External Brain 26 Jul 2005 05:06 pm
junk mail removal
Malora mentioned a while back that it’s easy to get ADVO/Shopwise to stop sending you that big batch of weekly circulars. Thanks, Malora!
I called Seattle’s Shopwise subsidiary and got the number of the office that’s responsible for taking me off mailing lists: 1-888-241-6760, open 8 to 5 eastern time. You can also cancel online.
I do occasionally check out grocery circulars, but only on the web.
According to the Center for Development of Recycling at San Jose State University, “Individually, an average of 41 pounds of junk mail are sent to every adult each year, 44% of which goes to a landfill unopened.” I’m pretty sure we’ve gotten that much from American Express alone.
on 27 Jul 2005 at 10:18 am 1.naomi said …
That’s good to know. Are those the mailers that are always sent to “Current Resident”? Looks like I’ll have to wait about 2 months to see if it’s taken hold.
on 27 Jul 2005 at 11:17 am 2.Cam Sculpin said …
Yep, those — that big sloppy fistful of mailers that comes with a little white card with a photo of a missing child on it.
on 10 Aug 2005 at 11:45 am 3.Sculpin » The NW Center: incompetent and pesky said …
even the NW Center’s own clothing donation bins. Inspired by the news that I could stop getting the weekly ADVO flyers in the mail, I’ve gone on another round of [...]
on 20 Oct 2005 at 3:26 am 4.Cam Sculpin said …
It took three months, but it appears that I no longer get those stupid ADVO flyers every week.
Not that there’s an overall reduction in the level of junk mail. It’s election season. At least Nick Licata puts a frittata recipe on his campaign mail. Would that all campaign mail were so practically useful!
on 28 Feb 2006 at 12:41 pm 5.Big Uncle John said …
Hmm, Went to the website today and filled out the form. Got this message.
HTTP Status 500 -
type Status report
message
description The server encountered an internal error () that prevented it from fulfilling this request.
Apache Tomcat/4.1.30
Do you suppose this is on purpose?
on 17 Jul 2006 at 8:03 pm 6.tom said …
I’ve been trying the ADVO form for a while now and haven’t gotten it to accept a submission yet. It’s been about two months. I had actually gotten it to work previously, but all it seemed to do was prevent the white slip with the missing children on it from comming, I still get the Shopwise flyer.
I wonder if you can report them for having a non-working form? Are they required by law to allow customers to opt-out?
on 17 Jul 2006 at 11:25 pm 7.Cam Sculpin said …
I’m pretty sure the flyer isn’t supposed to be delivered without that white card. My regular mailman knows not to deliver the Shopwise flyer, but occasionally somebody else covers his route, and the substitutes have been known stuff it in the box. My guess is that they think, “Hey, that’s funny. No card, huh?” and just proceed as usual.
I haven’t had any problems since I put a little sign on the mailbox that says something along the lines of, “This address does not accept Shopwise flyers”.
on 17 Jan 2007 at 12:30 pm 8.adam said …
I just called the ADVO/ShopWise 888 number and got unsubscribed…well, started the process anyways. The receptionist just asked for my zip code and street address, and then confirmed my city, and that was it.
They said I’d get a post card confirmation in 1-2 weeks…
So those who cant get the online form to work, try the 888 number.
on 08 Feb 2007 at 2:34 pm 9.Crystal said …
from what I understand, the wait is forever and there are gaps:
It take a couple months for the cancellation request to go through, which is then active for about 6 months, but then starts up again. The problem is, you can’t cancel again BEFORE the 6 months is up, so you’ll perpetually forever be receiving at least 4 months’ worth of junk mail from ADVO a year. what a hassle.
Correct me if I’m wrong…
on 08 Feb 2007 at 5:58 pm 10.Cam Sculpin said …
That hasn’t been my experience.
What has been my experience is that whenever my usual postal carrier is sick or goes on vacation, his substitute will stuff a fistful of ADVO flyers into my mailbox, even without the little white flyer that’s supposed to accompany them. This annoyed me, so last summer I made a small label for the mailbox announcing that I do not accept ADVO flyers. So far, no flyers.
on 25 May 2008 at 2:51 am 11.Green Guy said …
These days its easy enough to stop your junk mail. Places like shield of green dot com offer all-in-one packages to stop your junk mail and telephone marketing calls with the click of a button.
[But alas, they are no help with the spamming. I really can't see paying thirty bucks a year (thirty bucks?!) to some blog spammer to get help with the junk mail removal. Extra demerit for "its". -- Editor]