Eliminating junk — Web sites allow consumers to opt out of bulk-mail deliveries
Consumers have a variety of options for reducing the amount of bulk mail coming to them. Several Web sites offer people the option of canceling delivery of all that junk.
The sites are provided by industry-sponsored organizations, for-profit companies and nonprofit groups that want to help the environment and provide a consumer convenience. All of the sites have streamlined registration processes, allowing people to slash their junk mail in minutes.
Catalog Choice (www.catalogchoice.org) — a free service sponsored by the Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation, and The Ecology Center — allows you to register a postal address and cancel catalogs delivered to anyone, past or present, who has lived there. The cancellation process, which is done individually for each catalog, is surprisingly quick, and almost all of the catalogs people receive can be found on the site.
The three environmental groups' main aim in creating the site was to help reduce the environmental impact and waste of junk mail.
"We wanted to address the massive amounts of catalogs that are sent," said Kate Sinding, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "The other part is respecting the consumer's choice in what comes to their mailbox, especially the unwanted solicitations."
Two other Web sites, the for-profit www.greendimes.com and the nonprofit www.41pounds.org, help consumers tackle all of their junk mail. The groups contact the direct-mailing and catalog companies companies and request that the companies remove a consumer's address.
41pounds.org was started by three brothers who initially compiled a list of numbers and e-mail addresses their friends and family could use to reduce their junk mail. They then started the nonprofit to help people who simply did not have the time required to compile similar lists. Their service is $41 for five years, and one-third of the fee goes to donations to other nonprofit groups.
"It started out from our general annoyance with the junk mail," said co-founder Steven DeVries. "It seemed like something people just complained about but never tried to stop."
Green Dimes founder Pankaj Shah said regarding his company, "in an ideal world, we wouldn't exist." But people are inundated with junk mail and often do not have the time or energy to stop it. A subscription to his company's service costs $15 and includes the planting of 10 trees per year.
Recent comments
To be clear - the 41pounds.org service includes removing your name...
Carolyn | Dec. 6, 2007 at 12:40 p.m.
Gidday,
Just to clarify a note about the DMA's Mail...
Margot | Dec. 4, 2007 at 1:31 p.m.
What a great idea! I spend way too much time sorting through and...
Karen | Dec. 4, 2007 at 7:07 a.m.
