GreenDimes - get rid of postal junk mail

[Guest]

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[Chris Wang]

Have you heard about GreenDimes?

I'm always annoyed when I get unwanted catalogs and junk mail.  I already killed the credit card offers (www.optoutprescreen.com) and now I'm trying to get rid of the rest.  This weekend, I read about GreenDimes in Good Magazine and I just signed up for the service which gets rid of junk mail and plants 10 trees on your behalf.

According to their website:
GreenDimes is the trusted leader in stopping junk mail and unwanted catalogs. In the US alone, over 100 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water will be lost this year to create junk mail. GreenDimes has already stopped 3 million pounds of junk mail and planted 425,000 trees, all in just over a year.

GreenDimes cuts up to 90% of your home's junk mail and plants 5 trees through our non-profit tree-planting partners, all for a one-time fee of $20. Included is our easy-to-use Catalog Screener where you only opt out the catalogs that you want stopped.

Thought I would pass the info along.  Chris

[Diane R]

I've been using http://www.catalogchoice.org/ (which is free) to stop unwanted catalogs (and boy, has it WORKED!), how does this differ from GreenDimes?

--Diane.

[Chris Wang]

I think it is similar.  The only difference seems to be that GreenDimes gets your name removed from direct marketing lists as well as stops catalogs.  Glad to hear that CatalogChoice worked well for you.  I'm hoping that GreenDimes can do the same. 

[rusty2]

I've found catalogchoice.org to be great.  I listed my preferences a couple of months ago and no longer receive any junk. In particular a very pesky operation out of Omaha that sells beef etc!!!!   I wish that I had found the website earlier.

[Henry]

ok, you've convinced me, i'm going to the free one first!   see how that works.

Thanks!

[KivanSteven]

What about phone books?  We recently received ours last month and it was so big, two of them actually, that they almost didnt fit into the cupboard drawer we have always stored them in.  Although I never use a phone book since the internet is far more efficient, I am not saying they are not necessary, but cant the information be placed on disks and recipients can opt for the disc version instead of this waste of a huge 5 inch thick book?  Maybe some communities already have entertained this idea, but nothing here in my backyard as far as I know.  Imagine if half the country, or more, opted out of receiving their phone books in book form--how many millions of trees and energy would that save?  And how much more simple and fast to find a number by using a computer search of the disc instead of flipping through some crazy mixed up yellow pages.  Just a thought.

[cpbailey]

Steve,

You are lucky to get two halves to a phone book!  We have competition here in my town, so I get several companies telling me my neighbors' phone numbers.  I have five unique books, and they DON'T fit on my shelf.  I sometimes wonder which if there is something unique I need the books for, and then I give up and leave 'em all there.

Colette

[Henry]

you should start a drive to have everyone return the 'add' books back to the 'advertisers' not the company, they don't care.

[KivanSteven]

I think a lot of people would rather have a disc--Id actually use the phone book for once.  Even the coupons could all be included on the disc--the only thing you really cant put on the disc perhaps is all the advertisements and magnets that come with them to pay for the phone book--but outside of the little physical additions like magnets--even advertisements could be worked onto or around different pages located on the disc when it was used.

[cpbailey]

Steve,

These aren't the only ad books.  I get Pac Bell and AT&T lists of white pages.  Plus some other permutations of the area.  I didn't have it like this when I lived in the Bay Area.  A huge waste of resources if you ask me...

Colette

[reb-mar]

In some areas you can recycle phone books to be used for house insulation.     

                             Rebecca

[KivanSteven]

Yeah we definitely recycle ours--I just wish we could more effectively eliminate the energy and resources needed to create and recycle tens, if not a few hundred million, of them every year.

[cpbailey]

Recycling is so variable.  I have to drive mixed papers to the dump.  Newspapers can go to the dump or in a Park and Ride lot.  Steel and Aluminum they can pull from the garbage, or I can cash out at a grocery store nearby.  Batteries can go to numerous stores--Walmart is one.  Cel phones at Staples.  EIther of these could go to the dump.  Plastic bags (clear only) can go to local stores or the dump.  I miss the one can for recycling that I had in the Bay Area.  It really takes more planning this way, and I hate the dump.  I should just go when a really bad cold blocks ALL smells. 

Yes, I can recycle phone books.  I just wish I only got one package...

Colette

[Melissa]

Hi,

This is Melissa from GreenDimes.  The cool thing about our service is that will almost all of your junk mail eliminated, you'll have less to recycle.  It's true that a person could do it all for themselves, but it can be a lot of work and a lot of monitoring.  Has anyone seen the car that runs on compressed air....check it out in our blog: http://blog.greendimes.com.

~Melissa

[Henry]

I'm wishing to cut down on all the electrons wasted with all the junk email I receive!