Business Waste Reduction

Reducing Unsolicited Mail at Your Business

Unsolicited mail—often referred to as "junk mail"—is prevalent not only at home but also in the workplace. While it might be a simple annoyance at home, unsolicited mail in the workplace is a profit drain because of the time required to sort through the mail to see what is actually "junk" and what is not. Following are several steps you can take to reduce the amount of unsolicited mail sent to your business. 

Remove Your Business From Two Major Mailing List Databases

1. Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) maintains the largest company database worldwide, collecting information on more than 70 million business establishments from 217 countries. Up to 1,500 data items are collected on each business. Businesses can either use D&B’s database services to develop their own direct-mail lists or purchase lists directly from D&B.

A business may have its information removed from business marketing lists published by D&B. An authorized representative of the business can request the "delisting" process orally or in writing, resulting in its removal from marketing directories, publications and/or mailing lists. To have your business delisted, call D&B’s customer service center at 1-800-333-0505 or send an e-mail to custserv@dnb.com.

2. InfoUSA maintains information on more than 12 million businesses in the U.S. To remove your business from their lists, fax a letter to (402) 331-0176. The letter should say on the top: "Attention—Business Update Department." The letter should include the complete business name, address, and phone number; the name and title of the person requesting the deletion; and that person's signature. You can also send this letter by regular mail to Info USA, P.O. Box 27347, Omaha, NE, 68127.

Remove Your Business from Specific Company Mailing Lists

Not every company uses the mailing list databases maintained by Dun & Bradstreet and InfoUSA. There are two basic ways to remove your business from specific company mailing lists.

1. Collective—Designate a person in your business to contact individual, persistent mail solicitors. (The person who handles your mail would be a logical choice.) Have each person in your business redirect all unwanted mail to that person. The designated “junk mail watchdog” can then compile a list of the individuals receiving unsolicited mail from specific companies and contact the most persistent companies to request that they remove the individual names from their mailing lists.

2. Individual—Encourage all your employees to contact persistent direct marketers and request they be removed from their mailing lists. It is most effective if the highest level of management possible encourages the employees to take this action.

A preprinted postcard makes it easier for individual employees to request mailing list deletions and thus increases the likelihood that they will contact direct marketers. Provided here is a downloadable Word file (23.5 KB) containing a page with four preformatted mailing list deletion request cards. This page is designed to be printed onto cardstock and cut into four postcards. Be sure to use cardstock, not regular paper, as U.S. Postal Service standards require a minimum thickness of .007" for postcards, which translates to paper with a basis weight of at least 50 lbs. (By comparison, regular copy paper is usually 20 lb. Nearly all office supply stores carry cardstock or cover stock with a basis weight of at least 50 lb.)

When sending a mailing list deletion request card, address it to the company that sent the unwanted mail piece (using their return address), and write "Attn: Direct Marketing Dept." under the address. Even if the company does not have a separate direct marketing department, this will help the card be delivered to an individual within the company who can delete your name from their mailing list. Be sure to apply postage to the card; postcard rates can be found on the U.S. Postal Service site.   

What if a Company Continues to Send Unwanted Mail to My Business?

Often times, it takes a few months before your request to have a company remove your business from their mailing list becomes effective. This is because some companies have promotional literature printed up and addressed well in advance of their actual mailing. Allowing for a reasonable delay, if you have asked a specific company at least twice to remove your business from its mailing list but it continues to send you unwanted mail, you can report the persistent offender to the National Waste Prevention Coalition’s "Business Junk Mail Complaint Bureau." If the bureau receives several complaints about a particular company, it will notify that company. Contact: 

Tom Watson, Coordinator
National Waste Prevention Coalition
c/o King County Solid Waste Division
201 South Jackson St., #701 
Seattle, Washington, 98104-3855
Phone: (206) 296-4481
tom.watson@metrokc.gov.

Remove Former Employees From Mailing Lists for Your Business

The EcoLogical Mail Coalition offers a free service for businesses to remove former employees from direct marketer's lists. Businesses submit names of terminated employees to the coalition's nationwide database of outdated contacts; marketers compare their mailing lists, and remove outdated contacts. Saves businesses money and time, and prevents tons of paper from entering landfills while saving trees. View a quick tour and sign up online at www.ecologicalmail.org.

For additional information please call Michael Nelson, Director of Membership at 1-800-620-3975 ext. 3.

Keep Your Business From Being Added to Mailing Lists in the First Place

Preventing your business from being added to mailing lists in the first place is the best idea. This will reduce the amount of unwanted mail to you have to deal with and eliminate the hassle of removing your business from mailing lists. Following are some suggestions on how to keep off mailing lists:

• Place some standard language on purchase orders, such as, "In the interests of reducing waste, please do not share this name or address with other mailers, through mail list sales or trades."
• Include a message such as "Please do not share this name or address with other companies" on registration forms for conferences, events, trainings, etc., and on subscription order forms.
• Ask your receptionist to screen callers who ask for your company's address, zip code, name of the senior buyer, etc. Some callers may have a good reason for seeking such information, but many just want to add your business to a mailing list. Tell them no thanks!

Other Resources to Help Reduce Unsolicited Business Mail

The National Waste Prevention Coalition—hosted by the Washington’s King County Solid Waste Division—maintains a “Business Junk Mail Reduction Project” on their Web site. This is an excellent resource, and in fact is the source of much of the information in this fact sheet.

Does the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service Work for Businesses?

No. The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the major trade organization for the direct marketing industry, operates a mail preference service for people who do not want direct mail (advertising mail) sent to their households. However, the DMA does not offer this service for businesses or other offices. 

According to the DMA, "business-to-business" mail and consumer mail are very different. Companies that market to consumers usually don't market to businesses and vice versa. To combine both types of mail in one mail preference service would make the service unsatisfactory for both types of mailers, the DMA says.

For information about reducing the amount of unwanted mail sent to your home, see the DMA’s Web site.

Last updated: November 29, 2007