A BETTER WAY
Junk Mail: None for Me, Thanks!
Perhaps hoping to upgrade its image as the nation’s leading source of shredder fodder, the Direct Marketing Association has graciously devised all manner of means by which you can just say no. Try one of these:

To stop receiving mailings, go to www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist and complete the online opt-out form. Then click the “Register Online” button. This is the fastest way of adding your name and address to the DMA’s Mail Preference Service (essentially a “do-not-mail” list), but it costs $5, payable by credit card.

Alternatively—and at no charge other than the cost of a postage stamp—you can complete the online form, then click the “Register by Mail” button instead. A tracking number will be generated for the Mail Preference Service (MPS). You’ll have to print out the completed form, then mail it to the address listed on the form.

If you don’t want to go online, send a post card or letter including your name, address, and signature (and a request to opt out) to: Mail Preference Service Direct Marketing Association P.O. Box 643 Carmel, New York 10512 This option is also free of charge, but it is the slowest; a minimum of two months will be required before your name and address have been added to the MPS opt-out list.

To stop telephone solicitations from DMA members with whom you do not have a current or past business relationship, visit www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offtelephone and complete the opt-out form you will find there. Here again there is a $5 charge to register online, or you can print out the form and mail it in at no charge. You can also send a letter or postcard with your name, address, telephone number (with area code), and signature to: Telephone Preference Service Direct Marketing Association P.O. Box 1559 Carmel, New York 10512.

To reduce e-mail solicitations from DMA members at up to three e-mail addresses, visit www.dmaconsumers.org/consumers/optoutform_emps.shtml. To confirm your submission, the Direct Marketing Association will send an acknowledgment to each address you submit; you must reply to each one within 30 days in order for your registration to take effect.

To remove the names of deceased loved ones from commercial marketing lists, visit https://preference.the-dma.org/cgi/ddnc.php and complete the form you find there. There is a $1 charge to verify your credit-card information.

The “A List” for Getting Delisted
They don’t exactly make it easy for you, but if you send a written request to each list broker below, your tide of junk mail should eventually ebb.

Mail Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 643
Carmel, New York  10512

Telephone Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 1559
Carmel, New York  10512

Dun & Bradstreet
Customer Service
899 Eaton Avenue
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania  18025

R. L. Polk & Co. / Name Deletion File
List Compilation Development
26955 Northwestern Highway
Southfield, Michigan  48034-4716

Database America
Compilation Department
470 Chestnut Ridge Road
Woodcliff, New Jersey  07677

Acxiom U.S.
Consumer Advocate Hotline
Phone: 877-774-2094
www.acxiom.com/us

Excerpted from "Scam-Proof Your Life" by Sid Kirchheimer. Copyright © 2006 Sid Kirchheimer. Excerpted by permission of AARP Books/Sterling. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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