Cut down marketing mail

Marketing mail piles up because data brokers sell your name and address to advertisers and mailers. You can't stop it entirely, but a few straightforward steps will shrink the volume noticeably.

Use DMAchoice to opt out of promotional mail

DMAchoice, run by the Association of National Advertisers, lets you opt out of many categories of marketing mail for a set period—you pay a small fee for this service. It's not instant (mail already in the pipeline will still arrive), but it cuts future mailings from participating senders significantly.

Opt out of prescreened credit and insurance offers

Prescreened offers—those "pre-approved" credit card and insurance solicitations—come from a separate system run by the credit bureaus. You can opt out of these offers, either for five years or permanently. The FTC's junk-mail guidance points you to this option as a quick way to eliminate one major category of unwanted mail.

Contact senders directly

For mail that keeps coming after you've opted out, or for specific companies you want to stop hearing from, contact them directly. Most mailers include a way to remove yourself from their list—often a phone number or web address on the letter itself. This takes more effort than the bulk opt-outs above, but it works for persistent senders.

What to expect

These steps work together but aren't perfect. Mail takes time to stop (some in transit won't change), and not every mailer participates in every system. New companies and list transfers mean some mail will still arrive. But used together, they'll noticeably lighten your mailbox over a few weeks.