Paradigm Shifted

We all get junk mail. It’s one of those facts of life you can’t ignore: birth, taxes, death, and junk mail (which keeps coming after you die). If you’re like me, it’s very frustrating to open the mailbox see the 500 things you’ve got, and then realize that most of it is junk.

Worse, some of it is even dangerous – it doesn’t take an enterprising thief too long to figure out a way to use your junk mail to his advantage… wrecking your credit in the process.

But it’s not just about your stress levels or identity theft, it’s also about the future of our planet. Consider this:

• Every Sunday, 500,000 trees are used to produce the 88% of newspapers that are never recycled
• 28 billion gallons of water go into the production of American junk mail annually (while 20% of the world’s population lacks access to safe drinking water)
• Americans throw away 44 million trees every day. That is the same as dumping 500,000 trees into landfills every week.

But, there is a reprieve. A number of ways exist to help you reduce and even eliminate altogether your junk mail. You’ll save yourself the stress, and you’ll save the planet a few trees.

1. Prescreened Offers. Do the offers for new credit cards annoy you? This type of mail is called “prescreened”, which basically means you’ve “qualified” for some time of promotion or service. The most common letters you’ll receive are introductory offers for zero interest on a new credit card. These are also offers you can readily find on the internet, so there’s really no need to receive them via mail. One way to reduce this annoyance is through the FTC’s opt-out prescreen service.

2. Mailing Lists. There are other types of junk mail that you receive as well, including those from organizations that have received your address through the purchase of a mailing list. You can also opt out of this type of mail as well using the DMA opt-out service. Just like the one above, you just fill out a form and you are taken off a number of lists.

3. Catalogs. This doesn’t, however, do much in terms of eliminating your address from lists at companies that you do business with, particularly when it comes to catalogs (or charities). For this option, you’ll have to contact each business individually and specify that you no longer wish to receive any mail from them. This can be costly and time-consuming, as often you have to call to get the address to which the letter needs to be sent.

4. One-stop service. Luckily, there are excellent and cheap services that are willing to help you with this. My particular favorite is Greendimes, which has kept me relatively junkmail-free for over 3 years. When I first joined, I paid a $35 lifetime fee and they did all the work. I went from receiving on average 5-10 pieces a day, to receiving 3-5 pieces a week. It was amazing. They now offer a number of other services, including a free service in which you do the work, but they provide you all the instructions. Or for $20, you can have them take care of it. And if you sign up now, they’ll pay you $1 to get rid of your junk mail. And while they’re at it, they’re planting trees. It’s win-win-win.

These are all simple and effective tools for reducing junk mail. I’ve also noticed this helps somewhat with junk email as well, though that is much easier to opt out of. But if you are prone to junk email and you have a gmail account, consider trying this out.

Want to go a step-beyond? Consider going carbon neutral. Just remember, not all carbon offset programs are designed equally. My favorite offset organization is Native Energy. It meets all the requirements of the “gold standard”.

And while you’re going fullsteam, shoot for zero waste.