Junk mail, telemarketing calls, spam – No thank you. I’m providing some information that can help you opt out of most of the spam, etc. that is coming your way. None of this is guaranteed to work. Some companies will not obey the rules and you could also just get random people who somehow get a hold of your information.
Email Spam
DMAchoice.org – A service of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). Helps reduce unsolicited commercial emails. $2 for a period of ten years.
Unsubscribe – Look for an “unsubscribe” link at the top or bottom of the emails. Click on the “unsubscribe” link and follow the instructions.
Junk Mail
OptOutPrescreen.com – Opt out of most credit card and insurance offers. The only website authorized by the major credit companies (Equifax, Experian, Innovis and TransUnion) to opt out of offers of credit or insurance.
DMAchoice.org – The DMA’s Mail Preference Service. You can opt out of receiving unsolicited commercial mail from many companies. Lasts for five years. Will not stop mailings from companies not part of the DMA.
Telemarketing Calls
DoNotCall.gov – The federal government’s National Do Not Call Registry. Free. Reduces the number of telemarketing sales calls you get. You still may receive calls regarding politics, charity, debt collection, informational, and telephone surveys. Starts taking effect within 31 days of de-registering your number.
- Ask telemarketers to stop – when a company calls you and you don’t want them to call again, ask them to not call you again and to please remove you from their list. Reputable companies are supposed to honor your request.
- Companies are allowed to still call if you’ve recently done business with the company, or if you’ve given the company written permission to call you.
Spam Text Messages
How to Stop Unwanted Text Messages – a solid article on the subject with steps to stop spam text messages.
- Many wireless companies (including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile) help out with this. You can report spam messages by forwarding them to 7726.
- Try to not give your phone number whenever possible. I usually just say “I’d prefer not to give my phone number, is that okay?” and while they often act a bit surprised, they are usually okay with it.
Internet Ads
Install Adblock Plus – while there are many browser plugins that block ads, Adblock Plus is the one I use and have been happy with, so I’ll just skip the others. You can install it on most major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.) and it will stop most ads from popping up or being shown on most websites.
This is a great list Brady! I will add a great free service I found for detecting accidental (or not) subscriptions, and managing those you’d like to see “rolled up” into a daily or weekly summary — Unroll.me. Check it out!
Thanks Ryan! I’ve heard about services like these, but have yet to check one out – so I’ll be sure to take a look at this one.
great resources yet, not of them really work . To stop some companies I had to call them and tell them to stop. Yet, after a while msot of them came back to me. It is a nightmare there should be a law against it.
You can opt out of receiving them for five years or opt out of receiving them permanently.
I went to the DMAChoice.org and it is not free. If you go through the signup they want $2.00 for the service and want your credit card number. Not happening.
Thanks for pointing that out. I didn’t realize it cost any money. I’ll update the post.
We do not wish to receive any unsolicited email in regards to ads, or any other material unless we specific request it. Some of the ads and other info coming to our email is downright offensive, filthy, others are just stuff we did not request . Please stop sending all this stuff that clogs up our email.
would suggest recommending uBlock Origin instead of Adblock Plus – the developer of AB+, Wladimir Palant, is seen by many in the community as highly unethical for a couple of reasons, among them the fact that his company is raking in a lot of money by allowing certain ads by default
uBlock Origin is a cross-platform browser extension that is substantially more powerful than AB+
need all the junk mail gone and spam