Mail guides
Delivery and advertising
Use postal services for delivery problems and sender requests for advertising.
Does USPS Hold Mail stop advertising?
No. USPS Hold Mail pauses delivery to an eligible address for three to thirty days. It does not remove your address from any advertising list, so held advertising arrives with the rest of the mail when delivery resumes. Treat the hold as a delivery decision and any request to an advertiser as a separate task.
Stop the Informed Delivery daily email
You can unsubscribe from Informed Delivery emails and still use the dashboard to check your mail. USPS states this on its email-unsubscribe page. The change concerns the email digest; it does not stop letters or advertisements from reaching your mailbox.
Can Informed Delivery block junk mail?
No. Informed Delivery previews eligible incoming mail and sends package notifications. It does not remove you from a sender's list, and a preview is not a complete record of what was delivered. What it can do is point you to a sender worth looking into.
Prepare for an Informed Delivery identity-verification visit
If USPS cannot verify your identity online for Informed Delivery, it offers an in-person route at locations that provide Identity Verification Services. Follow the instructions from your own enrollment process before visiting. A nearby Post Office may not offer the service.
Plan mail during a trip longer than a month
A trip longer than a month runs past Hold Mail, which covers three to thirty days. Read the USPS forwarding page and ask USPS which official service fits the length of your absence. Neither a hold nor forwarding removes you from advertising lists, so requests to advertisers are a separate task.
Review advertising after a postal address correction
An advertisement printed with your corrected address shows only how that sender addressed this piece. It does not show where the sender got the address or that a new list now has your name. To change what the advertiser sends, compare the label with your correct address and ask that sender about its own record.
Does forwarding update every catalog preference?
No. A USPS forwarding request is not a confirmation that every catalog has your desired address and marketing preference. Arrange delivery with USPS, then confirm the wanted and unwanted mail choices with each sender. An address update and a request to stop advertising are different instructions.
Verify a forwarding notice you did not request
Keep the notice and contact USPS promptly. Reach USPS through its website by typing the address yourself, and do not use a phone number or link printed on the notice. If nobody at your address asked for forwarding, it may be a mail-related identity theft issue. USPIS accepts reports of those.
Prepare a clear USPS service inquiry
If expected mail is late or not arriving, you have a delivery problem, and it goes to USPS, not to an advertiser. Write down what you expected, when it was due and which address is affected, then take that record to the USPS service channel. Asking a sender to stop advertising will not fix a delivery fault.
Treat missing or stolen mail as a separate problem
If mail you expected never arrived, or you think someone took it, treat it as a theft or delivery problem. USPIS accepts reports of suspected mail theft, mail fraud and mail-related identity theft. Delivery service problems with no sign of a crime have a separate USPS route. An advertising opt-out does not help with either one.
Handle a mailbox filling with advertising
Empty the box and find the mail you need before you deal with who is sending the advertising. If you cannot collect mail for a while, USPS Hold Mail pauses delivery to an eligible address for three to thirty days. A hold does not remove your address from any advertising list.
Review advertisers before closing a PO Box
Closing a PO Box is not the same as asking a sender to stop mailing you. While mail still arrives at the box, sort the senders into two groups: those that need your new address and those you want to stop.
Does Premium Forwarding include advertising mail?
Yes. USPS says Premium Forwarding Service Residential includes marketing notices in its weekly shipment. It packs mail at the local Post Office and forwards it by Priority Mail. Paying for that service changes delivery arrangements; it is not a request to an advertiser to remove your address.
Plan advertising choices for a seasonal home
Handle each property as its own address with its own list of senders. Do not assume a request made for your main home also covers the seasonal one. Start by writing down when each address is occupied, then list the unwanted senders at each property.
Check an Informed Delivery welcome letter you did not expect
An unexpected Informed Delivery welcome letter can concern an account enrolled at your address. First check whether someone in your household signed up. If the account is unfamiliar, use USPS's official support or the removal instructions in a verified notice.
Deactivate USPS electronic-signature service
USPS lets you opt out of its Electronic Signature Online service through Manage My Signature. That changes your enrollment. USPS says a signature already applied to a particular package cannot be canceled, even before delivery, so check that distinction first.