Greendimes raises some green
July 23rd, 2007 by Randy Stewart, Product Manager
Now here’s a company after my own heart.
Last week, Greendimes landed $20 million in venture capital funding to expand their business.
Greendimes claims to be able to reduce junk mail landing in your snail mail box by 90%. They contact credit card, catalog and other direct mailers on your behalf to get them to stop sending you unwanted mail.
I haven’t signed up for the service yet, but I can tell you that if it works, at $36 a year, it’s probably worth it. I posted a series about reclaiming your physical mailbox back in March. My attempts to decrease junk mail at home have been only somewhat successful and I’ve spent many hours on the phone and filling out forms. While it does seem like I’m receiving less mail overall, it certainly hasn’t stopped altogether.
Having someone like Greendimes watching your back might be just the trick.
Others talking about Greendimes
GigaOm
Earth2Tech
Brian Berliner
Check out their blog for other green tips.
July 24th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
41pounds is another great company that does the leg-work to stop a household’s junk mail. For $8.20 a year (2 cents a day) 41pounds not only stops the junk mail from coming, but they also donate more than 1/3 of that fee to partnering environmental and community nonprofits such as StopGlobalWarming.org, American Forests and Habitat for Humanity (East Bay). We’re happy to see the growing public awareness about junk mail - and the success of several new businesses that offer solutions. Check them out at http://www.41pounds.org
July 25th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Gidday,
An online service, such as you mention, is a great way to stopthejunkmail but it isn’t done for you, you still have to actively select the catalogs you no longer wish to receive. A lot of consumers believe that if they just sign up it is like adding your name to a Do-Not-Mail list but it is much more complicated that this. You have to be very persistent just as you are when doing it yourself. The difference is when using an online service you do not have to call or email the catalogs, the service will do all the hard work for you as well as keep a record of the catalogs you opted out of thereby saving you a lot of time and frustration.
We at stopthejunkmail.com have been helping our members stop junk mail since 2001.
Cheerio,
Margot at stopthejunkmail.com
July 26th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Thanks everyone for other tips. I mentioned both of these earlier this year, but both are worth bringing up again.
Personally, I still get lots of unwanted mail coming to my home (especially the catalog dupes). A lot of these folks are a bit overly aggressive and most consumers don’t have much of a chance of ending the onslaught without help.
Cheers,
Randy
February 15th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I have been very successful at limiting the junk mail that my wife and I receive — down 90% in 6 months — but it hasn’t been easy.
You need to be prepared, patient and persistent.
I’ve taken all the steps I used — phone numbers, links, etc — and posted them on my site: http://www.jonnyhal.com/otl_blog.
Hopefully other people can laugh at my pain — plus learn ways they can get back at the powers that send crap.
Good luck to all — trash pixels, not the planet.
jonnyHal