Coming Home to - City of Gladstone

Do-it-yourself:Junk mail may seem as inevitable as death and taxes, but witha little patience there are effective ways to tackle the problemof unwanted mail. The suggestions that follow are simpleand easy to do yourself. Following the steps outlined here, andinvesting 20-minutes of your time will end the delivery of junkmail for two to five years.Your name, address, and buying habits are a commodity that isregularly sold and traded on the open market. Today, virtuallyall organizations you deal with sell your name unless you specificallyask them to stop. Whenever you donate money, order aproduct or service, or fill out a warranty card, write in largeletters, "Please do not sell my name or address". Most organizationswill properly mark your name in the computer. Productwarranty cards are often used to collection information onyour habits and income, for the sole purpose of targeting directmail. They are not required in most situations - avoid sendingthem. If you are dealing with a company on the telephone, askthem "Please mark my account so that my name is not tradedor sold to other companies". Your credit card company probablysells your name the most often. Call them and ask them tostop. "Contests" where you fill in a little entry blank are almostalways fishing expeditions for names. If you fill one out at afootball game, for example, expect to get a catalog of footballmerchandise within a few months. The same thing applies toother “trade” show promotions. Avoid these if you don't wantthe mail. Select a false middle name or initial for each charityor business you deal with. Keep track of which letter goes withwhich organization. You can also select a false road designatorfor your address, "avenue, place, circle, street, highway, parkway,etc.". This step can be very revealing. Some guides recommendchanging the spelling of your name, but this can lead to duplicatemailings.The amount of paper junk mail sent each year in the UnitedStates is staggering -- some 4 million tons, nearly half of whichis never opened. Even if you recycle there are still enormousenvironmental costs in terms of ink, energy to produce, deliverand recycle the paper, recycling inefficiencies and the loss of virginforest to create the high quality glossy paper most junk mailuses. There is a lot you can do to reduce the cost to the environmentand your own time. First class mail: Cross out the addressand bar code, circle the first class postage and write "refused:return to sender". Drop it in any mailbox, it will be returned tothe sender. Bulk mail: The post office throws away bulk mail itcan't deliver, so returning it does no good. Bulk mail is the hardestto deal with because the USPS actively provides addresses,support and encouragement to mailers. However, if "addresscorrection requested" is written on the label: circle "addresscorrection requested" and treat like first class mail. SexuallyOriented Advertising (SOA): The only help you'll get from thePost Office in controlling junk mail is for explicit stuff. Fill out39 | Spring 2009