Tonic Mailstopper is company that is able to reduce the amount of junk mail that its customers receive, by giving them control over what mailing lists they deem to be useful and what they deem to be junk. Tonic provide its users with the direct mailing lists that their information has been included on and enables them to decided which marketers they would like to receive information from.
Mailstopper not only "gets you off lists, we keep you off — by monitoring key direct mail lists monthly and making it easy to resubmit requests." The process of eliminating junk mail is done by filling out request forms, which are done either by mail or online applications. Tonic provide this to their users in exchange for $20 dollars per year.
Whilst this seems like quite a lot of money to pay to reduce junk mail it has advantages. Firstly by receiving less junk mail there is less impact on the environment. Tonic expand on this, "Junk mail reduction offers a host of positive side effects. Less mail means less paper is produced, and fewer trees are sacrificed.
For you, a smaller recycling pile means a smaller waste footprint for your household. And, less junk mail means you save time and effort, sorting through mail you don't want. By signing up for MailStopper, you support important environmental causes that make a difference in the world, as well as your mailbox with efforts like reforestation, sustainable harvesting and rainforest conservation."
To emphasise the environmental nature of this project, they will plant five trees through their tree planting partners for every $20 fee paid. There is also the more material security advantage of keeping, "unsolicited personalized mail out of your mailbox."
While I would begrudge paying money to free myself of junk mail, I do think it is something that most people would like to do. Being able to decide which marketers are able to contact you is something that I feel would be utilized much better if it was a free service. If this was the case I could see it being something that most people would take the time to do.
In poorer countries there is probably less of a need for such a service, because there is less disposable income which may well result in less direct marketing. However it is something that is common in many countries and the principle of this service is interesting. It asks the question as to whether we would be more responsive to direct mail, if it contained messaging that was more likely to interest us.
Making direct mail more specific is something that would perhaps be of interest to advertisers and with a service like this it gives the user more control over what they would like information on. This is perhaps an idea that needs development but is certainly an interesting one nonetheless.
http://mailstopper.tonic.com/
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