I found a really great article on grist yesterday, written by Alan Durning. He’s long been a proponent of cutting junk mail and giving Americans and Canadians a choice to opt out with a Do Not Mail registry (similar to the Do Not Call list we already have). He made an effort to cut his own junk mail by subscribing to the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service and by using Catalog Choice, but then he decided to do an experiment: How well would those two services alone really cut his junk mail? He decided to stockpile the junk mail he got for an entire year and see how it turned out.

The results, which he writes about here, were disheartening: Even after signing up for both of those removal lists, he still received 50 pounds of junk mail and unwanted phone books in a year. His article details the different kinds of junk mail he got and how much of each kind he received, but in the end, he was left with pound after pound of glossy catalogs, credit card offers and other unsolicited mailings.

Durning acknowledges what the rest of us know, as well: getting rid of junk mail is a hassle if you’re trying to do it yourself. Contacting the catalog companies and mailing services, asking them to remove you from lists, can be time-consuming and frustrating. He suggests the national opt-out service to keep people from having to deal with junk mail.

Another option is Privacy Council’s list removal service, which takes you off of all major marketing lists and KEEPS you off of them for a very low cost. You can sign up for the list removal service here and start cutting back on the pain in the neck that junk mail has become!