Metro Launches Service in the Portland Metropolitan Region

Today we are happy to welcome Metro as our newest Catalog Choice for Communities partner. They are doing a terrific job launching the program in the community.

As the nation’s only directly-elected regional government, Metro works with 25 cities and 3 counties in the Portland metropolitan region to coordinate regional waste reduction activities, including the Catalog Choice for Communities program.  Metro and its local government partners are dedicated to waste prevention in the community and to assisting residents and businesses with diverting materials from the waste stream.  They hope to increase the percentage of waste diverted from the landfill from 58% currently* to 64%. Our partnership with Metro serves as one of their strategies to increase the diversion rate by eliminating waste one mailbox at a time.

If you live in the Metro region, start here for your local Catalog Choice account: 

http://oregonmetro.catalogchoice.org

Congratulations and welcome Metro.

*2010 Oregon Material Recovery Survey

Introducing the MailStop Index

Over 1.5 million households, from every major city in America, use Catalog Choice to manage their mailbox. We are asked regularly, by members, the press, and partners - "which communities stop the most junk mail"?

 MailStop Index answers that question.

We grouped every opt-out made in March 2012 by zip code. We then aggregated the data by zip code into metro areas with population over 50,000 based on the 2010 Census. The Metro areas are based on Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSA), geographic areas defining metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas by the Office of Management and Budget. Then, we ranked each metro area (CBSA) by the number of opt-outs per 100,000 households. That way, population neither helps nor hurts communities in the ranking. 

So without further ado, here are the March 2012 most mail-efficient communities:

1.         Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA

2.         Santa Fe, NM

3.         Boulder, CO

4.         Ithaca, NY

5.         Truckee-Grass Valley, CA

6.         Napa, CA

7.         Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT

8.         San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA

9.         Bozeman, MT

10.       San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

11.       Corvallis, OR

12.       Johnstown, PA

13.       Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH

14.       Charlottesville, VA

15.       Burlington-South Burlington, VT

16.       Kingston, NY

17.       Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA

18.       Salinas, CA

19.       Lebanon, NH-VT

20.       La Crosse, WI-MN

Questions or media inquiries about the MailStop Index may be sent to team (at) catalogchoice.org.

City of Austin Launches Mail Preference Service

Today we are happy to welcome the City of Austin, TX as our newest Catalog Choice for Communities partner. "This is a great step for consumer choice, consumer protection an dtakes us closer to our Zero Waste goals," said Council member Mike Martinez. "This solution will help stop not only the delivery of unwanted phone books, but also junk mail and credit card offers to our mailboxes and doorsteps."

Austin Resource Recovery Director Bob Gerdert adds, "The first step to recycling is to reduce what we have. It will also reduce the cost the city pays to recycle this waste."

We are thrilled to count Austin as a partner and are excited to see them off to such a great start.

If you live in Austin, start here for your local Catalog Choice account: https://austin.catalogchoice.org/.

 Here's KVUE's coverage:

More Coverage

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/austin-offers-junk-mail-opt-out

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/cityhall/entries/2012/04/19/city_of_austin_offers_opt_out.html

How to Stop Every Door Direct Mail

The U.S. Postal Service has a plan: more advertising mail.

You can tell the USPS that you want the ability to opt-out of mail sent to "Current Resident".  Sign our letter at Citizens for Mail Choice.

Check out this video we made with a summary of EDDM: Every Door Direct Mail.


If you haven't yet seen or heard ads for "Every Door Direct Mail," you probably soon will. It's the "new" program from the postal service that allows businesses to mail every address in specified zip codes. No need to have names and addresses. Just select the zip codes you want to mail to, and the mail carrier will drop your ad in every mailbox in those zip codes for under $0.15 per piece.

Is this what USPS customers want? Well, yes. Businesses are the primary customers of the USPS. Mail recipients aren't the customer, we are the product. The postal service sells access to us, and therein lies the rub. Many people don't like being a product without consent, which raises questions like, "what if I don't want more advertising mail"?

So what can you do about it?  According to the Every Door Direct User Guide (link), the Customer delivers the Do Not Deliver addresses to the Post Office with the Facing slip for each zip code. We know there's a process to opt-out and we need to work together to make sure it works.  When companies select the zip codes they want to send EDDM mail to, there is a section on the Facing Slip for "Do Not Mail Addresses." If your address makes it on that form, the mail carrier should skip your address.

Sounds straight forward.  Since we oversee this process for millions of Americans, we've been digging into the details to make sure it really works.

We started with confirming that the Post Office is getting the Do Not Deliver lists from the Customer since the user guide (shown below) says that it is the Customer's responsibility to complete this section. We called the USPS Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) Customer Service Center to confirm and herein lies the problem. On our first call we were told it's the Post Office's responsibility to fill that section out. So, then we called the USPS general customer service center and asked how to get on that list at the local post office. We were told to go to DMAchoice, which we know does not stop unaddressed mail. So we called EDDM Customer Service  back.  This time we spoke with someone else and she indicated that either the post office or the customer could complete it. Given the confusion, we're assuming the user guide is correct.

It's unclear the extent to which requests will be honored. You get the feeling not many companies use this section. Honoring an opt-out for unaddressed mail follows a completely different process than honoring an opt-out for addressed mail. That said, companies receiving opt-outs through Catalog Choice should be honoring them for all mailing, addressed or unaddressed.

If you get unaddressed mail from a company you've submitted an opt-out to, let us know!

 

 

Suze Orman Includes Catalog Choice in Identity Theft Protection

We are pleased to announce the inclusion Catalog Choice's MailStop Envelope in every Suze Orman Identity Theft Kit .

The Federal Trade Commission estimates that as many as 9 million people have their identity stolen each year! Suze Orman, a well known personal finance expert, is wading into identity theft protection with kit of tools to protect yourself and prevent identity theft. For example, it includes fraud alerts, credit monitoring, a warranty, and MailStop Envelope. By stopping unwanted mail, you limit the number of companies that have your name and address. It's more than just clutter reduction!