Reducing Junk Mail
Junk Mail | Telemarketers | Sharing Credit History
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The Post Office Unless you collect junk mail for kindling or perhaps for creative paper maché projects all that extra paper is probably as much of a nuisance for you as it is for us. The post office will not do anything about the problem... their staff is even instructed not to use the "J" word! If the postage is paid and the address is a match, they are going to give it to you. Did you know that you can refuse mail? Leave the envelope unopened and write REFUSED across your address and put the letter back into the mail. It doesn't need a new stamp. Do not worry about this being a problem for the post office. For if this was a problem surely they would fix it. |
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ADVO and the Direct Marketing Association If you wanted to send an advertisement to as many people as possible where would you go? Who has the best lists? ADVO and the Direct Marketing Association keep the best lists. If you ask these companies to take your address off the list, they must. However, they are not required to prevent your address from appearing on the list again... so for the price of a stamp, you should remind them from time to time. Just politely request that you prefer not to receive solicitations at the address you specify.
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The phone is ringing again. Is it a friend or is it going to be another telemarketer. Register with the Direct Marketing Association Telephone Preference Service. Until the law is restructured to bias opt-in instead of opt-out, you need to do the work to opt-out of the promotions companies feel that you might be interested in. This works well. We were able to significantly reduce the number of telemarketing calls that we receive. Write a letter to the Direct Marketing Information and let them know which phone numbers they should note in their Telephone Preference Lists as opt-out numbers. Think of this from their point of view. They don't want to sell lists of numbers that will be uninterested customers, but they do not want to permanently exclude a phone number (people move and and a new customer may be using that number in a year or so). Remember to remind them every year or so. Direct Marketing
Association The Direct Marketing Association may have more information about these services at their website. Visit their Off-the-List website at http://www.the-dma.org/consumers/offtelephonelist.html A few states have opt-out lists and impose fines for telemarketers that break the rules. If you live in one of these states, consider signing up your phone number: Alabama www.psc.state.al.us Alaska, 1-907-443-5466 www.law.state.ak.us/consumer/tele_alaska.html Arkansas, 1-877-866-8225 www.donotcall.org Connecticut, 1-800-842-2649 www.state.ct.us/dcp Florida, 1-800-435-7352 www.800helpfla.com Georgia, 1-877-426-6225 www.ganocall.com Idaho, 208-334-2424, 800-432-3545 www.state.id.us/ag Indiana, 1-888-834-9969 www.ai.org/attorneygeneral/telephoneprivacy/ Kentucky, 1-502-696-5389 www.law.state.ky.us/cp/nocall.htm Louisiana, 1-877-676-0773 http://host.ntg.com/donotcall/ Missouri, 1-866-662-2551 www.ago.state.mo.us/nocalllaw.htm New York, 1-866-622-5569 www.consumer.state.ny.us Oregon, 1-877-700-6622 www.ornocall.com Tennessee, 1-877-872-7030 www.state.tn.us/tra/nocall.htm Texas, 1-866-896-6225 www.texasnocall.com |
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Credit card offers If you really want a new credit card--the best offers will not be arriving in the mail. Did you know that lending institutions contact the credit reporting agencies to get lists of names and addresses? The credit reporting companies will not disclose information about the people that have let them know that they prefer to opt-out of these credit offers. They will keep you on the opt-out list for one or two years. Plus, if you are a worry wart, it will be less likely that someone steals your pre-approved credit card and goes shopping with it. Perhaps this someone will use your neighbor's pre-approved credit card instead. Want to opt-out now? Call 1-888-567-8688 For more information about the Fair Credit Reporting Act click here to visit the Equifax web site. Equifax is one of the three or four nationwide credit reporting agencies that participate in the opt-out plan. Sharing your personal information You may also write to the following, let them know that you do not want personal information about you shared for promotional purposes: Equifax, Inc. Options, P.O. Box 740123, Atlanta GA 30374-0123 Experiean Consumer Opt-Out, 701 Experian Parkway, Allen TX 75013 Trans Union Marketing List Opt-Out, P.O. Box 97328, Jackson MS 39288-7328 |