Junk Mail

[tospol]

Yesterday we got an application for Mortgage Insurance in the mail. It included our lender's name and loan amount. While that information may be easily gained from public records, I do know that we did not ask for an application. There was also no company name of the sender anywhere. The return envelope simply said "Mortgage Insurance Dept." So I googled the address and found a phone number for a Direct Marketing company. I called them and had them remove us from their list. Easy enough, but very annoying. I've been on a bit of an anti-waste kick recently so I've been trying to cut back on the junk mail I receive. I've called companies, sent back mail with removal requests scrawled on their applications, gone to websites listed on the mail, etc. I got fed up so I wrote all of my state and federal legislative members requesting a requirement for a minimum of a name of the sender and a means for removal from their mailing list be included in all direct market mailings. I also came across a website on a Supreme court case and a USPS form that you can use as a result. It is Form 1500, called the Prohibitory order against sender. As the form says on it "The prohibitory list provides a deterrent to the mailing of unsolicited sexually oriented advertisements to protected persons." But by Postal Bulletin 21977 "Postmasters may not refuse to accept a Form 1500 because the advertisement in question does not appear to be sexually oriented. Only the addressee may make that determination."
Eventually, the few minutes it has taken each time to get rid of some of the junk mail I am inundated with will be worth it in the eventual saved time of not opening it and/or throwing it in the recycle bin. Not to mention saving all the money, labor, time, trees involved in bringing it to me and sending it off to the next person via recycled paper printed junk mail.