Frequently Asked Questions



What is the difference between iammoving.com/stopjunkmail and the Mail Preference Service (MPS) run by the Direct Marketing Association ?
What is the difference between junk mail and direct mail?
How do they get my personal data ?
Is it true the Local Council can sell my Electoral Role data ? 
Is it true the Royal Mail via the Redirections service provides home-mover data into the direct marketing industry ?
What are my legal rights under the Data Protection Act 1998 - did you know that you can say ‘no’ to junk mail ?
What is the environmental impact of junk mail ?
Why stop junk mail

What is the difference between iammoving.com/stopjunkmail and the Mail Preference Service (MPS) run by the Direct Marketing Association ?

A lot !  The stopjunkmail service has the following features which make it both comprehensive:

• You are placing  a legally binding obligation on the company receiving your stopjunkmail notification to desist from sending you marketing materials. The MPS service is voluntary.
• Your stopjunkmail notification is indefinite whereas with MPS any company taking MPS data only has to act on it for 2 years.
• You are in control by selecting which companies from whom you do want direct mail and companies from who you do not want direct mail ie you regard as junk mail. The service is 100% transparent:  you know which organisations have been notified and can let us know of other organisations you wish to notify. With MPS you have no idea which companies participate in the service – you are not in control.
• Your  stopjunkmail notification supercedes any existing direct marketing permission which a company may hold on you. With MPS if a DMA member has a pre-existing direct marketing permission from you then they can carry on mailing you …………hardly what you intended !
• You can  initiate legal under the Data Protection Act  if your stopjunkmail notification is not acted on within a reasonable time period. Every 3 months you will receive an email asking you for information on companies who are still sending you junk mail. On behalf of ALL of our users we will remind the non-compliant organisations of their legal obligations and also advise the Information Commissioners Office ( ICO); the regulatory body which looks after your rights under the Data Protection Act. If there is  further non-compliance we will work with our users to take legal action. With most reputable companies this is unlikely to happen – they will be happy to act on your stopjunkmail notifications because it will save them money and make their marketing more efficient.
• we are independent of the direct marketing industry which means we only have your interests at heart.

 What is the difference between junk mail and direct mail ?

It is in the eye of the beholder ! To the company sending the unsolicited mail it is direct mail since they judge that they have important information that you as a potential consumer may benefit from. These mailings often only require a 1-2% success rate to be economical to the sender so the 98% waste rate is not their concern. To the 98% of people who are not interested in this direct mail it is junk mail. The stopjunk service gives power to the people to out of this wasteful marketing practise and of course make the activity more efficient for the marketing companies as well. A win-win.

How do they get my personal data ?

When buying any product or service, online  or offline,  you are frequently asked whether you would like to receive further information from this company or relevant third parties and may  opt-in knowingly or unknowingly. This is the beginning of the chain of events by which your data is often sold from one party to another and consolidated into data lists for specific purposes. Different rules apply to paper direct mail and email. More information on your rights with regard to personal data can be found at http://www.ico.gov.uk/  the website of the Information Commissioners Office.

Is it true the Local Council can sell my Electoral Role data ?

Yes ! Your local council has the right to sell your electoral roll data to marketing organisations unless you make it clear you wish to opt-out out. If you are unclear what the status of your data is with your local council and you wish to ensure you are ‘opted-out’  click here ….

Is it true the Royal Mail via the Redirections service provides home-mover data into the direct marketing industry ?

Yes which is partly why we have linked our stopjunkmail service to the home-moving event. Unfortunately Royal Mail persist with an opt-out approach to Redirections ie if you do not specifically tick the box to opt-out of your data being used then it will be. If you have used Redirections think you may have failed to opt-out then you can opt-out click here …

What are my legal rights under the Data Protection Act 1998 - did you know that you can say ‘no’ to  junk mail ?

Data Protection Act 1998 - Section 11 Right to prevent processing for purposes of direct marketing
(1) An individual is entitled at any time by notice in writing to a data controller to require the data controller at the end of such period as is reasonable in the circumstances to cease, or not to begin, processing for the purposes of direct marketing personal data in respect of which he is the data subject.
(2) If the court is satisfied, on the application of any person who has given a notice under subsection (1), that the data controller has failed to comply with the notice, the court may order him to take such steps for complying with the notice as the court thinks fit.
(3) In this section “direct marketing” means the communication (by whatever means) of any advertising or marketing material which is directed to particular individuals.
And now there is a service – www.iammoving.com/stopjunkmail which enables you to exercise your legal right to tell any organisation in the UK that you do not wish to receive their direct mail because you regard it as junk mail.  More information on your rights with regard to personal data can be found at http://www.ico.gov.uk/  the website of the Information Commissioners Office.

What is the environmental impact of junk mail ?

Junk mail in the UK is estimated to cause the felling of over 100 million trees each year, use some 28 billion gallons of water to produce  and involves transporting over 500,000 tonnes of paper and use large amounts of energy in the manufacturing of the paper, whether recycled or not, and in the total transportation process.  Yet since 95% of households dislike it.