Despite the digital age, annoying commercials are still common. As a flyer in the pedestrian zone, in the car, or in the mailbox, you are never safe. Now use the best tips for avoiding junk mail and unsubscribing to keep the mailbox free of really important messages.
What is promotional mail?
Advertising mail, flyers, or free magazines often end up in the mailbox unintentionally. Advertising flyers are the ideal means of distributing information very quickly in the local or regional environment. This usually happens as a personal handover in pedestrian zones, by being stuck behind car windscreen wipers, or by dropping it in mailboxes. However, an estimated 1.3 – 1.83 million tons of paper waste for unaddressed advertising material is generated every year. And that although most people do not want this advertising mail and find it annoying.
Tips against advertising in the mailbox
So that you can avoid annoying advertising mail, there are a few tricks to defend yourself against it. As a result, you avoid full mailboxes and unnecessary paper waste and can make your household more sustainable. Accordingly, proceed as follows:
1) Avoid unaddressed junk mail
This type of advertising mail annoys most people because it’s really just paper for the bin. It usually draws attention to the new pizza shop or the new nail salon around the corner. But now you can protect yourself well against this type of advertising mail. To do this, put a note or sticker in your mailbox that says “No advertising”. According to the Federal Court of Justice, companies must comply with this request.
2) Unsubscribe from addressed junk mail
Unfortunately, if the mailing is clearly addressed to your name and address, a simple sticker will not suffice. As a result, you can subscribe to the DVD Robinson list and unsubscribe from annoying advertising mail. But that only applies to advertising from companies that are members of the Association for German Dialogue Marketing Association. Accordingly, you must unsubscribe from advertising from other companies directly and in writing or prohibit delivery.
3) Get rid of free weeklies
Even for the free weekly papers, a sticker saying “No advertising” is not enough. In order to avoid this junk mail, you need to expand the request on the mailbox and clearly write, “No free newspapers, weeklies, or magazines.” Or contact the editors of the weekly newspaper directly and let them know that you would like to unsubscribe from the advertising mail. In addition, note tips on the right of withdrawal and return for internet orders.
4) Sue companies
If you find annoying advertising mail in your mailbox despite the measures taken, you can sue the company in question. But you should keep in mind that it could be a lot of work and expense for you. And that is usually not worthwhile, although you could consider this if you have legal protection insurance.
5) Annoying advertising on the car
The flyer that is perceived as the most annoying is certainly the one on the car. As a private person, you don’t have that many options to defend yourself. The supposedly good idea with the charge of property damage (scratches on the car) fails because of the evidence. One of the few chances to indirectly get a little right is to have the authorities check whether a commercial advertising leaflet has the appropriate approval. This is needed because road traffic is misused (there is now a corresponding judgment from the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court). The penalty for distributing advertising leaflets alone without permission can be as high as 1,000 euros.
