Another way to save the earth and your pocketbook….
July 18, 2008 |
A few days back I wrote a post about immediately throwing your junk mail into the trash so you are not tempted to spend extra money. I had a few readers remind me that you should always removing the mailing label so you are not a victim of identify theft.
Here are some fast facts about junk mail from 41pounds.org
- 100 million tress are cut each year to produce the paper for credit cards, insurance and other unsolicited offers.
- We waste 70 hours a year sorting through 560 pieces of junk mail.
- $320 million of your local tax dollars are used to dispose of junk each year.
- 4 Million fraudulent credit card accounts are opened each year with 400,000 of those tied to unsolicited mail offers.
Another thoughtful reader sent me an email with this article from the Bangor Daily News.
Just as entering your telephone number on the federal ‘Do Not Call’ registry put the kibosh on telemarketers interrupting your dinner, there is a way stem the tide of junk mail.
An excerpt from the book ‘Scam-Proof Your Life’ by Sid Kirchheimer, posted on MSNBC’s Web site includes a step-by-step process for opting out of junk mail. He writes: ‘Call 888-567-8688 (888-5-OPT-OUT) from your home telephone (so it can be checked against an address database) or visit www.optoutprescreen.com to stop preapproved credit card and insurance offers from reaching you by mail or phone. (The source for these come-ons is lists sold to companies by the credit-reporting agencies Equifax, Experian, TransUnion, and the smaller Innovis.) If you call, you’ll get an automated voice-response system that requests your name, telephone number and Social Security number; don’t worry, they have it already as part of your credit history. Whether you call or go online, you can opt out for five years or permanently; if you choose the latter, you’ll be sent an additional form in the mail that must be mailed back. Your opt-out ‘vote’ goes into effect in about five business days, but do not expect to see a noticeable reduction for roughly one month.’
Wouldn’t it be great if we all opted out? Think of how much less clutter we would have in our lives, or how much less waste would be in our trash bin every week. I plan on opting out today! Since we pay our bills online, I hope that one day all that will be in my mailbox are coupons!
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6 Responses to “Another way to save the earth and your pocketbook….”
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July 18th, 2008 @ 12:07 pm
Isn’t it amazing how much junk mail we get? Don’t forget all of the political mailings around election time! I also pay my bills on line, and so many banks offer incentives to do so. One less check to write and also save on the stamp! Thanks for the post!
July 18th, 2008 @ 12:10 pm
I get mostly junk mail and it’s frustrating as heck. I’ve always thrown everything straight into the trash as soon as I get it. But anything that is credit card applications or anything remotely close to being used to steal our identity….I shred first.
July 18th, 2008 @ 4:57 pm
I am opting out right now!
July 18th, 2008 @ 11:40 pm
I did something to eliminate junk mail years ago and it seemed to do the trick. We get 2-3 pieces of mail a day…it’s WONDERFUL.
I sent you a ton of coupons last week…I hope I put enough postage on there to get them to you! I’ll continue to clear out my coupon book monthly and send the expired coupons to you. Another way to have LESS paper waste. LOVE IT!!!
July 19th, 2008 @ 1:16 pm
I opted out today for myself and my husband. Thanks for the tip! I can’t stand junk mail and always feel wasteful when it comes and I toss it. I pay most bills online also (but I still receive paper copies of the bills, because living in Hurricane Alley, we’d be up a creek if a storm hit & we had no power).
July 20th, 2008 @ 12:46 pm
Thank you. My husband and I have opted out as well. We shred anything personal but as the article pointed out, if a credit card offer is intercepted with our personal information on it (or those foolish checks they keep sending for us to spend like cash- ugh!) then we would be in big trouble.
What a headache. I pray we never have to go through it! Thank you again for reposting this info here.