Mail guides
Mailing-list programs
Choose the program that matches the mail in your hand.
Check options for marketing sent to a business address
Start with the sender’s own preference route for supplier advertising at a business. DMAchoice’s published FAQ describes consumer prospect mail; it does not settle every business-address situation. If you want to use the program for that address, ask it about eligibility before registering.
Handle customer mail after a DMAchoice registration
Ask the company directly to stop postal marketing. ANA’s DMAchoice FAQ says customer and donor mail is outside its prospect-mail suppression. Receiving a catalog from a store you use does not, by itself, mean your DMAchoice registration failed.
Use DMAchoice for magazine offers you never requested
Magazine offers are within DMAchoice’s prospect-mail coverage. That means pitches from participating companies where you are a prospective subscriber. For promotional mail from a publisher you already subscribe to, contact that publisher directly and specify that the paid subscription should continue.
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.
Review an older DMAchoice registration
If you registered with DMAchoice years ago, find that registration before you start a new one. ANA's current FAQ says DMAchoice preferences last ten years. An older profile may still be active or may be close to expiring. Your original date tells you which.
Check a broad opt-out when mail uses another name
DMAchoice’s FAQ says one profile can include five variations of your name. Compare the names on recurring advertisements with your profile, then add a missing variation if it is yours. This changes a marketing preference, not an official identity record.
Does the Do Not Call Registry stop paper mail?
No. The Do Not Call Registry is for telemarketing calls. For paper advertising, the route depends on the piece: a request to the sender, DMAchoice for certain prospect mail, or the prescreen opt-out for qualifying credit and insurance offers.
Make a free plan for contacting unwanted mail senders
You can start reducing unwanted advertising without buying a mail-removal service. Choose three senders and look for each company’s own postal preference or customer contact route. Use the worksheet to record the exact mailing you want stopped. If a route involves postage or a program fee, check that cost before choosing it.
Check a paid mail-removal service before buying
Before paying a mail-removal service, get a written answer on which senders and types of mail the fee covers. A service may handle only certain lists or companies. Mail from senders outside that list can keep arriving.
Choose the right route for paper mail and email spam
When one company sends you both catalogs and marketing email, handle the two channels separately. An email unsubscribe may not change the postal list, and a paper request may not change email. Name the channel in each request, then read what the company says it changed.
Review a sexually oriented advertising listing after a move
File a new PS Form 1500 when you move if you want the USPS sexually oriented advertising listing at the new address. Ordinary forwarding does not update the listing. The listing also needs a new application after five years if you want it to continue. These are the rules for the listing under section 10.2 of the Domestic Mail Manual.
Review a USPS prohibitory order before changing address
Section 9.1.8 of the USPS Domestic Mail Manual sets out the address-change procedure for an existing prohibitory order. Under it, you notify the mailer by Certified Mail with return receipt. Ordinary mail forwarding is a separate service and does not carry out this step.
Prepare the mailpiece for a USPS prohibitory-order application
This checklist is for the mailer-specific process described in USPS Form 1500, where the advertised matter meets the form’s stated criterion in the addressee’s judgment. It is not a general way to block any sender. After reviewing that scope, preserve the full original advertisement and its opened envelope or wrapper for the application.
Report mail that may violate an existing prohibitory order
If the mailer named in your prohibitory order sends another piece, keep the opened mailpiece and follow the reporting instructions USPS sent with your effective date. Domestic Mail Manual section 9.2.1 explains how to submit an apparent violation. USPS decides whether the piece is a violation. Its arrival alone does not settle that.
Combine mailing-list programs without duplicate work
Use a coverage matrix to see what each request does. DMAchoice covers participating prospect advertising. OptOutPrescreen covers firm-offer lists from the participating credit bureaus. A direct company request concerns that sender’s own promotional records. More than one route can be useful; the aim is to avoid repeating an identical request without knowing why.
Understand the two choices on USPS Form 1500
USPS Form 1500 describes two protections concerning sexual advertising. A mailer-specific prohibitory order concerns an advertisement offering goods or services that the addressee judges erotically arousing or sexually provocative. The separate listing concerns unsolicited sexually oriented advertisements as defined in the form. Knowing a sender’s name is not, on its own, the criterion for choosing the order.