Last week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling on the State of California to create a Do Not Mail registry, which would allow citizens the choice to stop receiving unsolicited mail. This non-binding resolution is the first US policy on the Do Not Mail issue. ForestEthics Executive Director Todd Paglia stated, “San Francisco is the first city in the United States to take political action against junk mail, marking the beginning of a long awaited government intervention to protect citizens from relentless and predatory junk mailers.”

Wow. If you are not already involved, your company should be working to protect your right to mail! There are many ways to get involved – through the ACMA, the DMA, or with PostCom.

The ACMA has a Postal Forum coming up on May 20-21 in Washington, DC. You’ll find the preliminary agenda for this Forum at www.catalogmailers.org.

The DMA is also meeting in Washington DC with postal officials on 4/16. Please contact Neil O’Keefe is you would like to attend: nokeefe@the-dma.org. See what the DMA is doing to push back on Do Not Mail legislation at www.the-dma.org/donotmail/. And check out the latest on PostCom at www.postcom.org.

You can also help tame the fire by making sure you are not mailing catalogs to those who do not want them, though services like CatalogChoice, www.catalogchoice.org. or the DMA’s DMAChoice, www.dmachoice.org.