How can you stop junk mail from being sent to you? Here’s how to head off
that river of junk mailThis continues to be one of Kokua Line's most often asked questions.
As advised before, one way is to write to Mail Preference Service, c/o Direct Mail Marketing Association, P.O. Box 9008, Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735-9008. It will take three to six months to stem the tide.
However, the association says it can't help you with local advertisers. You'll have to contact them yourself.
The association is able to delete your name only from NATIONAL mailing lists, including those for catalogs, magazine subscriptions, major nonprofit groups, credit cards, sweepstakes, etc.
The association is a bit sensitive about mail from its members being labeled "junk."
Quoting the U.S. Postal Service, the association says the average U.S. household receives "just two direct mail pieces per day - a small percentage of the hundreds of commercial messages consumers are exposed to every day."
It also claims that 80 percent of you actually look at what's sent, with only 15 percent tossing it away unopened.
"Last year, 132 million Americans made the convenient choice to shop at home, by mail or by phone," the association said.
But if you're not one of them, it offers you another alternative for getting your names off the lists: Ask companies that you do business with not to make your name available to other marketers for commercial purposes. That way, you can still receive mail from companies you like but reduce other related mail offers.
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Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686, fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802. Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com