Ingrid: Junk Mail

I don't order a lot from mail order catalogs but I seem to collect them. And I waste time looking at them. If there's a Pottery Barn catalog stuck in there with the bills I can while away an hour poring over the jute rugs and seashell bedding. And I stick them under the sofa so I can look at them again and waste more time. The past two weeks I have divested myself from the 17--seventeen!--catalogs that were in my house. I called every one of their toll free numbers and asked them to take me off their mailing lists. At one time or another I have ordered from about half of these catalogs but the others just came unbidden. In my quest to rid myself of junk mail I learned that if you've ever ordered anything online, from a catalog, used a credit card, made a donation, or have a magazine subscription, your name goes on various marketing lists. Direct marketers rent, trade and sell these lists and guess what? You get on lots of other lists.

I also found out that in our quest to sell more to more and more customers we spend a lot of money and waste a lot of trees. In 2005 more than $5.6 billion was spent on production and distribution of 41.5 billion pieces of mail ads. The junk mail industry destroys 100 million trees every year. I knew it was time to cut my link to this tremendous waste of time and energy (both real and psychic). I googled "stop junk mail" and found a number of sites that told me step by step what to do. Besides, stopping mail order catalogs, I was told how to take my name off marketing list. I registered with the Direct Marketing Association (www.dmaconsumers.org) to get off mailing lists. It costs $1 and will have to be done every few years but should cut down drastically on the junk mail even though I'll still get local mailings, mail from professional associations and political solicitations.

Finally, from now on, whenever I order anything or donate money, I will request that my name not be sold to other marketers. If the transaction is via mail, I will enclose this message in large letters, "Please do not sell my name or address."