What is Digg?106 Comments
- chkdg8, on 05/18/2008, -15/+63I don't care what anyone says but this is by far the most effective way to battle these scum bags:
http://officeofstrategicinfluence.com/bulkmailer/ - FirstDigg, on 05/18/2008, -0/+34I get 2-5 credit card offers at least in the mail each week. It'll be so nice not to receive those anymore.
- mcbarron, on 05/18/2008, -0/+31Links (cause the article screwed up two of them):
Direct Marketing Association (to remove your name from its national mailing list). The service is free if you register online, or $1 by mail:
http://www.the-dma.org/index.php
Reject pre-approved offers from credit card companies by visiting the following link or calling 888-567-8688:
https://www.optoutprescreen.com
Get you off mailing lists for catalogs you don't want::
http://www.catalogchoice.org - skellener, on 05/18/2008, -0/+14Of course you know that this hasn't worked in years right? The Post Office simply throws these things in the trash when they receive them. They do not recoupe any money for the bulk emailer and your box winds in in the landfill.
- rock774, on 05/18/2008, -0/+14It also can help to heat your home if you have a wood burner !
- inactive, on 05/18/2008, -0/+14I opted out of the pre-screen credit card offers a couple of months ago. It's been nice and quiet in my mailbox ever since...except for catalogs. I just signed up with catalogchoice.org. Thanks for the tip, FD.
- greggerm, on 05/18/2008, -0/+12I'm torn. Do I bury this for being inaccurate or dig it for being humorous...
Current mail regulations *PREVENT* bulk mailers from having to pay for unintended uses of their Business Reply Mail items. The USPS takes your well-intended brick, and puts it into their trashcan. In essence, you mailing a brick forces everyone else (including yourself) to "pay" for that brick via the time spent to haul the brick around and pitch it in the garbage.
The junkmailer doesn't get hit whatsoever.
Maddox's method (linked in a reply above) is perfectly workable, because you're sending legitimate-looking responses in envelopes. Just don't send anything illegal, and enjoy. - Lunarbunny, on 05/18/2008, -1/+13Capitol One kept sending me about 2 credit card offers a week until I went to that site. I'm 20, and a student - I have no steady source of income, why the hell do they want me as a credit cardholder?
- CobaltBlue, on 05/18/2008, -0/+11Because people tend to keep the first credit card they get.
- Khast, on 05/18/2008, -0/+10What I do, which works rather nicely. For those companies which send you pre-paid envelopes. I just stuff the pre-paid envelope with other junk mail, and send it back to them.
- BayAreaKing, on 05/18/2008, -1/+11"Enter your SSN"!? Uh, ya sure this isn't a scam?
- bxblox, on 05/18/2008, -0/+10As long as you can afford that minimum payment they're satisfied. They actually prefer it. By the time you have a steady source of income you have already accumulated debt with that interest they crave.
- etherreal, on 05/18/2008, -0/+9Here it is....
https://www.dmachoice.org/MPS/proto1.php - FirstDigg, on 05/18/2008, -0/+7Um, I read the article, visited optoutprescreen.com, and chose to opt out of all credit card offers for five years.
- codyman, on 05/18/2008, -3/+10Optoutprescreen.com asks for your social security number..... I simply refuse to provide that online - that is a terrible security risk...
- jer2eydevil88, on 05/18/2008, -1/+8Sounds like a good idea so I went there to sign up but they require my SSN to opt me out. So until I don't have to share that I will just put up with credit card offers.
- esquire360, on 05/18/2008, -0/+6I take the prepaid envelopes out and stick random stuff inside with kind note & farside comics
- MikeyTwit, on 05/18/2008, -1/+7How about for us Canadians, eh?
- inactive, on 05/18/2008, -0/+6Finally something useful on Digg?? Man, I must be seeing things...
- greenlight2001, on 05/18/2008, -0/+6The optoutscreen is not. You can find the link on the major credit bureau website's.
- EricAnderton, on 05/18/2008, -0/+6Because since you're in college, the odds are good that your parents can afford to bail you out if you dig a huge credit hole, or you'll graduate and earn an income in 2-4 years. So from their perspective, you're less risk than you think.
IMO, Capitol One is the *worst* at this. Ever see those TV commercials with the hordes of viking raiders? That's not the competition, that's the Cap-One collections department.
Anyway, credit companies these days care less about your ability to pay off your debts in a timely fashion and more about having high amounts of interest-generating revolving debt since that's how they make money. After all, they have the legal right to steamroll right over you and get their money back if you go bankrupt; and those laws were revised to favor credit companies a few years back. They'd rather torpedo you with a %25 rate after that 0% six-month grace period, than let you establish a strong credit rating and earn the ability to name your rate. - inactive, on 05/18/2008, -0/+5This is pretty awesome. While physical junk mail has never been a huge annoyance (hell, I just like getting mail, even if it is junk), the fact that these guys help you out AND help the environment at the same time is pretty damn awesome. I'm probably going to sign up for a few of these.
Thanks for the tip! - supermanky, on 05/18/2008, -1/+6I got pissed off about all the wasteful advertisements sent my way, so I saved them in bundles, rubber-banded them, and wrote "refused" across the address. (Separate addresses got separate bundles.) Then, I'd put them in a nearby mailbox. I kept this up for a month or two and finally received a direct message from the distributor, saying something to the effect of, "We got word that you wish to be taken off the list..."
Since then, the junk mail has stopped. I highly recommend this technique, as it forces the distributor to pay for the mailing costs as well as confounds them with a constant pile of their own wasted resources. - Whadabala, on 05/18/2008, -0/+5I seem to have lost my friend in Nigeria's paypal account... That sucks, I was looking forward to a major payday.
- rokult, on 05/18/2008, -0/+5The easiest way to make them stop sending junk mail is to have some nice printed stickers saying: "Junk Mail - Return To Sender" apply it to junk mail and return it. The only way to make them stop is by forcing them to pay again for return envelopes. That's what I am doing, and trust me my junk mail reduced considerably.
- etherreal, on 05/18/2008, -0/+4Do we have a direct link to the form on the th-dma.org? I am not seeing it on their site.
- UncleCrapper, on 05/18/2008, -0/+4Place a "No Junk Mail" sign on your mail box. It is the policy of Canada Post that all unaddressed bulk ad mail will not be delivered to those mail boxes with such a sign.
Next, contact the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) and register for their do not contact service. This will stop a good portion of addressed ad mail.
http://www.the-cma.org/?WCE=C=47%7CK=224217
This web site has more information on stopping junk mail in Canada:
http://www.reddotcampaign.ca/ - CobaltBlue, on 05/18/2008, -2/+6I guess you refuse to read past the word social security number too.
"Your Social Security Number and Date of Birth are not required to process your request. However, providing this information will help to ensure that we can successfully process your request. " - CobaltBlue, on 05/18/2008, -0/+4The point is you are not required to enter your SSN. I actually didn't need to add the second part of the quote.
- inactive, on 05/18/2008, -1/+5I love watching "economists" and financial "experts" on the news blaming the American people for the recession because they are addicted to "Credit Cards and Debt" while I'm shredding the 5 to 8 offers I get a day from banks including the one I bank at.
- Marshalrusty, on 05/18/2008, -0/+3@empraptor
They provided an envelope for a specific purpose. If you use it outside of its intended purpose, then you are indeed committing a minor crime.
That said, this simply does not work. Any package over a pound needs to be brought to the post office for drop-off, where they will check the permit number which contains a weight limit. Apart from that, just because you taped one of these permits to a box, why do you think the Post Office is going to deliver it? What if you taped it to a car? - Elliuotatar, on 05/18/2008, -0/+3They did that to me when I chose to remove all the mail from my mailbox except the junk mail, letting it fill up to the point that they couldn't fit the bulky junk newspapers in there any more. They also took the name card off my mailbox.
- deadbaby, on 05/18/2008, -2/+5Why do I have to give my social security # to opt out?
- Hincapie, on 05/18/2008, -0/+3i must get like 5 or 6 credit card apps in the mail every week. the only cool part is free magnets.
- BradMajors, on 05/18/2008, -0/+3I have also tried this method and the USPS service did not like it. The USPS retaliated by stopping delivery all of my mail. Each time I called to have my mail delivery resumed after a few weeks the USPS would again tell everyone who sends me mail that I do not live at my address.
- cathpah, on 05/18/2008, -0/+3the real answer is that they make a lot of their money by collecting fees and penalties for not paying your bill off, and if you don't pay off the full amount, they'll hit you with a nasty interest rate on top of that. They profit from your financial mistakes/instability during college
- empraptor, on 05/18/2008, -1/+4Why should it be illegal?
They provided a no-postage-needed envelope. They want you to send them stuff on their dime. If they didn't want to pay for whatever ***** we send them, they should have included a normal addressed envelope. - mrgeekguy, on 05/18/2008, -0/+3I do the same thing with my bills. But for some reason, they keep sending even more of them to me.
- Spetz, on 05/18/2008, -0/+3Any UK equivalent? I know there's the telephone preference service for direct marketing calls, but I don't know of any junk mail prevention service. I'd rather get spam email instead - which at least doesn't damage the environment and the poor postman doesn't have to carry it.
- RawOysters, on 05/18/2008, -0/+2I registered and got all the way to the part where they "needed" a credit card number " just for verification". Someone please tell me why it has to be a credit card. This reeks of *****. Also, this is the "Direct Marketing Association". They promote the stuff. This is their livelyhood. On their home page is a link to help kill a bill to stop the flow of this stuff. Why does this smell so rotten?
- darkane, on 05/18/2008, -0/+2I signed up for Green Dimes, as well. Haven't received more than 3 pieces of junk mail in 8 months, when I used to get at least 3 pieces every single day.
- vij26, on 05/18/2008, -0/+2And I thought this was about spam... xD
- DeFex, on 05/18/2008, -0/+2I used to know a guy who sent them a bill for $50 to read it. nobody ever paid but they stopped sending it.
- kingkool68, on 05/18/2008, -1/+3This is how I deal with junk mail -> http://www.russellheimlich.com/blog/how-i-deal-wit ... just give them a taste of their own medicine.
- TommyBoy919, on 05/18/2008, -0/+2I took these exact steps just after moving last year and being inundated with all kinds of ridiculous junk mail. I can't believe how much it has since been reduced. It takes about one to three months for all of these lists to take effect, but trust me; its worth it.
- sparsely, on 05/18/2008, -0/+2You just listed all teh reasons WHY they want you as a cardholder. You're not a consumer until you've racked up some debt!
- edd17, on 05/18/2008, -0/+2Now thats irony.
- Archon810, on 05/18/2008, -0/+2nice editing, washington post: "http://https://www.optoutprescreen.com"
- lamiaconfitor, on 05/18/2008, -0/+2In all fairness it is not their fault, junk mail pays their salary. the real jerks are the people paying to spam you.
- lamiaconfitor, on 05/18/2008, -0/+2In all fairness it is not their fault, junk mail pays their salary. the real jerks are the people paying to spam you.
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