The Town of Portola Valley has partnered with the best mail preference service in the nation to stop unwanted mail and protect our dwindling natural resources.

We want to get 500 Portola Valley residents and businesses off junk mail in the next year. Help us reach our goal by spreading the word!

• Like this page with the button above, or email this page to your friends
• Print flyers and post them at work and your favorite local spots
• Write about the program in your organization's newsletter and blogs

How does the Stop Junk Mail service work?
The Town of Portola Valley has partnered with Catalog Choice to bring you the very best service to reduce junk mail at home and at work. Here's how to get started:
1) Sign up for a free account on our Stop Junk Mail service page
2) Wait for your confimation email; Click the link in the email to verify your account.
3) That's it! Now you can search by your zip code or a company name to choose which phone books, catalogs and other mail you do and don't want.
4) To stay off junk mail, check your preferences at least once a year.

We've partnered with Catalog Choice because it's the only mail preference service in the nation that:

• Offers the most comprehensive service available for consumers to get off marketing lists for junk mail, catalogsandphone books.
• Stands up for your rights as a consumer and fights to make sure you have a choice in what mail you receive.
• Holds companies to their word in honoring your opt-out request and files complaints directly with the FTC about those who don't.
• Protects your privacy by masking your email address when you are submitting opt-out requests so your junk mail doesn't become your junk email.
• Tracks which companies you've contacted and whether they responded so you don't have to remember which companies you've already called and when.
• Makes sure every company has an opt-out since there is no rule that says they must.

Junk Mail Stats

• Eight out of ten households read or scan the advertising mail they receive. 1
• Americans will spend 8 months per lifetime opening bulk mail, throwing away much of it unopened. 2
• Americans receive more than 100 billion pieces of unsolicited advertising mail each year, equating to about 900 pieces or 100 pounds of advertising mail for every household. 3
• More than 800,000 phone books are delivered annually, equivalent to five pounds of paper for every man, women and child. 4
• Nearly 70% of adults in the U.S. "rarely or never" use the phone book. 5
• Instead, most of them (60%) use the Internet to find contact information. 6
• Only about 40% of postal mail and 20% of telephone directories are recycled. 7
• Nearly 60% of unwanted mail and about 80% of phone books end up in the landfill, costing hundreds of millions of dollars to collect and dispose. 8
• It’s estimated that municipalities in the United States spend $320 million in local taxes to dispose of unsolicited direct mail each year. 9

Sources
1. According to the United States Post Office
2. Consumer Research Institute
3. USPS Household Survey 2008
4. Environmental Protection Agency
5. Harris Interactive survey
6. Harris Interactive survey
7. EPA
8. New American Dream from EPA statistics
9. Northern California Recycling Association