3 Apps to Get Rid of Junk Mail

Having a mailbox crammed with weird catalogs, unwanted credit card offers, and other junk mail can be really frustrating, for many reasons.

Receiving large amounts of junk mail wastes your time, and also takes a huge toll on the environment. In fact, ​​over 100 billion pieces of junk mail are delivered in the U.S. every year and it’s estimated that 60% of it ends up in landfills without being recycled.

Aside from being a waste, junk mail also creates security risks by exposing your personal information. Any mail you get, such as a pre-screened credit card offer, for example, can easily lead to an incident of identity theft. 

Unfortunately, there’s no spam filter for your mailbox. But the good news is that there are great junk mail removal apps that can stop this flood of unsolicited mail.

What junk mail is and why you’re receiving it

Basically, all unsolicited mail is considered junk mail, and hundreds of millions of pieces of it are sent to Americans annually. Here are some common examples:

• Pre-approved credit card offers
• Insurance quotes 
• Cable service offers
• Internet service offers
• Flyers for political parties or candidates
• Advertising circulars
• Coupons
• Store catalogs
• Mailers or requests from charities

How does all this junk mail end up in your mailbox? Because of data brokers. 

Data brokers are companies who trawl the web to collect data, bundle it together, and make profit by selling it to marketers, credit card companies, or anyone willing to pay big for it. 

Which leads to your personal information, such as your address, phone number, and even the names of your family members—all available for anyone online to buy, and likely end up in the hands of companies filling your mailbox with unwanted mail.

So how do you make it junk mail stop? Well, luckily, there’s an app for that.

Apps that stop junk mail

Save time and energy, protect the environment, decrease clutter, and save yourself from unnecessary stress having to deal with a flood of unwanted mail by getting any of these junk mail removal apps. These are the best of the bunch:

1. Donotpay

DoNotPay is a mobile app that works like a “robot lawyer.” It uses AI to provide legal service, with a subscription cost of $36 every three months. One of the services the app provides is reporting junk mail. This is how it works:

• Go to the app and search “Do Not Mail.”
• Take a photo of the unwanted mail you received and upload the image to the app.
• Enter the name of the company that sent the junk mail.
• DoNotPay will automatically file a complaint with the company on your behalf so you will stop receiving junk mail from them.

2. Paperkarma

Paperkarma is another great app that can help you deal with junk mail. It automatically unsubscribes you from direct mailings and marketing distribution lists, starting at $3.99 per month. Here’s how to get it:

• Go to the app. 
• Take a picture of your unwanted mail and press “Unsubscribe.”
• In 24 hours you’ll receive a notification that you’ve been unsubscribed.

3. Catalog Choice

Catalog Choice is a service that stops junk mail to save natural resources. It has a huge database of companies to connect to directly and remove you from catalog mailing lists for free. Check it out:

• Create an account.
• Verify your email address.
• Choose the catalog you want to opt out of receiving and click “Opt Out Of This Catalog.”
• Fill out the required information and click “Confirm.”

Taking further action

While these are all great apps to help stop junk mail, we have to warn you, it only treats the symptoms. It won’t solve the root issue, which is your personal information remaining available online to companies that send junk mail in the first place.

As data brokers are largely responsible for collecting and selling your personal information to these companies, the most effective way to stop junk mail in its tracks is to remove yourself entirely from the data broker sites themselves.

You can remove yourself from data broker sites individually, by using our free opt-out guide, or let DeleteMe do the work for you by signing up for our service.
Protect your privacy and prevent your information from ending up on mailing lists, and finally and effectively reduce junk mail, spam email, and spammers in general.