Green Living Tip: Cut the Junk Snail Mail

snail mail box

Unneeded junk mail is one of the most annoying things to me, and it’s super not green. Luckily, a number of services have popped up to help you and me (and many more) cut our junk mail. I was contacted by representatives from a few of these companies recently and, while I’m not really sure which to recommend as the best, figured I’d mention all three in a post and see if anyone has more info to share.

1. Updater.com

Pretty straightforward site… you can change your mailing address on here for free (good to know) and you can pay $15 (every 3 years) to:

  • Opt-out of all the major marketing lists
  • Create a spam filter for your paper mail
  • Prevent unauthorized mailers from accessing your address

2. Catalog Choice

This service allows residents to control who can send you unsolicited mail. On Catalog Choice, you can:

  1. “Control the catalogs, coupons, credit offers, phone books, fliers, circulars, newsletters, and other unsolicited mail you receive” using a handy search (and eliminate) option.
  2. “Donate $20 or more to Catalog Choice to receive its unlisting service, removing you from lists bought and sold by marketers.”

3. Zumbox

Similar to the above:

  • Receive, manage and store all your postal mail digitally in one place
  • Access your postal mail from anywhere at anytime
  • View and pay your bills securely from one location

When we posted on Zumbox in the past, had a commenter concerned that in the Terms & Conditions Zumbox says it could change the fee (from free to whatever) at anytime. I imagine that’s standard legal language and nothing to be concerned about, but maybe I’m wrong.

Which do you think is the best option?

Any experience using any of these?

Image Credit: AttributionNoncommercialNo Derivative Works Some rights reserved by photobunny

 

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