USPS Prohibitory Order Under 39 U.S.C. § 3008: Filing PS Form 1500

A USPS prohibitory order is a free, federally enforceable directive that stops a specific sender from mailing advertisements to your address. You get one by filing PS Form 1500 with the Postal Service and attaching the original piece of mail you want blocked. Once the order is served, the sender has 30 days to stop mailing you and must delete your name from every list it controls.¹

What the Order Can Block

The statute is titled “Prohibition of Pandering Advertisements” and refers to mail the addressee finds “erotically arousing or sexually provocative” in their “sole discretion.”² The title is misleading. In Rowan v. United States Post Office Dept., the Supreme Court held the addressee’s power under this statute is “unlimited” and said a homeowner could use the order to stop a dry goods catalog simply because they objected to its contents or its sales language.³ The Court said the statute gives you “complete and unfettered discretion” over what advertising mail reaches your home.

No postal employee reviews the mail to decide whether it is actually offensive. If you say the material bothers you, that ends the analysis. Credit card solicitations, catalogs, subscription pitches, fundraising letters that include merchandise offers — any advertisement offering something for sale can be the trigger for an order.

Who Can File

Any adult who received the advertisement at their address can file. One piece of mail from one sender is enough. You don’t have to show a pattern or meet any outside standard.

You can also file on behalf of children under 19 living with you. The statute reads “children” broadly to include stepchildren, adopted children, children in your custody, and children living with you in a regular parent-child relationship.² One form covers everyone in your household you want protected.⁴

If someone has died and you’re entitled to receive their mail, you can file in the deceased person’s name to stop advertisers from continuing to send to them.

How to File PS Form 1500

PS Form 1500 is titled “Application for Listing and/or Prohibitory Order.” Pick it up at any post office or download it from the USPS site. There is no fee.⁴

On the form, provide:

Your full name and mailing address.
Full names and birth dates of any children under 19 living with you whom you want covered.
The business name and return address of the sender exactly as they appear on the unwanted mail.
Your capacity for filing: addressee, parent of a minor addressee, or person entitled to receive mail for a deceased addressee.

You have to submit the original advertisement. Photocopies aren’t accepted. If it came in a sealed envelope or wrapper, open it before submitting so the entire piece goes in. The Postal Service uses the original to verify the sender.⁴ Turn the completed form and mail in at any post office.

One form covers one sender. If several companies are mailing you unwanted ads, file a separate PS Form 1500 for each, with each company’s original piece attached.

What the Sender Must Do

Once the Postal Service processes your application, it issues a formal prohibitory order and serves it on the sender. The order does two things. It directs the sender to stop all mailings to the named individuals at your address, effective 30 calendar days after the sender receives the order. And it requires the sender to immediately delete your name, and the names of everyone else covered, from every mailing list the sender owns or controls.¹

The statute also prohibits the sender from selling, renting, exchanging, or otherwise transferring any mailing list containing your name.¹ Without that, a company could technically comply by dropping you from its own file while passing your name along to affiliates.

Mail that arrives during the 30-day compliance window does not count as a violation, since it was likely already in transit. After that window, the prohibition is absolute. The order has no expiration date and reaches the sender’s agents and successors.

Reporting Violations

If you get another advertisement from the same sender after the 30-day window closes, keep the mail and submit it to the Postal Service as evidence. The Prohibitory Order Processing Center Manager reviews the complaint and can issue a formal violation notice under 39 U.S.C. § 3008(d).⁵

The sender has 15 days to petition for a hearing. If they don’t, or if the hearing confirms the violation, enforcement escalates: the Postal Service can ask the Attorney General to file a civil action in federal district court seeking a compliance order. Ignoring that court order is punishable as contempt.² Most commercial mailers comply after the initial order rather than face that path.

What the Order Does Not Cover

The statute reaches physical mail delivered through the Postal Service. It does not apply to email, text messages, online ads, or any other digital communication. Section 3008 speaks only of “mail matter” and “mailings.”²

The order also targets advertisements — mail offering something for sale. Purely informational mailings, government correspondence, and personal letters fall outside its reach.

The Related National List for Sexually Oriented Mail

PS Form 1500 also lets you apply for a separate program under 39 U.S.C. § 3010. Where a § 3008 order is reactive, filed after a specific piece arrives from a specific sender, § 3010 is proactive: it puts your name on a national list of people who do not want to receive sexually oriented advertisements from anyone.⁶

Key differences:

Trigger. A § 3008 order requires an actual piece of mail. The § 3010 listing does not — you can sign up before receiving anything.
Scope. A § 3008 order blocks all mailings from one specific sender, regardless of content. The § 3010 list only blocks mail meeting the statutory definition of “sexually oriented advertisement.”
Enforcement. Under § 3010, it is illegal for anyone to mail sexually oriented advertisements to a person whose name has been on the list for more than 30 days.⁶
Reach. The § 3010 list applies across all mailers who subscribe to receive it, but the Postal Service notes it does not guarantee removal from every mailing list in existence.⁴

You can apply for both on the same form. A § 3008 order gives you a targeted, enforceable block against the sender who prompted your complaint; the § 3010 listing casts a wider net across mailers for sexually explicit material specifically.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 39 USC 3008 – Prohibition of Pandering Advertisements
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 39 USC 3008 – Prohibition of Pandering Advertisements
3
Justia. Rowan v. Post Office Dept., 397 U.S. 728 (1970)
4
United States Postal Service. PS Form 1500 – Application for Listing and/or Prohibitory Order
5
eCFR. 39 CFR Part 963 – Pandering
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 39 USC 3010 – Mailing of Sexually Oriented Advertisements