Unwanted Mail
How to cut down unwanted mail
It is estimated every household in Ballymoney can get up to 400 pieces of unwanted mail every year! It is easy to stop it coming through your door in the first place. And if you do, you’ll be helping us cut down the amount of waste paper in Ballymoney. If you try either of the methods below, you will reduce the amount of junk mail coming through your door but remember, many charities rely on direct mailings to households to either generate funding or make people aware of their campaigns. Junk mail is not always bad!
Mailing Preference Service
Register with the Mailing Preference Service
You can cut the amount of direct mailings addressed to you by up to 95% by registering with the Mailing Preference Service (MPS).
What mail will it stop?
- Unwanted mail addressed to you, or a previous resident, for example catalogues and mail shots
What mail won't it stop?
- mail that's been sent from overseas
- unaddressed mail
- mail addressed to "The occupier"
You can expect to continue to receive mail from companies with whom you've done business in the past. If you don't want to receive this mail, follow step three.
How long will it take to stop?
It can take up to four months for the MPS to fully take effect. But you should notice that you get less mail fairly quickly.
How to register
It's free to register with the MPS. To find out more or to register, you can:
- Visit: www.mpsonline.org.uk
- Email: mps@dma.org.uk
- Call: 0845 703 4599
- Write to:
Mailing Preference Service
Freepost 29 LON20771
London, W1E 0ZT
Write to sender
You can write to the sender to tell them you don't want to receive any more mail from them if the mail is:
- addressed to The Occupier. You may well still receive communications from the Electoral Office.
- unaddressed and delivered by organisations or individuals other than the Royal Mail
Even better, email them and save the paper.
What will the organisation do?
If you write to an organisation to tell them you want to be taken off their mailing list they must, by law, stop sending you marketing materials. They must do this within a reasonable time (so you may still get mail from them for some time).
You can also write to companies that you already deal with, such as banks, credit card companies and utility providers, to ask them to stop sending you marketing materials for their other services.
Keep records
You should keep:
- a record of the letter you send
- the reply you receive from the organisation
- records of all other communications, such as phone calls or emails, making sure you includes the dates you received them.
You'll find this information helpful if you find it difficult to stop an organisation from sending you direct marketing materials.