Advertising Mail - Opting Out

Opting Out

Several organizations offer opt-out services to people who wish to reduce or eliminate the amount of addressed advertising mail they receive.

In the UK, the Mailing Preference Service allows people to register with them for removal from posted as opposed to hand-delivered mail.

In the United States, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) offers the Mail Preference Service which provides a highly effective way to reduce unwanted junk mail "DMA Choice" Online Junk Mail Opt-Out. The DMA also provides a means for family members to request permanent opt-out for deceased individuals through the Deceased Do Not Contact List. To reduce the number unwanted catalogs that are received, contact Abacus to request removal from their database which is used by companies to exchange mailing list information about customers. There are two ways to opt-out of the Abacus database: by visiting the Epsilon website Epsilon Database Opt-Out by e-mail or by mailing a request to Epsilon Data Services, PO Box 1478, Broomfield, CO 80038.

In addition, there are several nonprofit organizations, such as 41pounds.org, catalogchoice.org, as well as private sector alternatives like Greendimes.

In response to a US Supreme Court ruling (Rowan v. Post Office Dept.), the United States Postal Service enables an applicant to obtain a Prohibitory Order, which gives people the power to stop non-governmental organizations from sending them mail, and to demand such organizations remove the consumers’ information from their mailing lists.

In Canada, the highly-publicized Red Dot Campaign offers advice on reducing unaddressed advertising mail. The campaign focuses on advertising the Canada Post policy to respect "No Junkmail" signs, noting that this policy is not promoted by Canada Post itself. The name "red dot" refers to an internal marker used by Canada Post to indicate which households do not wish to receive unaddressed admail. The UK Royal Mail also offers an opt-out service, though it sparked public outrage by warning that unaddressed government mailings could not be separated from advertisements, and those who opted out of the latter would stop receiving the former as well.

Several websites critical of junk mail have guides for people interested in reducing the amount of junk mail they get, such as the Center for a New American Dream. The Direct Marketing Association allows people to opt out of receiving marketing material from DMA members.