The best approach for anyone looking to cut down on their flow of direct mail is to sign up for the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service (https://www.dmachoice.org/MPS/). The service costs $1 per year--a check on potential fraud--and ensures that you will be removed from the lists of all DMA member companies (which include essentially all of the legitimate financial services companies that bombard us with credit card offers).

As much as I know how good it feels to send back those "refused--return to sender" envelopes with scores of old junk mail, the truth is that the impact in that respect is virtually nil--many of the companies that mail frequently spend BILLIONS of dollars doing so, and the relative cost of a few extra reply envelopes doesn't move any needles. Believe me here.

(For what it's worth: I'm a management consultant and work almost exclusively with major marketing companies--as well as mailers--to help them move away from "junk mailing" and toward more intelligent and useful marketing. I'm also an ExPlat, and that's what qualifies me to post here. )

I also hate receiving excessive mail just as much as anyone else...