The first step is to stop junk mail before it starts. If I order something by mail, it includes this notice in large letters:
Once in awhile I will receive junk mail without being sure where the sender got my address. Sometimes, if a self-addressed envelope is enclosed, I return the section that shows my name and address, with this message:
MOVED. NO FORWARDING ADDRESS. DELETE
THIS NAME AND ADDRESS FROM YOUR FILES.
If no envelope is enclosed, I may cut out both the return address and my address (including code numbers). The return address is taped on to a new envelope and my address is included inside, with the above message. This can be handwritten or you can use a printed sticker or a rubber stamp. And yes, I add 44 cents postage—it’s worth it to stop junk mail.
More often, however, I just return the unopened mail to sender. For this, you need some blank address stickers and a black marker that makes a thick line. You put the sticker below the first line, to cover just the address. Then you black out the postal code that looks like a bar code because otherwise, the letter will come back to you. On the blank sticker, you use a rubber stamp (or print by hand):
MOVED. NO FORWARDING ADDRESS.
RETURN TO SENDER
Last but not least:
When I mention “my name and address,” I refer to some name other than my own, and to my ghost address. No mail ever arrives at my true home address and never will. (No mailbox!)
I have no mailbox at my new house. What happens to any mail that is sent to my home address, is it returned to sender automatically?
ReplyDeleteIt may be held at the post office for a time. Look for notices on you front door.
ReplyDeleteExcept when you first order the internet. Although I asked them to send the (free) modem to my mailing address, they still sent it to the house. ???? They always do.
ReplyDeleteIn my country (NL) the governement offers a service in which you can put your name and address in a database and set a "don't mail me flag". Only recently I realised that this way I only get into more databases which do know even more about me (don't mail him) then before. So I terminated the "don't mail me" database. From now on I started my own database in which every firm that starts sending me mail is monitored. I call every firm, be very friendly and enthousiastic about their service and their mailings. I ask them to change my name, because I took over my (virtual) wife's name. If mail is arriving at this name, I call them again to tell them I am moved to a faraway address. I finally ask them how they've got my data anyway. If it appears that they have got it from some other firm, then I call this firm also with the same procedure. I am sure this is the best way to get all those interconnected databases as confused as possible about your existence. Hopefully this confusion will spread around their databases as a virus and some pitiful mailman brings a bag full of junk to an overcrowded mailbox next to a deserted ruine everyday.
ReplyDelete