I was reading about how to refuse unsolicited mail through the USPS and found an article that said that instead of ‘Return to Sender’ you have to write ‘Refused’ on any unopened piece of mail you don’t want and then put it with the rest of your outgoing mail. I’m not sure this is really any different than just throwing it in the trash. Does the USPS have to return the ‘refused’ mail back to the sender, or do they just throw it away?
AFAIK, only First Class mail gets returned. Junk mail (3rd class) gets trashed.
If the junk mail has “address correction requested” or “return postage guaranteed” on it, then write “Refused. Return to sender.” on it and put it back in the mailbox.
Else it’s trash/recycling.
Some companies like to get updated info on people who have moved or whatever so they don’t waste money on future mailings.
More info here.
Depending on the size of the company that mailed it, even if it gets back to the company that sent it, it might not do anything. If it’s more trouble to remove the address from their list than to leave it there, they will leave it there. Besides, if they just keep sending it to you, maybe you will change your mind and buy whatever they are selling.
Much of the time, either you can pitch it into the recycling, or you can mark it “Refused” and the USPS can pitch it in the recycling, or the USPS sends it back to the company, and they pitch it in the recycling.
You can play Whack-a-Mole with the ad companies, but there’s a lot of them. Sometimes you got the junk mail because the company bought the mailing list, sometimes because they mailed to everybody in a zip code, or you bought something from a new store.
Regards,
Shodan