I came up
with these steps to get rid of all the Charity and Sweepstakes mail and
catalogs my 95-year-old mother was getting. She was entering contests, buying
things she never used and donating more money than she could have afforded. It took about 4-5 months but these steps
work. She went from getting 10-15 pieces
of junk mail a day to maybe 5 a week.
After
seeing the success, I had with my mom’s mail, I did it with my own junk mail
and got the same results.
NOTE: it takes about 4 months to get off junk mail
lists because at least 95% of junk mail lists are not done in the company –
they pay another company to do it. IF
you are still getting junk mail from companies after all this, see if they have an Facebook page and send them a message and if
possible, post about it on their Facebook page. I had to resort to this with some companies – mainly banks that kept
wanting me to get a credit card.
These ideas
sound drastic, but if you want the junk mail and junk emails to stop, you must
BE drastic.
NOTE – if
you donate again or enter a sweepstakes again, you will probably wind up back
on the lists again. If you really want to donate – send a money order and don’t
give your correct address.
If you are
willing to pay postage, send this letter to each of the companies that is
sending you things.
You can also use this letter in an email or on the charity Facebook page or in an email to them.
Basically, you will be lying to these
companies, but using the “family member passed away” line will get you the best
results.
In the
letter where it reads “CHARITY/SWEEPSTAKES”
choose the correct one.
I
am ANY NAME, and my mother (YOUR NAME) has passed away.
I
am requesting that she (YOUR NAME), see address below be removed from all your
mailing lists. In addition, DO NOT send
any CHARITY/SWEEPSTAKES requests to “Current Resident” as my family & I are
now the current residents and do not wish to receive your charity requests.
Under
State and Federal laws, you are required to remove her name from the mailing
list and refrain from sending her any mail without my prior written approval.
Do
not rent or sell her name or address to other organizations
Your
Name
Your
Complete Address
FOR
CATALOGS
For
Catalogs that you don’t want to receive:
Go to
Catalog Choice - https://www.catalogchoice.org/. They
work pretty well. With a few catalogs, I had to write them directly.
My biggest
complaint with companies that have catalogs & also sell online is that when
you buy something from them online, you start to get their catalogs in the mail
as well. EVEN if you tell them not to on
the order form. I have stopped buying
from many companies that do that – I warn them first, wait the three months and
if I continue to get catalogs, I stop buying from them.
ADDITIONAL WAYS
Go to https://www.dmachoice.org/ and to https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
JUNK EMAILS
You can
also use the letter for any junk emails you receive when unsubscribing doesn’t
work.
If that
still doesn’t work, send this message
This
is your final notice!!!
I
have the right not to receive e-mails from anyone I choose and if someone
continues sending emails against my wishes, IT’S HARASSMENT!
I
have asked you to remove me from your list since XX.
Notice
that I have also sent this message to the SPAM patrol, and I will repost it on
the FTC site as well.
Next
stop is contacting my lawyer.
Suggestions and comments are always welcome.
See you soon!
Judy
