Opt-out of Telemarketers and Junk Mail

There are already several good tools for combatting e-mail spam, but what about telephone calls and U.S. Postal Service junk mail?

Few people are aware of an organization called the Direct Marketing Association which is used by many (but not all) telemarketers and junk mailers. From what I understand, the DMA rents a centralized database of names and phone numbers to reputable marketers.

What’s important about the DMA is that they provide something called the Mail Preference Service and the Telephone Preference Service which are opt-out lists that consumers can join. If you tell the DMA that you don’t want junk mail or telephone calls by registering with these lists, they will refuse to give your name to their customers. Pretty cool.

There are other groups to contact as well, such as the Big 3 credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union). After you ask these companies to stop sharing your name & address, and suddenly all of those credit card solicitations disappear!

The easiest way to get rid of all of this offline spam is to go Operation Opt-Out and print out the 7 or 8 forms and mail them off to the various agencies. The $3.00 investment in stamps will go a long way towards reducing aggravation.