More Tips to End Junk Mail

More on junk mail. These helpful tips are from the Washington Post

Junk mail is a triple threat: It tries your patience, jeopardizes your identity and spoils the environment. But without too much effort, you can give yourself peace of mind and an uncluttered mailbox.

Register with the Direct Marketing Association to remove your name from its national mailing list. The service is free if you register online, or $1 by mail.

Reject preapproved offers from credit card companies by visiting http://https://www.optoutprescreen.com or calling 888-567-8688.

Sign up free at http://www.catalogchoice.org, and the site will do the grunt work to get you off mailing lists for catalogues you don't want.

Pay a $20 annual fee, and GreenDimes will remove your name from catalogue and other direct-mail lists, plus plant up to 10 trees.

For $41, 41pounds.org -- named for the weight in junk mail the average adult receives each year -- will contact several dozen direct-mail companies on your behalf. In addition, $15 of your fee goes to your choice among the group's nonprofit affiliates.

Tired of Junk Mail? You can stop some of it.

We receive so much junk mail that frequently important mail is lost among the advertising circulars. We have discovered that there is something a frustrated mail box owner can do.

While not clearly disclosed to folks, advertisers must include the means to contact them on the circulars they send out. This information is usually found in the very small print along the edge of the mailing. When you call that number, there is usually an option to opt out of any future mailings.

Two big local advertisers that have taken up the bulk of our mailbox have been Valpak and the Pennysaver.

If you want to increase the functional availability of your mailbox, you can contact Valpak and Pennysaver and tell them to stop all mailings to your address. Their contact information is:

Pennysaver - CALIFORNIA:
Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernadino, Ventura and Tulare Counties Private Party: (800) 995-3333 Commercial: (714) 996-8900 Email: PrivateSCA@PennySaverUSA.com San Diego County Private Party: (888) 736-6972 Commercial: (760) 599-1400 Bay Area & San Jose Private Party: (800) 947-3669 Commercial: (800) 947-3669 Email: ads@pennysaverusa.com Sacramento Private Party: (800) 947-3669 Commercial: (916) 636-2200 Stockton & San Joaquin County Private Party: (800) 947-3669 Commercial: (800) 947-3669

When calling the numbers above, listen to the voicemail options and follow them to consumer services and distribution. There will be a voicemail that will ask you for your address. In addition and for your records, you may want to email them so you have a date and time of request in writing.

For Valpak, including the "blue envelope" advertising, send an email to:

valerie@Valpak.com and request all mail advertising to stop immediately.

Unfortunately Valpak is stating that it typically takes a couple of months to stop because they send to so many homes. This does seem quite unreasonable. It would seem that multiple requests may be necessary to help them get the message.

Best wishes

Got $25? You can do some good with that...

KIVA is an organization that connects lenders with small business startup folks in developing nations.

You can browse their site and find folks such as these:

-Woman in Uganda wanting to start a used clothing business and needs $40.
-Single parent in Nicaragua wants to start a cloth and dress making supplies shop and needs $75.

KIVA oversees the project and provides "risk" ratings on each borrower. You can get email updates as to the status of the business you are supporting. Loans are generally repaid within a year. There is NO interest on borrowed money, however, the knowledge of the push you've given to a family's effort for self support should do quite nicely.

Consider it. It doesn't take much money, frequently $25 will get someone going in their business efforts, but it goes a long way in their effort to become self sustaining.

Who knows......maybe when our economy finally hits bottom a new billionaire in another country will remember who was there for them when they needed it most.

Paying it forward is always good Karma.

Wanna Dance?

Tony - The Providence Dancing Cop



Wish the police in California were this friendly?

Find Local Speed Traps in Your Area

Here is a nifty little site that we can all benefit from. It's from the National Motorist Association, and is call Speed Trap.org

There you can look up your local area and find speed trap locations. Locations are sent in by motorists. You can also submit known speed trap areas that are not already listed.

This is not meant to condone speeding, however often police officers can be rather ridiculous in attempts to meet their quota or need to fill city revenue funds.

Drive carefully, be safe, and have a wonderful holiday.