Stop your junk mail! This website has been set up to make it a bit easier to sign up to junk mail opt-out schemes. There are no less than six opt-out services for junk mail and paper directories in the UK - and before Junk Buster was launched they all had to be contacted separately. In just a few clicks you can now contact up to six junk mail opt-out schemes.
Junk Buster is not just about making opting out easier. I set up Junk Buster out of frustration with the junk mail industry's unwillingness to provide a decent service to the millions of people who have no need for advertisements being pushed through their door. There are many things that could be done to make stopping junk mail easier. This here is Junk Buster's manifesto…
The junk mail industry is currently self-regulating. This largely explains why there are so many opt-out schemes and why they don't co-operate. Put simply; the more opt-out schemes there are, the less likely it is people will sign up to them. Hence we got a scheme for addressed junk mail; a scheme for unaddressed mail delivered by Royal Mail; a scheme for unaddressed mail delivered by members of the Direct Marketing Association; a scheme for the Yellow Pages; a scheme for Thomson Local; and a scheme for the BT Telephone Directory. This nonsense should end; the Direct Marketing Association should set up its own official junk buster (which should also include the Telephone and Fax Preference Service).
None of the opt-out services is properly advertised. Only 198,000 households are currently registered with the Door-to-Door Opt-Out, for instance. That's 0.7 per cent of all UK households. The figure for Your Choice is negligible; only 1,600 households have signed up (0.0006 per cent of UK households). Even the Direct Marketing Association would not dare argue that the take up is so low because people actually like junk mail. The simple truth is that people don't know they can opt out. It's time junk mailers start advertising their own opt-out services. Information about opting out should be advertised prominently in every directory; Royal Mail should organise an annual mail-out to tell each and every household in the country about the existence of its opt-out scheme; and that the Mailing Preference Service should be advertised on every piece of junk mail that could have been prevented by signing up to the scheme.
There is no need for opt-out schemes to be run by junk mailers. All opt-out services should be taken away from the industry and run by an independent organisation which cares about people, not junk mailers.
All opt-out schemes should give people the opportunity to register online. Currently, only the Mailing Preference Service allows people to do so. The only reason why the Door-to-Door Opt-Out and Your Choice work with paper confirmation forms is that this makes it more difficult to register. Yell, Thomson Local and BT all refuse to advertise their schemes and don't allow people to opt-out online for that reason - the only way to find out about their opt-out schemes is via websites as these!
You currently need to do no less than three things just to stop unaddressed junk mail. Apart from signing up to the Door-to-Door Opt-Out and Your Choice scheme you also need to get a 'No Junk Mail' sticker (this is because the majority of leaflets coming through the door are not delivered by Royal Mail and or members of the Direct Marketing Association). There is no need for things to be so complicated and discouraging. In Canada, Australia and on mainland Europe people can simply stop commercial leaflets by putting a 'No Junk Mail' sign on their letterbox. Why have all these bureaucratic opt-out schemes if there's such an easy solution?
Stop your junk mail!
Junk Buster is your one-point-stop for reducing unsolicited mail and paper directories. Via this smart widget you can contact up to three junk mail opt-out schemes as well as the three main paper directories delivered door-to-door in the UK. Registering with these opt-out schemes can reduce unwanted mail by up to 60 per cent. For the average household, that's a reduction of 250 pieces / 11.3 kilos of junk mail per year.
Junk mail opt-out services
The junk mail opt-out services you can contact via Junk Buster are:
- Royal Mail's Door-to-Door Opt-Out
- Your Choice Preference Scheme for Unaddressed Mail
- Mailing Preference Service
The directories you can contact via Junk Buster are:
- Yellow Pages
- Thomson Local
- BT Telephone Directory
More information about the opt-out services can be found under 'Opt-Out' in the Junk Buster widget. Alternatively, read the Guide section on our website or the most detailed Guide to Stamping Out Junk Mail on the Stop Junk Mail website.
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Important notice!
In the last couple of weeks many thousands of people have used Junk Buster to contact opt-out services. The Mailing Preference Service has responded to this by refusing to send a registration form to people who request one via e-mail (which includes Junk Buster). If you contact the MPS via Junk Buster you are likely to receive an e-mail from the MPS stating that the measure has been taken to 'save paper', which is a rather an ironic thing to say for an organisation run by junk mailers! Nevertheless, we do recommend that you follow the advice given in the e-mail and sign up to the MPS via its website.
Royal Mail also appears to have changed its opt-out process. If you contact the Door-to-Door Opt-Out via Junk Buster you will now receive an e-mail with warnings about the disastrous consequences of no longer receiving unsolicited leaflets from the postman, with an opt-out confirmation form attached. If you receive the form with the e-mail you can opt out by sending the completed form to the Door-to-Door Opt-Out freepost address. If you do not get the form via e-mail you will get it sent to you in the post.
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You're almost there…
Registering with the three junk mail opt-out schemes will stop about 60 per cent of unsolicited mail. Although that's quite a reduction, you'll still have to dispose of some 100 pieces of junk mail per year. To really get rid of junk mail there are a number of other things we recommend you do. We'll mention the two most important ones here. For a full guide, please refer to our Stop Junk Mail Guide.
- Get a 'No Junk Mail' sign. There's no other way to stop all those leaflets and other unaddressed items that are not delivered by Royal Mail. You might still get the odd take-away menu, but you'll be surprised how many leafleters respect a polite request not to push junk through your letter box. You can get a sticker to stop leaflets and/or free newspapers from our 'No Junk' Shop.
- Opt out of being on the edited electoral register. If you are not yet opted out of being on the edited version of the electoral register, contact your local election office and ask them to take your details off this list. The edited version of the electoral roll can be bought by any person and may be used for any purpose. As you would expect, bulk mailers use the register to create junk mail list. Having your name and address on it is asking for junk mail; you might as well contact bulk mailers to ask them if they could please send you heaps of junk mail.
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Donate
Junk Buster is the brainchild of Stop Junk Mail, a not-for-profit campaign group giving free and independent advice on reducing unsolicited mail. You can use the application free of charge and you don't need to feel guilty about this. Reducing junk mail should be easy and free; after all, you never asked for the stuff! However, if Junk Buster has helped you reducing junk mail and if you're fortunate enough to be able to spare a couple pounds, any donations towards the project are gratefully received.
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© 2009 by Stop Junk Mail, 2 Mill Hill Road, Norwich, NR2 3DP