How to Stop Catalogs From Coming to Your House 

Most people don’t want them, and yet millions of catalogs continue to be sent to American households every year.

A mailbox crammed with catalogs adds clutter and takes a toll on the environment. If you’re tired of wasting time sorting through this slew of unwanted mail, read on.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• Why am I receiving catalogs?
• How do I cancel catalogs from being sent to my house?
• How can DeleteMe help me stop catalog mailings?

Why am I receiving catalogs? 

The easiest explanation could be that a previous resident of your current address subscribed to the catalogs you are now receiving. But also, you may be registered at a site or or for an online service wherein you agreed to share your personal information.

More than likely, however, it’s because the companies who send you these catalogs purchased your personal information from data brokers.

Data brokers gather the personal information of consumers like you to sell to various companies or organizations, or basically anyone willing to pay.

How do I cancel catalogs from being sent to my house? 

Since the reasons you receive catalogs vary, there’s no one solution to make them all stop. 

But if you want to try and permanently remove your address from catalog mailing lists, take one or all of the actions below. 

1. Opt out of catalog mailing lists via Catalog Choice

Catalog Choice is a great place to start when attempting to reduce the amount of unwanted catalogs. It’s a free service aimed to stop junk mail and conserve natural resources.

With Catalog Choice, you can opt out of any and all catalogs you’re currently receiving. Its significant database lets you remove yourself from multiple mailing lists, all at once.

To create an account simply sign up, verify your email, and select the catalog or catalogs you want to opt out of and click “Opt Out From This Catalog.”

Make sure that you fill out all required information in the form, and don’t forget to click “Confirm.” 

Keep in mind, the opt-out process at Catalog Choice can take up to 8 weeks to go into effect. Be patient if catalogs don’t stop being sent immediately. 

2. Contact the catalog companies directly 

Contacting catalog companies directly is a good way to stop catalogs you’re already receiving. It takes a bit more time, but it is effective.

There are few different ways that you can do this:

• Visit the company website for a direct process for removal from their mailing list
• Call the company customer service directly to formally request an opt out
• Request an opt out via company email
• Request an opt out via traditional company mail

3. Opt out of all catalogs through DMAchoice

If you want to stop your information from ending up on new catalog mailing lists, a good option is to register at DMAchoice. 

DMAchoice is a non-profit service run by the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), allowing you to customize direct mail preferences and opt out of entire direct-mail categories.
Visit the DMAchoice website and fill in your information to register.

Pay a nominal $2 processing fee, then you can change your mail preferences to opt out of any of a number of direct-mail categories.

After you register, you will not be added to a new catalog mailing list for any DMA partner for a further 10 years.

But keep in mind, this service only helps to unsubscribe from new catalogs. For catalogs you are receiving, you have to contact those companies directly to request an opt-out.

4. Opt out from data brokers

As we mentioned above, one of the main reasons your name and address ends up on catalog mailing lists is because of data brokers.

The most effective way to stop catalog mailings for good is by opting out from their databases and preventing your information from being sold by data brokers in the first place.

However, since collecting and selling your data is a billion dollar industry, these data-broker platforms don’t make it easy for you to opt out of their databases.

To successfully remove yourself from all 500+ data-broker sites, you need to opt out of each one individually. Thankfully, we’ve created a free opt-out guide to show you how.

Quite honestly, this is time-consuming work, but it’s effective and can also protect you from telemarketers and spammers, prevent identity theft, and can stop other junk mail as well.

How can DeleteMe help me stop catalog mailings?

Because removing your information from every data-broker site manually can be such a tedious task, and many people just don’t have time for it, we started DeleteMe. 

DeleteMe is a service that does the work for you. We’re experts at removing personal data from the internet. Since 2010, we’ve completed over 29 million data-broker opt outs on behalf of our customers.

As soon as you sign up with us, our team of privacy experts uses sophisticated AI technology to identify and scrub your personal data from all data-broker platforms, as well as other online sources of your personally identifiable information (PII). 

Once your data is removed, companies can no longer buy it. We then monitor and remove any new personal data added to any of these platforms, ensuring your PII stays off the Internet.

Our plans start at just $10.75 per month. Visit us to learn more.

Stop getting catalogs and protect what’s important

Although there are many different reasons your mailbox is filling up with unwanted catalogs, and several steps are needed to cancel them, protecting your personal data is important.

Once you cancel catalogs you’re receiving, register with DMAchoice and sign up for DeleteMe. We guarantee these unwanted catalogs will stop and your information will stay safe.