How to stop junk mail & opt-out of receiving unaddressed promotional material

Junk mail can be a nuisance and it creates a huge environmental footprint.

Did you know that we spend 25 billion pounds in the UK alone through unsolicited mail every year?

Receiving unwanted mail can be frustrating and, most of the time, unnecessary.

By cutting this out, we help to reduce waste and unsustainable environmental pollution too.
However, these can be misleading and even distressing sometimes.

Unsolicited mail should be treated with caution. Never reply to something that you believe or suspect to be a fraud.

How to stop junk mail & opt out of receiving any leaflets or unaddressed promotional material.

It’s not easy to stop receiving junk mail, but there are a few things you can do if you wish to opt out.

Contact genuine organisations and ask for your details to be removed from their mailing lists.
When filling out a form, find out how your information is used and consider opting out.
In order to avoid your electoral register details being publicly available on the web and to marketing companies, tick the box on your registration form to opt out from the ‘edited’ register. You can request this by contacting your council’s electoralservices.
Place a “No Junk Mail” sign to the mailbox or at your door. This will deter people from posting you unsolicited mail as it will be illegal to do so. No one other than the official letter carrier can put anything into the mailbox without the permission of the owner.
Ask each junk mail sender individually to remove your details from their lists (credit card companies included). Contact them and explain that you wish for your details to be removed from their mailing lists.
Finally, don’t forget to cancel any unwanted catalogs by contacting the retailers / organisations directly or by logging in to your online accounts and opting out.

Below are a few services you can use to considerably help you reduce the junk mail you receive through the post.

Using Royal Mail’s ‘MPS’ service

The Mailing Preference Service (MPS) is a free service set up in 1983.

It is funded by the direct mail industry to enable consumers to have their names and home addresses in the UK removed from lists used by the industry.

It is actively supported by the Royal Mail and all directly involved trade associations and fully supported by The Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

Registering with the MPS is FREE.

To stop unwanted communications you can use the Mailing Preference Service www.mpsonline.org.uk .

It provides details on all other preference services, or call the Mailing Preference Service on 0845 703 4599.

Opting out from Royal Mail Door to Door Junk Mail

You can opt out of receiving Door to Door mail items you will need to print a copy of the Opt out form.

Complete, sign it and then post it to the address shown on the form.
Royal Mail will action your request within six weeks of receiving your completed form.

Your opt out will last for a period of two years. During this time every effort will be made to prevent the delivery of Door to Door items by Royal Mail.

At the end of the two year period, in order to continue with your opt out, you will need to complete a new application form.

This is to confirm that you are still at the same address and wish to continue opting out of Door to Door deliveries.

Opting out of receiving charity appeal communications

The Fundraising Preference Service is a website-based service that can help people to control the communications they receive from charities registered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

By registering your details with the Fundraising Preference Service, you can choose to stop email, telephone calls, addressed posts, and/or text messages directed to you personally from a selected charity or charities.

This is a time-consuming process, and you can only opt-out from 3 charities at a time if you apply online.

To opt out for up to 20 charities in one go, you will need to call the service directly. Make sure to have the charity’s name or registration number to hand.

https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/complaints/fundraising-preference-service

For sure, the opting-out process can take time and energy to be addressed.

But, the satisfaction one gets when they gradually notice less and less mail cluttering their front door is immense!