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SUSTAINABILITY
Office Junk Mail
"Thirty percent of the mail that comes to the San Mateo
County offices is junk mail." - Larry Pinckney, San Mateo
County Lead Mail Services Driver
Junk mail costs time, money and natural resources. Whenever you order
a product, attend a conference, donate money, or fill out a warranty
card, your name, address and preferences are compiled by direct
mailing companies and sold to various advertisers. To reduce the
amount of junk mail you receive, you must actively remove your name
from these lists.
Junk mail at your business or organization must be dealt with
differently than junk mail at home. Certain direct mail companies focus
on businesses and others focus on residences; therefore, you must be
sure you are contacting the appropriate direct mail companies in order
to reduce the flow of junk mail into your business. Also, because mail is
generally addressed to individuals in the office, that individual must
take steps to reduce their mail, or notify an appointed junk mail
champion. Following are some effective approaches for reducing junk
mail at your office.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Getting the Job Done!
Direct Mail Contacts.
Get off lists for free or using a fee for the service
Make it a habit!
Junk those faxes!
Getting the job
done
Junk Mail Costs ... Time
At one office mailroom in the Seattle area, a
six-week study showed that the mailroom staff
was spending 25% of its time sorting Standard
Class advertising mail (junk mail).
Source - National Waste Prevention Coalition
There are two basic approaches for getting
employees off junk mail listings: appoint a Junk
Mail Champion who will compile information
and contact direct mail companies, or develop a
system for individuals to contact the companies they receive mail from
directly.
1. Junk Mail Champion Approach:
This person will send letters to the three direct mailing contacts
listed in the next section on behalf of a particular department,
gathering necessary names and signatures. This process should
be done on an annual basis. To take it a step further, have
employees give their unwanted junk mail to the Champion, who
can then contact these mailers (using the 1-800 number listed on
the mailing) with the names of all individuals who want to be
removed from their mailing list.
2. Individual Approach:
At a staff meeting, inform staff that they will be responding
personally to the junk mail they receive on an on-going basis.
Provide postcards for employees to mail to catalogues and other
companies that send unwanted mail. A postcard template
(Word) can be printed and copied on cardstock. Employees can
also contact companies by calling the 1-800 number on
unwanted mailings and requesting to be removed from their
mailing list.
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Direct Mail
Contacts:
(Companies that
compile addresses
of businesses and
Junk Mail Costs ... Money
At the Minneapolis office of a major financial
services corporation, they receive more than
40,000 pieces of advertising mail every month,
and discard almost 88% of that mail. They
employees to sell
to advertisers)
dispose of more than 68 tons of unwanted mail
every year. The company estimates that it costs
them more than $75,000 a year to deal with this
unwanted mail.
Source - National Waste Prevention Coalition
Contact: Ecological Mail Coalition
Services: Ecological Mail Coalition helps business-oriented
marketers "clean" their lists by informing them of former
employees.
Method: Send a list of former employees to Ecological Mail
Coalition via their website.
Web: www.ecologicalmail.org
Phone: 1-800-620-3975
Contact: Dun & Bradstreet
Services: Compiles information from over 60 million business
establishments and creates and sells business marketing
lists.
Method: To remove your department from Dun & Bradstreet's lists,
have a representative from your department call
requesting that your organization be "delisted." In a large
company, addresses are compiled by department, and each
department must make the request separately. If you
write, provide your company name, phone number,
department and department head.
Email: custserv@dnb.com
Phone: 1-800-234-3867
Contact: Info USA
Services: Compiles information on over 14 million business
establishments and creates and sells business marketing
lists.
Method: To remove employees at your business from Info USA's
lists, send a letter including the complete company name,
address and phone number as well as the name, title and
signature of each person requesting deletion. At the top of
the letter write, "Attention - Content Feedback
Department." Changes will go into effect in 30 days, and
full removal will be complete in 90 days.
Mail: Info USA
Attn: Business Update Dept.
1020 E. 1st St.
Papillion, NE 68046
Email: contentfeedback@infogroup.com
Phone: 1-800-321-0869
Fax: (402) 836-3993 (Please send on company letterhead)
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Get off lists for
free or using a fee
for the service
Contact: Catalog Choice
Services: Acts on your behalf to stop requested junk mail of all
types, either through on-line registration or via purchased
envelopes to mail in requests.
Method: Sign up at website.
Web: Catalog Choice
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Make it a habit!
Junk Mail Costs ... Natural Resources
100 million trees are ground up each year to
produce junk mail.
Source - Native Forest Network
Ordering products: Whenever you order a
product, make sure to
tell them, "DO NOT
SELL MY NAME."
Purchase Orders: On all purchase orders,
attach a standard form
stating: "In the interest
of reducing waste, do
not add this name or
address to your mailing
list." You can order a
rubberstamp or print up
a sticker to use on order
forms.
Registration: When registering at
conferences, trade shows
or large meetings give
your name, phone
number and email, but
not your address.
Writing checks: On the bottom of checks
write, "DO NOT SELL
MY NAME."
Subscriptions: Share magazine and
catalogue subscriptions
in the office.
What to do with junk mail that you do get: RE-USE: Use blank
return envelopes for
outgoing mail. Re-use
large envelopes in the
office. Re-use one-sided
letters for scrap paper.
RECYCLE: 39% of
what California
businesses throw away is
paper. It's easy to
recycle! To set up a
recycling program in
your business, please
call RecycleWorks at 1888-442-2666.
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Junk those faxes
The transmission of unsolicited faxed
advertisements has been illegal under U.S.
Federal Law since 1991. Junk faxers use the
resources of the recipients including paper, ink,
personnel costs, and the time that their
equipment is tied up receiving ads instead of
being available for business purposes.
Nonetheless, junk faxing continues because
enforcement, which is largely in the hands of
individual consumers, has been minimal. To
stop junk faxes from coming to your business
file a complaint with the Federal
Communications Commission.
Contact: Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Method: You can file a complaint at no charge with the FCC using
an online complaint form. You can also file your
complaint with the FCC's Consumer Center by calling 1888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322) voice or 1-888-TELLFCC (1-888-835-5322) TTY or faxing 1-866-418-0232.
For more information, please see the FCC website.
Mail: Consumer Information Bureau
Federal Communications Commission
445 Twelfth St. SW
Washington, DC 20554
Back to the top
For information on how to reduce junk mail in your home, please see
our Reduce Residential Junk Mail page .
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