How to stop junk mail?

My parents are both alive and live alone (2 separate houses).  In their 80's and 90's.  Both have been generous to charities over the years.

It is REALLY shocking how much junk mail they receive.  My Dad got 37 pieces yesterday.  He has 2 rooms of his house PILED HIGH with stack after stack of solicitations (which he says he will need to "sort", but it just overwhelms and confuses him)

Most of them are pretty convincing.  They all look and sound important.  No matter how many I do research on, they pretty much NEVER meet the standards for Charitable Accountability.

The problem is that my elderly parents can't tell the difference between a legit solicitation, and a scam.  They are being taken advantage of for their lifetime history of generosity. 

My parents are no longer able to make good decisions about this, and their retirement funds are being depleted while they try to support "good causes".  Unfortunately, neither of them remembers when they have made a contribution and when they have not.

This is criminal.

Any ways to stop the flood of this crap? 

Put a stop to the mail in general, have their bills sent to you via email so you can help them make sure they are paid.

I don't know about stopping it but you can sort a lot out quickly by reading the postage info at the top right corner, it's guaranteed to not be anything important if it says STANDARD, STD, PRSRT STD, etc. and not FIRST CLASS.

About the only thing I could think of is to have there mail forwarded to you.  Unforchinitly is sounds like they may need assistance as they will be taken advantage of with out someone looking over things with them.  

Probably not the answer you're after, but a PO box at the UPS store eliminated everything junk mail wise. Circulars, ads, people wanting money, the owners of all 3 I've used in the past just tossed it all or told the post office not to bring it.

Of course, my mom's father has been dead since 06 and I still get junk mail for him here, so maybe it just doesn't stop.

I wish I knew the answer. My 85 yr old mother gets similar and holds onto a lot of it to review with me if she thinks it is important. It never is important.  

The phone calls too! I've finally got her to the point where I have stated on her answering machine that she is screening calls so please speak and identify yourself into the machine. 

RevRico said:

Of course, my mom's father has been dead since 06 and I still get junk mail for him here, so maybe it just doesn't stop.

 

The gentleman I got my house from has been dead three years now, I am still getting junk mail for him and trade in offers on the Hyundai he once owned

The deceptive advertising is unbelievable.

Disguised to look like the SS administration, Health insurance, Pension plans.  Threats of "Urgent", ""Important" or "Benefit reduction".

I WISH I was talking about ad circulars.

ALL have his name on them (None addressed to "Current Resident", etc.). Many have hand written envelopes and First Class postage stamps on them to look like personal mail.  

Even the legit first class stuff is hard to identify.  There are different rates for First  Class, and not all of them say "First Class".

It's like the USPS is in collusion with the scammers to take advantage of people.

I was wrong.  It wasn't 37 pieces of mail yesterday.  It was 65.  I missed a pile.

Real mail on the left, junk mail on the right.  Pathetic.

Someone on this forum a few years ago once provided a link to fill out to get your name off of many junk mail lists.  I did.  It worked.  For the life of me I can’t remember what it was. 

https://www.catalogchoice.org/

Works great for junk catalogs. 

SVrex said

It's like the USPS is in collusion with the scammers to take advantage of people.

It means big big money to the USPS.  They have no interest in stopping junk mail.  

https://dmachoice.thedma.org

this one too. 

In reply to Carson :

Thanks.  

I registered.  We'll see if it improves.

I was probably the one who recommended the DMA registration in a past thread.  It should help a good bit, but may not address charitable organizations especially ones that they have donated to in the past.  I registered years ago and after 2-3 months the junk mail reduced significantly.  I get about 10% of the junk mail SWMBO gets.

To deal with any junk mail that gets through: buy a big black Sharpie, use the Sharpie to obliterate addressee information, write return to sender on envelope, throw junk mail in mail box. This process may not accomplish much, but if it annoys someone involved in the process count it as a win.

SVreX said:

In reply to Carson :

Thanks.  

I registered.  We'll see if it improves.

Oh good grief.  

Within minutes of registering on the DMA site, I started receiving spam emails about how to reduce junk mail from charities.  AAARGH!!!

In reply to Rons :

It will only annoy some poor worker bee...For several years I took everything that had a postage prepaid return envelope enclosed and stuffed all their junk into the return envelope with a note that they would save time & money by not sending me their crap.  Never once worked.  Then I found the DMA website and now I get an average of 1 piece of junk mail per day...

In reply to SVreX :

Oof. Apologies. That was not my experience and I would not have suggested it if I knew that was going to happen!

In reply to Carson :

It's ok.  If it helps with the junk mail, I can endure a few spam emails.

"You can't just quit the mail!"

I used to donate to many charities $25 or so a year and realized they would send me a dozen requests back costing them a lot of money.  

If it’s a real charity I would send a letter asked my them to stop mailing me requests.  Now I have 2-3 charities that get bigger dollars from me.  

It looks like a lot of junk in that pile.  

There are websites where you can send a burst request to the several major junk mailers to have them stop.  The website I used was ecocycle.org

Most of those junk mails come from one of about 50 companies (including some of the "real" looking ones).  I was able to completely cut out the coupon print junk and about half of my "lower your interest rate with this credit card offer" mails with that website.

Just write Refused on the items and give them back to the Post Office. 

From the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service Domestic Mail Manual (the rules the Post Office has published on how the mail is to be handled by the Post Office/mail carriers/public) (https://pe.usps.com/DMM300):  

Section 508 Recipient Services (https://pe.usps.com/text/DMM300/508.htm)

1.0 Recipient Options

1.1.2 Refusal at Delivery
The addressee may refuse to accept a mailpiece when it is offered for delivery.

1.1.3 Refusal After Delivery
After delivery, an addressee may mark a mailpiece “Refused” and return it within a reasonable time, if the piece or any attachment is not opened. Mail that may not be refused and returned unopened under this provision may be returned to the sender only if it is enclosed in a new envelope or wrapper with a correct address and new postage. The following may not be refused and returned postage-free after delivery: 

1. Pieces sent as Registered Mail, insured, Certified Mail, collect on delivery (COD), Adult Signature and return receipt for merchandise.
2. Response mail to the addressee’s sales promotion, solicitation, announcement, or other advertisement that was not refused when offered to the addressee.