the information you need. The first two links are the most useful, but he other sites give you ideas for getting off of other national mailing lists, etc.

DMAchoice for participating company removal.
OptOutPrescreen.com for pre-approved credit/insurance offer removal
Information sites, ranked by how useful I found them:

Obviously.com
Federal Trade Commission
PrivacyRights.org

One of the sites mentioned above mentioned filling out a change of address card for a previous resident at your address stating "MOVED - address unknown" -- However, mail forwarding is a completely manual service carried out by the carrier as I am told, and mistakes can easily be made. When we moved into a new house, we signed up for mail forwarding for my wife's maiden name at our old address, because there was one company we didn't have her name changed with yet. We eventually got the mail that we wanted, but we also started to get more mail addressed to her maiden name than we had been getting before. The Post Office must've sold the name/address. So, I did what the web site mentioned. However, the post office assumed that since the the old name and the new name were the same person, and started rejecting most (but not all) mail to either her, including at least one birthday card and three mailings from the DMV. Their assumption was correct, but it was not the intent. We had to remove the name from the mail forwarding service. The mailings to her maiden name eventually stopped.
Now that the members of DMA are asked to remove your name, you can start sending letters to companies that aren't members. Many companies will remove you without problem, realizing that if you don't want to receive their mail, you probably won't buy from them anyway, so they'll save postage. Now if only e-mail spammers were that bright and didn't try to trick anti-spam software!

Mail that was sent "first class" or "address service requested" is easy. Just circle those words and write "refused - return to sender" with an arrow to the return address. Presorted bulk mail mail is different unless it has the address service endorsement. Because the company paid less money for postage, one site said this would result in the post office discarding the mail. However, when I tried this once by mistake, I received the junk mail back.
Sometimes you have to write a letter. What I have done is attempt to find mailing list removal information on the company's web site and remove that way. That will be faster and easier. If that doesn't work, I send a letter to the return address of the mail, or the customer service address if that isn't noted. I also write "attn: customer service - mailing list removal" on the envelope. The letter itself must include your address and the mailing label that they used. Here's a sample letter that I have sent:

John Smith
1 Way St
Schenectady, NY 12345
February 4, 2012

GEICO
1 GEICO Plaza
Washington, DC 20076-0001

To Whom It May Concern:
Please permanently remove the above address from your mailing list(s) and do not share the name/address with other companies. Attached is your mailing label. Thank you.
Sincerely,

John Smith

I also save every letter that I send places, just in case. I include a textbox under where I attach the mailing label so that I can save the exact name that is on their mailing list, just in case each my wife and I are on the list and I need to send another request.
Note: I sent a request to LL Bean asking them to remove my wife's name (maiden) from their list, stating that no person by that name lived here. They did, but they added my name to the list. The lesson is don't attempt to explain it, just request the removal.
Anyway, I hope this helps. Do not contact me with any questions... I don't accept unsolicited mail! All of my information is either shared here or included in the above links anyway.