How to Get Off Mailing Lists!

[Midpack]

Any guidance here on getting our names permanently removed from the mailing list of an unwanted solicitor? We have done unsubscribe, catalog choice, phone calls and all the usual stuff and it has been effective for the most part though it often takes a while (we finally stopped getting Williams-Sonoma & Lands End catalogs every week). But there are some, who I would never do business with, who simply won't leave us alone. If you care, AARP is at the top of my list in this regard. We have told them repeatedly via e:mail and phone and despite their assurances, we still get their garbage in the snail mail frequently. If we ever were open to joining, their lack of response has ensured we would never do business with them - EVER. Any ideas?

 

[calmloki]

Any guidance here on getting our names permanently removed from the mailing list of an unwanted solicitor? We have done unsubscribe, catalog choice, phone calls and all the usual stuff and it has been effective for the most part though it often takes a while (we finally stopped getting Williams-Sonoma & Lands End catalogs every week). But there are some, who I would never do business with, who simply won't leave us alone. If you care, AARP is at the top of my list in this regard. We have told them repeatedly via e:mail and phone and despite their assurances, we still get their garbage in the mail frequently. If we ever were open to joining, their lack of response has ensured we would never do business with them - EVER. Any ideas?

Maybe try doing a change of address? My suggestion would be to track down and use the NRA's home office address - they are also pretty persistant - be fun to think of them corresponding and ignoring each other's mailings.

 

[freebird5825]

Any guidance here on getting our names permanently removed from the mailing list of an unwanted solicitor? We have done unsubscribe, catalog choice, phone calls and all the usual stuff and it has been effective for the most part though it often takes a while (we finally stopped getting Williams-Sonoma & Lands End catalogs every week). But there are some, who I would never do business with, who simply won't leave us alone. If you care, AARP is at the top of my list in this regard. We have told them repeatedly via e:mail and phone and despite their assurances, we still get their garbage in the mail frequently. If we ever were open to joining, their lack of response has ensured we would never do business with them - EVER. Any ideas?

Catalogchoice w*rked well for me for about 6 months. I'm noticing the gardening catalogs are slowly creeping back into my mailbox. Otherwise, it's still working.
I have used Land's End website for actual ordering. I did not provide my home email, but a "sinkhole" email I use for all online functions. Miraculously, the paper catalogs stopped showing up.
Maybe create an online "sinkhole" email at yahoo, then go register at the offending catalog sender's site, and opt for their electronic catalog only? Then just let the yahoo "sinkhole" email fill up until you get a mailbox full notice, clean it out, and forget it. It just might work.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

We do all our billing electronically now. I goto the mailbox about 2x a week. 95% of it is junk.

 

[dex]

Use the return envelope and the stub with your address (only that part) and write "remove from all mailing lists".

 

[Rustward]

www.dmachoice.org

 

[TromboneAl]

Use the return envelope and the stub with your address (only that part) and write "remove from all mailing lists".

Apparently, you can take it a step further and mail them a brick.

A note to AARP inside telling them that they'll receive one of these for every mailing you get from them would be pretty effective.
​

 

[Nords]

Any guidance here on getting our names permanently removed from the mailing list of an unwanted solicitor? We have done unsubscribe, catalog choice, phone calls and all the usual stuff and it has been effective for the most part though it often takes a while (we finally stopped getting Williams-Sonoma & Lands End catalogs every week). But there are some, who I would never do business with, who simply won't leave us alone. If you care, AARP is at the top of my list in this regard. We have told them repeatedly via e:mail and phone and despite their assurances, we still get their garbage in the snail mail frequently. If we ever were open to joining, their lack of response has ensured we would never do business with them - EVER. Any ideas?

I'm not old enough for AARP yet, but junk mail is one of my pet peeves.

Some mass mailers won't stop until you tell them "No" two or three times. By the time I get to the third "do not mail" letter, I tell them that I'll seek legal resolution in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act. At that point they've almost all given up.

Some of them continue mailing because you have a "business relationship" from ordering something or getting a quote or responding to an ad. On the second letter I tell them I don't want a business relationship anymore.

Some of the bulk mailers are working with a startup called ProQuo.com. Somehow they sent me an invitation with a free trial. They take you through just about every major mailing system, including DMA, and walk you through the steps to get you off the lists. But although things went great for the last six months, ironically they've started spamming me to sign up for a paid membership.

Apparently, you can take it a step further and mail them a brick.

A note to AARP inside telling them that they'll receive one of these for every mailing you get from them would be pretty effective.
​

Do AARP mailings make good woodstove fuel?

 

[W2R]

When I get home each day, I pick up the "newspaper" off the lawn - - you know, the version of the Times-Picayune that I don't subscribe to but is mostly ads, especially produced for us po' folk that don't subscribe to the regular Times-Picayune.

Then I remove the three foot long flourescent colored banners hung on my door handle and the multitude of other colored fliers rubber banded together and stuffed into the door handle.

I take these and the mail to my trash can on the way in, and sort the mail into my trash can. Almost ALL of my mail is junk mail.

I pay my bills by automatic withdrawals from my bank account, and occasionally I will get a notice of how much the next withdrawal will be. I do save those. But otherwise, I probably get get fewer than ten legitimate letters per year.

I am hoping that in about ten years we will be given the opportunity to opt out of receiving any mail at all.

Oh, and by the way, after sorting my mail into the trash, I go to my e-mail account and delete the 60-80 spam e-mails, while telling the junk phone call folks that I am not interested every now and then. I am 60 years old and I have NEVER bought even one single thing due to an ad sent to my home, a spam e-mail, or a junk phone call. I would bet that the cumulative cost of sending all this junk advertising to me over my lifetime is in the millions by now (and that isn't even counting the cost of a bazillion TV commercials).

 

[Midpack]

W2R, I agree. We are far from model citizens, but I find the waste of resources on junk mail pretty offensive, and the more they send and the more they ignore me, the more determined I am to not do business with them. What could be more wasteful? I am about ready to try mailing bricks to some of these folks...

 

[Nords]

I would bet that the cumulative cost of sending all this junk advertising to me over my lifetime is in the millions by now (and that isn't even counting the cost of a bazillion TV commercials).

Heck, even AARP pales in comparison to the nation's worst collection of mass-marketing bulk mailers: colleges.

Our kid signed herself up at her high school guidance office. As a junior, she now gets an average of 4-5 pieces per day six days a week. I can only imagine what it'll turn into this summer when the application frenzy begins.

The irony is that anyone who's ever donated money to their dear ol' alma mater is subsidizing this junk...

 

[W2R]

Heck, even AARP pales in comparison to the nation's worst collection of mass-marketing bulk mailers: colleges.

Our kid signed herself up at her high school guidance office. As a junior, she now gets an average of 4-5 pieces per day six days a week. I can only imagine what it'll turn into this summer when the application frenzy begins.

The irony is that anyone who's ever donated money to their dear ol' alma mater is subsidizing this junk...

I get "alumni magazines" and pleas for donations from two colleges and three private schools that I attended. This includes my elementary school, which I last attended in May, 1960 (with the other 11 members of the sixth grade at that school). I have never donated one cent to any of them.

I would imagine that they get their biggest gifts from the estates of people who die rich and alone. It's kind of sad. I guess they want to bring back 50-70 year old memories to people on their deathbeds in the hopes of hitting the jackpot. Otherwise, I can't imagine why they would persist despite zero response, for that long.

 

[Midpack]

Heck, even AARP pales in comparison to the nation's worst collection of mass-marketing bulk mailers: colleges.

Our kid signed herself up at her high school guidance office. As a junior, she now gets an average of 4-5 pieces per day six days a week. I can only imagine what it'll turn into this summer when the application frenzy begins.

The irony is that anyone who's ever donated money to their dear ol' alma mater is subsidizing this junk...

Maybe better left unsaid, but we used to give about $250/year to St Jude's. But their junk mail blitz is unbelievably wasteful and annoyingly persistent IMHO. We told them we planned to give at least once/year but asked them to stop the junk mail repeatedly, didn't slow them down one bit. We finally let them know that we were regrettably stopping all contributions - and to stop sending us junk mail. It finally stopped. Very, very sad. Fortunately we can "help" children through other organizations...but we would have probably given to St Jude's throughout our lives.

 

[TromboneAl]

Heck, even AARP pales in comparison to the nation's worst collection of mass-marketing bulk mailers: colleges.

Yes. And wait until the kid is in college. Then you get ads for exam care package services, storage services, bed sheets, school rings, diploma frames, commencement announcements, moving services, yearbooks, etc. All of these come on stationary which makes you think it's an official university communication.

They send fancy mock-ups of the commencement announcement, which I will scan in and produce myself.

 

[RonBoyd]

Any guidance here on getting our names permanently removed from the mailing list of an unwanted solicitor? We have done unsubscribe, catalog choice, phone calls and all the usual stuff and it has been effective for the most part though it often takes a while (we finally stopped getting Williams-Sonoma & Lands End catalogs every week). But there are some, who I would never do business with, who simply won't leave us alone. If you care, AARP is at the top of my list in this regard. We have told them repeatedly via e:mail and phone and despite their assurances, we still get their garbage in the snail mail frequently. If we ever were open to joining, their lack of response has ensured we would never do business with them - EVER. Any ideas?

Wow! Ya gotta mello out. What is it that upsets you so much... that they are carrying the bulk of the load to keep the USPS alive? Just put the stuff in the trash and go hit a golf ball or something. Life's too short to promote ulcers.

 

[Nords]

I would imagine that they get their biggest gifts from the estates of people who die rich and alone. It's kind of sad. I guess they want to bring back 50-70 year old memories to people on their deathbeds in the hopes of hitting the jackpot. Otherwise, I can't imagine why they would persist despite zero response, for that long.

I'd have to believe that Punahou's alums would have almost as much intrigue as USNA's alumni association. Sometimes USNAAA's politicking & backstabbing & pandering makes "Desperate Housewives" look like "Romper Room". And then there's the "my donation is bigger than yours" crowd, which the alumni association gleefully spurs on to ever-greater heights of competition.

I joined our alumni association during the summer before freshman year, paid a lifetime fee, and have given them the subscriber base to sell their ads to my target demographic (as it changes) for the rest of my life. That has to be worth more than the ads in a generic magazine.

So I'm contributing enough. I'd be more interested in helping out the football stadium renovation just as soon as they help us end homelessness, hunger, and domestic violence...

Maybe better left unsaid, but we used to give about $250/year to St Jude's.
Fortunately we can "help" children through other organizations...but we would have probably given to St Jude's throughout our lives.

We do all our giving anonymously through our Fidelity Charitable Gift fund. Each donation allows us the option of a public acknowledgment or continued anonymity, but stories like yours make me very happy that we're staying anonymous.

Yes. And wait until the kid is in college. Then you get ads for exam care package services, storage services, bed sheets, school rings, diploma frames, commencement announcements, moving services, yearbooks, etc. All of these come on stationary which makes you think it's an official university communication.

Oh, great. And here I was under the mistaken impression that it would all stop in about 514 days!

 

[Midpack]

Wow! Ya gotta mello out. What is it that upsets you so much... that they are carrying the bulk of the load to keep the USPS alive? Just put the stuff in the trash and go hit a golf ball or something. Life's too short to promote ulcers.

Again, we're not model citizens, but we're a little more environmentally conscious than to just throw it away (and more so every year) and not worry about it. Ron -you're more than welcome to your view, but save all your junk mail for a year and then look at the pile - it's an unnecessary, unconscionable waste IMO.

 

[Westernskies]

Apparently, you can take it a step further and mail them a brick.

A note to AARP inside telling them that they'll receive one of these for every mailing you get from them would be pretty effective.​

Great Link! I loved the gal who sent them a broken blender...

Yes. And wait until the kid is in college. Then you get ads for exam care package services, storage services, bed sheets, school rings, diploma frames, commencement announcements, moving services, yearbooks, etc. All of these come on stationary which makes you think it's an official university communication.

They send fancy mock-ups of the commencement announcement, which I will scan in and produce myself

and then you can also mail them her old textbooks!

 

[RonBoyd]

Again, we're not model citizens, but we're a little more environmentally conscious than to just throw it away (and more so every year) and not worry about it. Ron -you're more than welcome to your view, but save all your junk mail for a year and then look at the pile - it's an unnecessary, unconscionable waste IMO.

And you're out to save the world from itself. Wow! What a plateful. Is it Sisyphus that I'm thinking of?

 

[ScooterGuy]

DW suggested taking one of their pre-paid envelopes, and mailing them back a brick or concrete block, wrapped in a box, with a polite note to 'take us off the mailing list.' You securely tape the postage-paid return envelope onto the package. The company MUST pay the postage that results.

I doubt that you'd hear from them a second time.

 

[Midpack]

And you're out to save the world from itself. Wow! What a plateful. Is it Sisyphus that I'm thinking of?

I don't see where I've tried to tell you or anyone else what they should do. So where on earth do you get 'save the world?' Maybe you could 'mellow out'...

 

[TromboneAl]

I go to my e-mail account and delete the 60-80 spam e-mails

Gmail does a great job of keeping almost all spam away. Recommended.

 

[W2R]

Gmail does a great job of keeping almost all spam away. Recommended.

Thanks - - I'll give it a shot one of these days. Maybe I'll do that when I retire and move up north. A new life, and a new e-mail address sound good to me.

 

[kcowan]

Yes we get almost no email spam anymore thanks to the filters. If I sign up for a newsletter, I have to specifically give them permission or I never see it.

OTOH, my live mail account (hotmail) gets blocked by the server at one of my brokers so I never send him emails from that account.

I agree that mass mailings are what keep the postal service viable. If we ever stamp all that out, a first class letter will cost 5 bucks...

 

[Westernskies]

I really got a kick out of the "mail them a brick" idea. I didn't have a brick, but I did find a nice granite rock for the folks at Capital One to enjoy. I made sure it would arrive in pristine condition by emptying the contents of my shredder for free packaging materials. I also included all the catalogs I received last week, they were nice and heavy, didn't take up much room, and maybe their employees will enjoy looking at them on company time.