Junk mail - give me a sign

[tell-me-more]

I'm fed up of junk mail from estate agents, local businesses and catalogue companies, newspapers etc.

Any advice? If I stick up a sign saying "no junk mail" I presume people will still post it thinking theirs isn't junk.

I like Lee Evans' idea of dumping in an envelope and sending it back with the message "you send me your *****, I'll send you mine" - what criminal offence would I be committing if I did that, because I do get tempted?

I know about the MPS, but that won't tackle existing junk apparently. I'm after a more sophisticated practical solution.

[WendyS]

You could always place a plastic box outside your front door with a large label on it saying:

POST ALL JUNK MAIL HERE BECAUSE
THIS IS WHERE IT WILL END UP. (Thank you for saving me the trouble!).

We also signed up for MPS but as you say, that doesn't stop everything and like Lee Evans, I post as much of it back as I can in any Postage Paid envelopes which come my way.

[spaced]

best thing to do, which actually works, is put all their crap in an envelope and send it back to them, without a stamp so they have to pay postage. That soon stops them. Make it quite bulky too so that the postage is more costly. trust me it works!

[Lonnie]

I do exactly as spaced suggested, and it works.

[raysparx]

I do send it back to whoever sends it to me,with words that are as strong as Lee Evans suggestion, I have been doing this for about 3 years now and on the odd occasion I put an apple core or Orange peel in for them as well.

[Plocket]

If I'm really fed up with junk-mailers I phone them and ask them to remove my name from my mailing list. It seems to have worked so far.

[Ethel]

I get very little junk mail now.

I put a sign above my letter box - Royal Mail only, no advertising. This stopped the taxi/pizza/etc junk from leaftet deliverers.

I signed up with mps two years ago - it makes a big difference.

I also opted out of Royal Mail's Door- to-Door service - best thing I ever did..

I ticked the box on the electoral roll to keep my details private.

I wrote to every organisation I do business with and asked them to stop sending me advertising mail.

Here is a very useful link:

http://www.junk-mail.org.uk/

Sign the petittion while you're there.

[malaise]

Sign up to the MPS. It DOES work.

For any repeat offenders, write them a letter asking to be removed from their mailing list. Even an email or phone call would suffice.

And always make sure you've ticked / unticked the box allowing your details to be passed to third parties.

Finally, I think if you s**t in the mail, you're breaking some sort of a law. Not sure which, but possibly many!

[WendyS]

I've signed the online petition in the www.junkmail.org.uk website suggested by Ethel but notice it last seemed to be updated in 2004 and wonder whether it's still an active site despite giving an updated number of signatures ? Will cross-reference this in the Internet & Technology section in case any of the experts know the answer.