Junk Mail Magic

Choose between DMAchoice and a sender request

DMAchoice is useful for reducing prospect advertising from participating companies you have not bought from or donated to. Contact a sender directly when you want to change that company’s mail, especially customer or donor promotions. A broad registration and a specific request can serve different parts of the same cleanup.

By Junk Mail Magic. Updated .

Sort the pile into two jobs

  1. Spread out a recent batch of unwanted advertising and set aside bills, account statements and official notices. Those are not part of this task.
  2. In one column, write the kinds of mail you still want, such as a catalog you order from or a charity newsletter you read. This keeps a broad preference from covering mail you would miss.
  3. In the second column, write up to three senders whose names appear clearly on their advertising. Pick the ones that arrive most often.
  4. For each of those senders, look on the piece for a printed removal instruction, website or phone number. If there is none, check the company's own site for a mail preference option, or ask its customer service whether one exists.
  5. For a wider reduction in prospect mail, review DMAchoice’s current coverage and registration instructions. Check that the advertising you want to reduce falls within its scope.

Where credit and insurance offers fit

DMAchoice excludes prescreened credit and insurance offers. The major credit bureaus offer a separate opt-out for offers based on their prescreened lists. A bank logo or the word insurance does not by itself establish that an offer is prescreened. For an identified bank’s own customer advertising, ask the bank about its postal preference.

Two-column sorting worksheet

Example for your own use. Replace the bracketed details and review what you share.

Column A: mail I want to keep receiving Kind of mail: [catalog / newsletter / other] Sender, if known: [name] Column B: senders to contact directly Sender 1: [name as printed] | Route found: [printed instruction / website / phone / none yet] | Date contacted: [date] Sender 2: [name as printed] | Route found: [ ] | Date contacted: [date] Sender 3: [name as printed] | Route found: [ ] | Date contacted: [date] Unnamed marketers: [describe pieces] | DMAchoice instructions checked: [yes / no]

Send the first requests

Choose the route for each sender on your worksheet and record the date you use it. When a company responds, save what it says the preference covers so you have a specific answer to check against later advertising.

Official sources

Check a broad opt-out when mail uses another nameReview an older DMAchoice registrationChoose the first sender for a mail cleanupMake a free plan for contacting unwanted mail sendersMailing-list programsAll practical mail guides

Choose the route that matches the mailing

Use the official route described in this guide for this kind of mail. For a separate ordinary advertisement, Junk Mail Magic can help prepare a sender-specific removal request.

Compare removal routes