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I've said it before.

Opt out of direct mail and credit offers if you don't want them. It is easy, and while no longer entirely free, is very cheap ($1).

Sign up for the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA), "Mail Preference Service" (MPS), it will reduce the amount of unwanted mail coming to you, including credit card offers, and it really works.

However, a few notes on the service:
1) It can easily take 6 months for a mailing list to be updated removing your address from it. This has to do with the frequency that marketers update and certify their lists for the USPS.
2) Some of those catalogs that you have been getting for no apparent reason that you like getting, they may stop. If you are an existing customer of a company, or have specifically requested to get a certain mailing, then you may still get that mailing.
3) If there are multiple last names in your household, you may need to submit the form multiple times with those combinations (there are some stupid list maintainers out there).

Here is why it works. The mailer doesn't want to waste money on postage and printing costs to send a mail piece to you, if all you are going to do is throw it away. There are enough people out there that are on this list, and it adds up to some serious savings quickly. Also, there may be some shifty advertisers out there, but by in large they take their mailings to reputable commercial mail houses to prepare the mail. These mail houses will often do the right thing.

Final thought: if you like paying money to keep your mailbox clean of this sort of thing, there are now services such as GreenDimes who will do this for you more proactively.

Careful, your ignorance is showing. Do you honestly believe there are no ways to block junk mail before it is delivered? Here's a helpful exercise: every time you find something you don't know, throw it into Google and skim the first five links or so. Here's what my 10 seconds of casual effort dug up:

This will block 90%+ of junk mail, and I actually signed up months ago. The only junk mail I get is a local free newspaper that just gets stuffed into every box regardless.
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.php

This thing is pure gold. It will block ALL of those "pre-approved" credit card offers. You know the ones, they come with a 29.99% APR, a $650 limit, and yearly fees? Well, at least the ones my wife gets do. I signed up on this thing and I haven't had a single one since.
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/

This seems like an excellent place to remind people that they can opt out of much of that "paper spam". In addition to helping the environment, you're also helping to protect yourself from one vector of identity theft.

The ftc.com has a broken link to the online opt-out form for Direct Marketing Association. It looks like this one is right. Apparently it costs a dollar as it it sold as a 'service.'

The post office has to use more fuel to carry all the extra weight in their vehicles.

The post office has to do the same route every day whether they deliver you one piece of mail or 10. Even if they don't have mail for you, they have mail for your neighbors so they have to travel down your road anyway. Driving the route is the biggest contributor of fuel expenses, junk mail just makes it slightly more inefficient. I normally get about 22 mpg on my truck. Towing a trailer around with 1000 pounds of weight in it makes me get about 21 mpg even on hilly routes.

I have to get it from the mail box

Do you check your mail daily? Does carrying a couple ounces of mail to your dwelling cause you so much wear and fuel that you can measure it?

The DMA companies didn't buy my shredder for me, they don't spend 15 minutes shredding junk every week, and they don't subsidize the cost of fuel for the garbage truck that stops at every house to pick up what most likely amounts to tons of extra garbage weight a year.

I don't own a shredder. I heat my house with wood (hey, my heat is carbon neutral and cheaper than oil/coal/gas/electric though it is offset by manual labor) and I save my junk mail to use as starter paper to get the kindling going. It saves me from having to buy paper or starter fluid to get my fires going. Also, even with an extended amount of time, good luck putting my mail back together to get sensitive info when it has all turned to a mishmash of ashes in the bottom of my wood stove. As for my garbage, again, it is the same as the post office. The majority of the fuel is spent just driving to my house. The weight of junk mail is a pittance compared to that. I throw away an average of 3 bags of garbage a week. If I threw away my junk mail, it would be a small fraction of that.

They also don't care if some meth head stops by my mailbox, steals my junk mail, and uses one of the dozens of free credit card offers to steal my identity and start me down the road of a ruined credit rating.

Opt out of prescreened credit offers
Opt out of all DMA members mailing lists
Opt out of all DMA members phone calling lists
Join the federal do no call list

These programs really work... smart DMA people don't want to sell to people who don't like them. It wastes their time and resources to annoy you. Since joining just the federal do not call list, my telemarketing has dropped to near zero (only exceptions being companies I've done business with, politicians and political surveys (yeah, I'm one of those people who gets 1-2 survey calls a month)).

Spam is much, much more annoying to me than junk mail is. Telemarketing probably ranks higher than spam though since it is an immediate interruption in what I'm doing so someone can try to pitch something at me. Email I read at my leisure. It takes me a couple seconds to toss out my junk mail once a day since the envelopes are pretty obvious. I spend much more time making sure spamassassin is correctly classifying spam/ham, setting up whitelists and blacklists, etc than I do dealing with junk mail. Overaggressive filters means I could lose important emails if I don't scan through things carefully. I've never tossed away valid mail (though sometimes I will open a strange looking mail to make sure isn't something important).

At the end of the day, I'm at least wasting the junk mailers money if they send me crap to my mailbox. Even with a bulk rate, they're limited to how much they can send out by the expense of printing it and putting a stamp on it. Spammers incur almost no cost to send out an unlimited amount of garbage. I get 100 spams a day averaging at least 30 megs a month. I have to spend time making sure my network doesn't turn into a bots, cleaning out friends machines which were turned into bots, etc.

The post office has to use more fuel to carry all the extra weight in their vehicles.

The post office has to do the same route every day whether they deliver you one piece of mail or 10. Even if they don't have mail for you, they have mail for your neighbors so they have to travel down your road anyway. Driving the route is the biggest contributor of fuel expenses, junk mail just makes it slightly more inefficient. I normally get about 22 mpg on my truck. Towing a trailer around with 1000 pounds of weight in it makes me get about 21 mpg even on hilly routes.

I have to get it from the mail box

Do you check your mail daily? Does carrying a couple ounces of mail to your dwelling cause you so much wear and fuel that you can measure it?

The DMA companies didn't buy my shredder for me, they don't spend 15 minutes shredding junk every week, and they don't subsidize the cost of fuel for the garbage truck that stops at every house to pick up what most likely amounts to tons of extra garbage weight a year.

I don't own a shredder. I heat my house with wood (hey, my heat is carbon neutral and cheaper than oil/coal/gas/electric though it is offset by manual labor) and I save my junk mail to use as starter paper to get the kindling going. It saves me from having to buy paper or starter fluid to get my fires going. Also, even with an extended amount of time, good luck putting my mail back together to get sensitive info when it has all turned to a mishmash of ashes in the bottom of my wood stove. As for my garbage, again, it is the same as the post office. The majority of the fuel is spent just driving to my house. The weight of junk mail is a pittance compared to that. I throw away an average of 3 bags of garbage a week. If I threw away my junk mail, it would be a small fraction of that.

They also don't care if some meth head stops by my mailbox, steals my junk mail, and uses one of the dozens of free credit card offers to steal my identity and start me down the road of a ruined credit rating.

Opt out of prescreened credit offers
Opt out of all DMA members mailing lists
Opt out of all DMA members phone calling lists
Join the federal do no call list

These programs really work... smart DMA people don't want to sell to people who don't like them. It wastes their time and resources to annoy you. Since joining just the federal do not call list, my telemarketing has dropped to near zero (only exceptions being companies I've done business with, politicians and political surveys (yeah, I'm one of those people who gets 1-2 survey calls a month)).

Spam is much, much more annoying to me than junk mail is. Telemarketing probably ranks higher than spam though since it is an immediate interruption in what I'm doing so someone can try to pitch something at me. Email I read at my leisure. It takes me a couple seconds to toss out my junk mail once a day since the envelopes are pretty obvious. I spend much more time making sure spamassassin is correctly classifying spam/ham, setting up whitelists and blacklists, etc than I do dealing with junk mail. Overaggressive filters means I could lose important emails if I don't scan through things carefully. I've never tossed away valid mail (though sometimes I will open a strange looking mail to make sure isn't something important).

At the end of the day, I'm at least wasting the junk mailers money if they send me crap to my mailbox. Even with a bulk rate, they're limited to how much they can send out by the expense of printing it and putting a stamp on it. Spammers incur almost no cost to send out an unlimited amount of garbage. I get 100 spams a day averaging at least 30 megs a month. I have to spend time making sure my network doesn't turn into a bots, cleaning out friends machines which were turned into bots, etc.

you get more junkmail than regular mail on a daily basis

I don't encourage that either - in fact you can go to Direct Marketing Association and pay a buck to get on a kind of 'do not mail' like (voluntary by DMA members, not enforced by law like on telemarketers).

Another thing I had to stop was a local newspaper trying a new business model. I had canceled subscription to the regular newspaper, but they started delivering a small printing of ads and a few articles - so once a week I had to walk out on the lawn and pick up a yellow bag, what is basically garbage a motor route guy tossed there, and put it in the trash. I just went ballistic getting that stopped. I didn't ask for it, I don't want it - get off my lawn!

The Direct Mail Association has an opt-out list at https://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailing/. It'll cost you a buck and only goes out to DMA members, so I don't know how effective it is.

Sign up for the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA), "Mail Preference Service" (MPS), it will reduce the amount of unwanted mail coming to you, including credit card offers, and it really works. Use option 2, and print and mail your form, it only costs the price of a stamp. Don't pay to do so online, it takes time to process anyhow.

However, a few notes on the service:
1) It can easily take 6 months for a mailing list to be updated removing your address from it. This has to do with the frequency that marketers update and certify their lists for the USPS.
2) Some of those catalogs that you have been getting for no apparent reason that you like getting, they may stop. If you are an existing customer of a company, or have specifically requested to get a certain mailing, then you may still get that mailing.
3) If there are multiple last names in your household, you may need to submit the form multiple times with those combinations (there are some stupid list maintainers out there).

The functionality is already available as far as the credit reporting agencies not providing your information for marketing purposes.

You can protect yourself from identity theft by taking your name off of the credit bureaus mailing lists. The credit bureaus are one of the biggest offender when it comes to selling your name and information to the credit card companies who in turn send you all those pre-approved applications. One call to the Opt Out Request Line (for Equifax, Trans Union, Experian and Consumer Credit Associates) is all it takes to permanently remove your name from all marketing lists that the credit agencies supply to direct marketers. You can also opt for a two-year period, renewing your request at any time in the future.

1-888-567-8688

To get rid of most other junk mail, write a letter giving your complete name, name variations and mailing address to:

Mail Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 9008
Farmingdale, NY 11735

1-800-407-1088 Opt-Out from all mailing and telemarketing lists

Other sources:
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offtelephonedave
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglistdave
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/optoutform_emps.shtml

The functionality is already available as far as the credit reporting agencies not providing your information for marketing purposes.

You can protect yourself from identity theft by taking your name off of the credit bureaus mailing lists. The credit bureaus are one of the biggest offender when it comes to selling your name and information to the credit card companies who in turn send you all those pre-approved applications. One call to the Opt Out Request Line (for Equifax, Trans Union, Experian and Consumer Credit Associates) is all it takes to permanently remove your name from all marketing lists that the credit agencies supply to direct marketers. You can also opt for a two-year period, renewing your request at any time in the future.

1-888-567-8688

To get rid of most other junk mail, write a letter giving your complete name, name variations and mailing address to:

Mail Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 9008
Farmingdale, NY 11735

1-800-407-1088 Opt-Out from all mailing and telemarketing lists

Other sources:
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offtelephonedave
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglistdave
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/optoutform_emps.shtml

The functionality is already available as far as the credit reporting agencies not providing your information for marketing purposes.

You can protect yourself from identity theft by taking your name off of the credit bureaus mailing lists. The credit bureaus are one of the biggest offender when it comes to selling your name and information to the credit card companies who in turn send you all those pre-approved applications. One call to the Opt Out Request Line (for Equifax, Trans Union, Experian and Consumer Credit Associates) is all it takes to permanently remove your name from all marketing lists that the credit agencies supply to direct marketers. You can also opt for a two-year period, renewing your request at any time in the future.

1-888-567-8688

To get rid of most other junk mail, write a letter giving your complete name, name variations and mailing address to:

Mail Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 9008
Farmingdale, NY 11735

1-800-407-1088 Opt-Out from all mailing and telemarketing lists

Other sources:
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offtelephonedave
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglistdave
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/optoutform_emps.shtml

See http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.htm l (Direct Mail Association). Links on that page tell how to use the DMA's Mail Preference Service to avoid getting junk mail. I've used them for ~15 years with great success.

Apparently
"calls from companies with which you have an established business relationship" are allowed by automatic dialers...

http://www.dmaconsumers.org/telephoneconsumerprote ctionact.html

So... eradicate it.

Direct Marketing Association Mail Preference Service

Used by most direct mailers, since they're paying to send you stuff, to remove the people who don't want stuff.

http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.htm l

Because in most cases, I can stop a marketer from sending me junk mail.

The postal service controls and regulates bulk mail. The business and sending address are almost always known- if they're sending true bulk-rate mail, the sending business and address is known with certainty. If they send stuff and you ask them not to, but they keep sending it, they can be taken to court, have to pay your court costs, fines, damages, etc. Even the 'evil' direct marketing association runs a service to keep you off of their lists, which, though voluntary, supposedly does help keep the volume down - partly because bulk mailing costs enough that they don't want to send mail to people who will just toss it without opening it, really.

The mail is heavily regulated, and costs a fair amount to use. Sure, I get lots of junk mail. But it's nothing compared to the volume of spam, and if I want to stop the junk mail, it can, in fact, be done to a very large extent, with the post office and marketers themselves often helping assist you. Asking spammers to stop sending you spam, on the other hand, just gets you more spam...

I started this thinking there'd be just one reason junk mail is so different from spam, but it turns out there are a lot of reasons, important reasons, especially when combined with the very very very low cost of sending spam and the high cost of trying to filter it out. Honestly, if all spam was just marked "BULK" or something in the subject, I wouldn't mind quite so much, although it'd still be a 'receiver-pays' system...

It's also a problem with snail mail. Anyone can brute force mass mailings by sending mail to [1-9999] Main Street (just like email). Sure, some will bounce (just like email). However, some people will buy whatever crap you are peddling (just like email), which makes it profitable in the long run (just like email). That is why you haven't seen a decrease in the amount of junk mail you get in your snail mail box, just like your email box. For that matter, until the no-call lists came about, telemarketing followed the same principle.

Which proves my original point, that if you don't protect your privacy at every turn, you will lose it quickly.

PS. If you have ever wondered how you can opt-out of at least some of those snail mail ads you get, look here:
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglistdave

I'm going to opt-out from all of the databases I can think of. With any luck, they'll honor the request. You can start by sending an opt-out request to optoutUS@acxiom.com. (Hopefully they won't spam me). Next up: The Direct Marketers' Association.

Have a look at UK Mail Preference Service, also see Fax preference service and Telephone preference service. I've found these to be effective blockers.

The key elements of their success are:

• It is unlawful to contact an individual on the lists without their prior consent.
• It costs money to get the data (e.g. GBP 3750 for the full fax file, GBP 375 for small number of area codes) or to get an official registration that a third party is filtering the list for you. (You could avoid paying by individually asking everyone on your list, so this is not a compulsory fee.)
• It's easy for customers to complain by mail or on the web. That costs an offender time and money to investigate as well as a possible fine.
• The businesses providing the goods or services are ultimately liable.

So far there is not the same backing for email. The US Direct Marketing Association's eMPS service provides a limited service for honest suppliers, but does not have the legal teeth of TPS, MPS or FPS.

I'm aware that trans-national issues could cause some problems of using a Do Not Spam list within another country. However, for most non-electronic services it's unlikely that most trans-national advertising would be profitable. From the UK I'm not going to buy US inkjet carts, US student loans, Taiwanese products that I can't even read - so such emails are a waste of time to the seller. A properly filtered list could even be a business advantage to a bulk emailer or their customers.

one hand it's like a free list that unscrupulous telemarketers can get and spam

I believe there is a charge for the list, and they have to get the list quarterly.

Strangely enough, the Direct Marketing Association feels that it is necessary to charge people $5 to help get them off the list if they do it online! What a scam. They don't link to the official site at all.

I'm sorry, but the only difference between the US postal system and the email system is that the Postal Service has a monopoly on the delivery of spam.

My mailbox (as well as most, if not all of my neighbors') is flooded daily with bulk mail addressed to "our neighbors at...", "boxholder at..." or "resident." And then there's the credit card company crap that I receive by the hundreds.

Take a trip to the post office and look in the trash bins. You'll find it overflowing with trashed bulk mail that every one of the PO Box holders receives courtesy of the postal service.

Opt-out? You can mail off a request to the DMA or pay $5.00 to do it online (WTF!). But remember: "Although registration with MPS will help to reduce the amount of unsolicited mail that you receive, it will not stop all unsolicited mail."

And then there's the cost of sending postal mail which has increased steadily and with no real obviuos benefit to me.

The last thing I want is to have one organization responsible for delivery of email - and having the power to manipulate and charge for sending/receiving as they see fit.

Yes but you can get off junk mailing lists rather effectively. I signed myself up here and my junk mail went to nearly non-existent in a few months (down from around 3-5 a day, every day.) There is nothing similar for email.

Here's the link.

You forget that the DMA had a "voluntary DNC registry" for a long time. Did the DMA strap its members to the mast who disobeyed it? Hell no. The industry did it to themselves. This is a classic "if we don't educate, they're gonna regulate" scenario. Had the DMA done what the hell they said they were gonna do, they wouldn't be in this bind. It's very telling that this sweeping regulation went into effect with a Republican at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A LOT of people were and are pissed off at telemarketers and demanded change.

It's real easy - if you don't want to be called, don't sign up for the DNC list. This proves that what telemarketers want to do is call people who do not want to be called.

Here are the links that you want:

Telephone - http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/
Fax - http://www.fpsonline.org.uk/
Post - http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/
Email - http://www.dmaconsumers.org/emps.html

The first three are pretty effective, but as to how effective a national email preference service can be combatting an international problem... Well we all know the answer to that one.

Something i've found useful (and this requires interaction with USPS) in reducing the number of calls I get at home was to register directly with the DMA to no longer be called/mailed/whatnot from their members. I don't need to fill up my trash can, fireplace, or recycling bin with the junk they mail me. Here's the link so you can do the same for yourself. Yes, it requires a stamp, printer and envelope but I place the cost of printing and mailing close to $1 for most people. As I work from home, this has been necessary and helps get my name off the lists. Also, be sure to pay close attention each time a company you do business with mails you a copy of their privacy policy. American Express provided a nice form in one of the bill envelopes to fill out and mail-in saying I did not want to be bothered by their partners. Be sure to pay attention to what is in those envelopes even if you pay your bill online (as I do) to not miss those important chances to reduce the junk that fills up your phone line, email box, or postal box from companies.

The Direct Marketing Association has their own system for reducing unwanted calls, the so-called "Telephone Preference Service" (TPS). The kicker is that you pay a $5 "processing fee" to sign up:

http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offtelephone

50 million Americans * $5/American = $250M

The DNC list stands to take away a large chunk of their business, er, I mean "processing fees".

I've signed up for the DMA do not call list, and it seems to be working. I've only had my phone number for a year, though, so I got very few calls even before I signed up. Now I get none, except from the local paper.

Go ahead and sign yourself up!

junkbusters.com
or dmaconsumers.org

The equivalent in the UK is the telephone preference service.
You can sign up here. Use links from this page to set yourself up on the mailing preference service (door spam) the faxing preference service (fax spam) and email preference service (spam spam spam spam, spam spam spam spam).

Most legit buisnesses will respect the lists. Those who make the effort to be removed aren't likely to buy products so they're not cost effective to call anyways- even if there is no penalty.

Ironically, this actually *increases* the amount of telemarketing. The average expense per sale will drop since those who would never buy over the phone have been eliminated from the calling lists, making telemarketing more attractive...

Yes.

It will cost you 5$ however.
Next time, google.

en masse

1. Go here and have them remove your name. Don't give them money -- get out an index card, slap a 23 cent stamp on it, and mail it in. Same results, they get less money. It ain't perfect, but it will help.

2. Call your credit card companies. Ask them to be placed on their highest level of privacy list. Nearly all have one; you just gotta ask.

3. Do the same for your utilities, especially phone service.

4. Wait 3 months, and hten begin send back shredded crap in the postage paid envelopes.

For all you non-Americans... figure it out yourself. ;)

Recall that I never said that junk mail was good; just that it's different enough that AOL can fight spam and send CDs without being hypocrites.

Another key difference: although you shouldn't have to opt-out of junk mail, you can, and it mostly works. I contact the Direct Marketing Association every few years to tell their members to cut it out, and the only junk mail I get for the most part is crap my family actually requests. I haven't seen an AOL CD in years, to be honest.

Junk mail sucks, and I'd love to see it abolished, but it follows some rules we can work with, if we bother to. Spam is an uncontrolled mess, and needs to be slapped down hard. AOL isn't being hypocritical by doing that.

That's fine, but it beats the DMA's web solution of charging everyone $5 to get off junk mail lists.

...what if there was a national "do no email" list?...

There already is, of sorts. See http://www.dmaconsumers.org/optoutform_emps.shtml.
As I understand it, the spammer sends their email list to the DMA, the DMA then returns the list with opt-out addresses removed.

Of course, this isn't too effective. How many spammers are members of the DMA? How many break current laws (think fraud), and therfore, wouldn't think twice about breaking other laws? And why should I have to opt-out in the first place?!?!

The root cause of people getting a ton of telemarketers calling them is the same reason they get a ton of junk mail in their mailbox. Here are a couple of easy steps to fix most junk mail and telemarketing.

Step 1. surf on over to The Direct Marketing Association and sign up for the mail preference service and the telephone preference service. I realize they don't have an online signup yet, so you'll have to print out the forms and send them dead trees, but this does help a bunch.

Step 2. You may not realize or remember, but one a year every creditor you do business with sends a notice out detailing how they share (sell) information to selected (anyone willing to pay) parties. This same notice also details how to stop them from sharing this information. Most companies will let you do this over the phone if you just call the customer service line, but some may require you to mail the form in. Make sure you tell them you don't want you information shared with anyone. Often they will try to get you to let them share your information with other companies in their organization. Do not let them do this. Be sure you go through this procedure for every account you have not just credit cards. You can't forget mortgages auto loans etc. I found this made the most differance, since most marketers want to market to people that can afford to purchase their product even if they have to use credit to do so.

Tweezer

You can opt-out of some emails by joining the Direct Marketers Association "Do Not Email" list. This is similar to the do not call list they maintain, and is used by many companies.

DMA Email Opt-Out

According to their (BS) argument, a required list would be too much trouble to use, even though they already "recommend" the use of their optional list to member companies.

Go sign up for the optional list now. And don't pay the $5 online fee . . . you can do it by mail for free.

According to their (BS) argument, a required list would be too much trouble to use, even though they already "recommend" the use of their optional list to member companies.

Go sign up for the optional list now. And don't pay the $5 online fee . . . you can do it by mail for free.

DMA provides their own "do not call list" for consumers. Only telemarketers that are members of the DMA and elect to honor the list will actually use the list and not call you. So review their instructions for yourself on how to place yourself on their list:

DMA remove from telemarketing list information

What a scam! they CHARGE $5.00 to accept online submissions, but mail-in requests are free! Now, what acutally costs them more?!?

They actually try to scare you into using the online form by warning that registering by mail takes longer. This convinces me that they not very interested in representing consumer interests.

Bring on the nation-wide do-not-call list!

The trick was very simple. I sent in a post card to the Direct Marketing Association asking to be placed on their do not call list. And then, when people call, I always say to place me on their do not call list. I get less than one live phone call a month. (The thing I get are recorded messages from autodialers. Some God-damned charity thinks I want to reward their harrassment by giving them a car.)

I have read that over sixty percent of the populations purchases an item at least once a month in response to a telephone call. I know people who make these calls for a living. Certain people appreciate the opportunity to donate to their charity over the telephone, or to make theatre subscriptions. But telemarketers are not interested in wasting their time in calling people who are not going to buy, donate or subscribe.

Here is a link on the Direct Marketing Association website that explains about how to get off telephone list. I can attest that it has worked for me. And the cost was only for a postcard.

Is "The Direct Marketing Association is threatening to sue to save U.S. consumers from the potential loss of buying opportunities." the funniest sentence ever? "But we wanted to offer them a once in a lifetime chance!!!!!"

Is "The Direct Marketing Association is threatening to sue to save U.S. consumers from the potential loss of buying opportunities." the funniest sentence ever? "But we wanted to offer them a once in a lifetime chance!!!!!"

Is "The Direct Marketing Association is threatening to sue to save U.S. consumers from the potential loss of buying opportunities." the funniest sentence ever? "But we wanted to offer them a once in a lifetime chance!!!!!"

There is a national DMA opt out method (voluntary adherence, tho), but several legally enforcable state do not call lists you can enroll in.

Loosely related, but you can currently get off Junk mail lists through a similar method.

We don't like direct marketers, but we should have the least amount of venom for the The Direct Marketers Association. They maintain legitimate opt-out lists for email, telephone, and junk mail. Not every "marketer" uese 'em, but those that do use the lists only use them to opt customers out.

If it reduces just some of the harassment, isn't it worth it?

Less junk mail
Fewer telemarketers
Less spam

And BTW: don't be lazy and use the $5 Internet option. Print out the page and pop it in the post for less than 10% of the cost.

We don't like direct marketers, but we should have the least amount of venom for the The Direct Marketers Association. They maintain legitimate opt-out lists for email, telephone, and junk mail. Not every "marketer" uese 'em, but those that do use the lists only use them to opt customers out.

If it reduces just some of the harassment, isn't it worth it?

Less junk mail
Fewer telemarketers
Less spam

And BTW: don't be lazy and use the $5 Internet option. Print out the page and pop it in the post for less than 10% of the cost.