How to Stop Unwanted USPS Mail: DMAchoice, Credit Offers, Catalogs

To stop unwanted USPS mail, combine three things: refuse eligible pieces at your mailbox, register with the main opt-out services that cover marketing and prescreened credit offers, and escalate to a USPS prohibitory order against any sender who ignores your requests. No single step clears everything, but stacking these methods usually cuts junk mail sharply within about three months.

Refuse It at the Mailbox

The fastest free option is to write “Refused” on the envelope and hand it back to your carrier or leave it in the box for pickup. The envelope has to be sealed. Once you open a piece, you lose the right to refuse it under this process and would have to repackage it with fresh postage to send it back.¹

Refusal works best on First-Class Mail, which USPS routes back to the sender at no cost to you. It also works on pieces endorsed “Return Service Requested.” If you didn’t catch the mail at the door, you can still mark it refused and return it within a reasonable time as long as it stays sealed.¹

One limit worth knowing: refusal does little for mail addressed to “Current Resident,” “Occupant,” or “Postal Customer.” Those pieces follow the address, not you, and carriers generally aren’t required to take them back. To stop that category, use the opt-outs below or contact the sender directly.

Register With DMAchoice for Marketing Mail

DMAchoice, run by the Association of National Advertisers, is the single broadest tool for reducing marketing mail. At DMAchoice.org, you pick the categories you want to cut, including credit offers, catalogs, and magazine promotions. Online registration costs $6 and lasts ten years. By mail, send your name, address, and signature with a $7 check or money order payable to the Association of National Advertisers to: DMAchoice Consumer Preferences, P.O. Box 900, Cos Cob, CT 06807.²

Allow about 90 days for the drop-off. Marketers prepare mailings weeks or months ahead, so the decline is gradual.³ DMAchoice reaches participating members of the direct-mail industry, which is a large share but not all senders. Nonmembers won’t see your request, so persistent mailers may still need a direct call.

Opt Out of Prescreened Credit and Insurance Offers

Preapproved credit card and insurance offers come from a separate system: credit bureaus sell prescreened lists to lenders and insurers. To get off those lists, go through OptOutPrescreen.com or call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688).⁴

You have two options. A five-year opt-out is complete once you finish the online or phone process. A permanent opt-out starts the same way but only becomes final after you sign and return the Permanent Opt-Out Election form that arrives in the mail.

Both require your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. The credit bureaus need the SSN to match you in their files; it can only be used to process the opt-out.⁴ Opting out does not affect your credit score or your ability to apply for credit on your own.

Stop Shared-Mail Circulars and Coupon Packs

Coupon envelopes and shared-mail packages are among the most persistent junk pieces because they’re usually addressed to “Current Resident.” DMAchoice won’t catch them. Contact each company directly.

Valpak: submit a removal request at valpak.com/remove-address with your full name and address. Mailings may continue for several weeks because programs are prepared in advance.⁵
Mspark: use the unsubscribe form at mspark.com/list-removal with your name, address, phone, and email. Expect 30 to 60 days before mailings stop.⁶
Save (formerly RetailMeNot): fill out the opt-out form at save.com/delivery-options. Removal lasts five years and takes up to six weeks to take effect.⁷

For other “boxholder” mailings that arrive without your name, ask your local post office about PS Form 3982-R, which tells the carrier to suppress specific boxholder-addressed mailings from named senders to your address.⁶ It won’t block all shared mail, but it handles the worst offenders that don’t offer their own opt-out.

Cancel Catalogs and Charity Solicitations

Retail catalogs are usually easy to stop. Check the back cover for a phone number or URL, call or write, and ask to be removed. If you registered with DMAchoice, you can also suppress catalog categories there.²

Charities are harder because nonprofits often share or trade donor lists, so one donation can seed dozens of new mailings within months. Write to each charity directly, include the mailing label so they can locate your record, and specifically ask them not to share your name with other organizations. If duplicates arrive with slight variations of your name or address, send every label in one request so they can clean up all versions.

Mail for a Previous Resident or Deceased Person

For mail addressed to someone who no longer lives at your address, write “Not at this address — Return to sender” on each piece and leave it for your carrier. Don’t open it. First-Class Mail will go back to the sender, who should update their records over time. Consistency matters more than any single return.

For a deceased person, a family member or caregiver can register the individual with the Deceased Do Not Contact list at ims-dm.com. Registration costs $6, and marketing mail should drop within about three months.⁸ You’ll need the deceased person’s name and address. The registry removes the name from commercial lists but won’t stop mail from companies where the person had an active account; those require direct contact, usually with a copy of the death certificate.

Force a Specific Sender to Stop

When a particular sender keeps mailing you after removal requests, federal law gives you a stronger option. Under 39 U.S.C. 3008, you can apply for a Prohibitory Order through USPS that legally bars a specific sender from mailing anything else to your address.⁹

The statute was written to target sexually provocative advertisements, and its key language leaves the judgment to you: the law applies to any advertisement that you, “in your sole discretion,” consider erotically arousing or sexually provocative.¹⁰ Courts have upheld the principle that the addressee’s judgment controls. The further the mail strays from the statute’s language, the less certain the outcome.

To file, keep the original mail piece unopened if you can and complete USPS Form 1500 at your local post office. The form asks for your name, address, and details about the mail. Submit it with the offending piece to your postmaster. Once issued, the order takes effect 30 calendar days after the sender receives it and prohibits further mailings from that sender or their agents to your address.⁹

If the sender violates the order, USPS sends a formal complaint by certified mail and gives 15 days to respond. If the violation is confirmed, USPS can ask the Department of Justice to seek a federal court order forcing compliance.⁹ That enforcement step is rare, but its existence tends to be enough. Most commercial mailers comply once the prohibitory order lands rather than risk a federal case.

1
U.S. Postal Service. Postal Operations Manual – Section 611 Delivery, Refusal, and Return
2
Federal Trade Commission. How To Stop Junk Mail
3
DMAchoice. DMAchoice FAQs
4
Federal Trade Commission. What To Know About Prescreened Offers for Credit and Insurance
5
Valpak. Valpak Unsubscribe Request
6
Mspark. Mailing List Removal
7
Save.com. Delivery Options
8
Deceased Do Not Contact. Deceased Do Not Contact Registration
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 39 USC 3008 – Prohibition of Pandering Advertisements
10
U.S. Postal Service. Stop Unsolicited Sexually Oriented Advertisements in Your Mail