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.
Clear the box, then sort
- Empty the box and sort everything into three piles: mail you need, advertising, and anything you are not sure about.
- Check the needed pile and the unsure pile for anything with a deadline, such as a bill or a legal notice. Deal with those through the sender before anything else.
- Group the advertising by sender and mark the names that appear more than once. Those are the senders worth contacting.
- If you will be away or unable to collect mail, check whether your address is eligible for Hold Mail, for three to thirty days.
- If mail looks tampered with or you suspect theft, report it separately through the USPIS report page.
What a hold and a preview can do
Using Hold Mail over and over will not get rid of junk mail, because the senders' lists stay the same. Informed Delivery previews eligible incoming mail, which can warn you about an expected item. The preview is not a complete list of what arrives, and it does not remove senders. Do not pause or redirect delivery for another resident without their agreement.
Repeat advertiser list
Example for your own use. Replace the bracketed details and review what you share.
Build the repeat-sender list
Copy the names that showed up two or more times onto the list below. Leave off any sender you still need mail from. Then look up each remaining sender's own removal route and note whether one exists.
Official sources
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