Set a caregiver check before recycling unfamiliar mail
Sort mail into three piles before anything goes in the recycling bin: known advertising, recipient review, and urgent verification. If you cannot tell what a piece is, put it in the second or third pile.
The three piles
- Known advertising: catalogs, coupon packs and offers from senders the recipient has already named as unwanted. Only this pile is recycled.
- Recipient review: anything addressed to the recipient that you cannot place. They decide what it is.
- Urgent verification: set aside anything that shows a due date or appears to concern an account, benefit, care or legal matter. Use the envelope information first; open it only with the recipient’s permission or appropriate authority. Give it promptly to the person responsible.
- If an official-looking piece seems doubtful, call the organization at a number you find yourself, not one printed on the mail.
- Write the date on each pile.
Appearance is not enough
An envelope’s design or sender name alone may not reveal its purpose. Banks and providers send advertisements as well as important records. If you cannot identify the purpose, leave it for the recipient or authorized reviewer instead of making a guess.
A keep-for-review folder needs an owner. Write down who will look at it and when they can do so, especially if any piece shows a deadline. Sorting should not make an uncertain notice disappear into a different unattended pile.
Mail sort rule
Example for your own use. Replace the bracketed details and review what you share.
Post the rule where mail is sorted
Agree with the recipient on which named senders may be recycled without asking and who receives the urgent pile. Write it down and keep it by the mail so any helper follows the same rule.
Keep personal records with the organization that handles them
Junk Mail Magic is for ordinary unwanted advertising. Use the official contact route in this guide for records, account changes or someone else’s correspondence.
Compare removal routes