Check how a free newspaper reaches your home
Check where the paper landed and whether it carries postage. A paper in your mailbox with postage markings or a printed address probably came by mail, so write to the publisher's circulation contact. A paper left on a driveway or doorstep with no postage may come from a distribution contractor, so look for that contractor's name or ask the publisher who delivers it.
Read the delivery clues
- Check the front or label for postage markings, a printed address or resident wording.
- Note where it arrived: mailbox, driveway or door.
- Find the publisher in the masthead and look for any separate distribution or circulation contact.
- If nothing names a distributor, ask the publisher who handles delivery to your street.
Two delivery methods, two contacts
A publisher that mails through EDDM Retail can list your address in the Do Not Deliver Address column on its facing slips, according to USPS instructions. A contractor dropping papers by hand works outside the mail, so that step does not apply and the request has to reach whoever manages the drop list.
One publisher may use mail in some neighborhoods and carriers in others, so go by what you observed at your own address.
Delivery worksheet
Example for your own use. Replace the bracketed details and review what you share.
Send the request that fits
Complete the worksheet, then write to the contact it points to. If the publisher replies that a separate distributor handles your street, forward the same details to that company.
Official source
Have an unwanted advertisement ready?
Photograph one piece you are authorized to handle, with the sender and full mailing label visible. Review the details before submitting. The first request is free; the sender controls the response.
Try one request free