April 17, 2025
Online, spam blocking has come a long way—but your email spam filter won’t help with paper mail. So what can you do about the mail you receive in your letterbox? In the Netherlands, you can opt-out of unsolicited marketing mail.
Why opt-out of marketing mail
- A small reduction in CO₂ emissions related to the production and delivery of mail.
- Less paper and plastic waste.
- Save some time recycling junk mail when it comes in and save yourself the distraction of irrelevant post.
- If you purchased products due to advertising mail that you wouldn’t have bought otherwise, you save both money and reduce the environmental impact associated with those products.
How to opt-out in the Netherlands
A distinction is made between addressed mail and mail without an address. For unaddressed mail, you need to put a so-called “NEE-NEE-sticker” on your letterbox. While you’re at it, you can order another sticker indicating your disinterest in door-to-door sales. Since putting one up, I haven’t had any more meetings disturbed by door-to-door salespeople.
For addressed mail, you can opt-out via the Postfilter organization. Unfortunately, without making an account, you can only opt-out for a period of 2 years. But if you register an account with a username, e-mail, and password, you can opt-out for 6 years.
You can opt-out here: https://postfilter.nl/
What about other countries?
Many other countries have similar systems with either stickers, opt-out, or both. So if you’re not in the Netherlands and want to opt-out, it’s worth looking into if there are similar tools for your country.
Telemarketing
Previously, companies could contact you without permission. You could opt-out of telemarketing calls in the Netherlands with the “Bel Me Niet Register” (Don’t call me registry).
Since 2021, the “Bel Me Niet Register” program has been stopped and replaced with new legislation on telemarketing, favouring an opt-in model. Today, telemarketing without permission or a customer relationship is banned in most cases.
Other countries might still have a similar system to opt-out. So be sure to check if you want to stop unsolicited calls.
Telemarketing and business registration
The previous opt-out model was especially annoying when registering a business with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KVK). As soon as you would register a business, your details would be shared with telemarketing companies and scammers. A common scam was to send newly registered businesses fraudulent invoices for trademark registrations or marketing services.
Back in the day when I first started freelancing, I received a lot of calls and signed up for the “Bel Me Niet Register”. Later I thought it would be a good idea to set up a new number with a redirect to my cell for my business. And as soon as I updated the number at the chamber of commerce, the calls started again. So I had to opt-out for that one too.
Luckily, since September 25, 2024, the KVK no longer shares phone numbers.
Conclusion
It’s great you can opt-out of unsolicited mail. It’s a small step that can save time, materials, reduce CO₂ emissions, and cut down on distractions. That said, it would be even better if the default was an opt-in model. And while I’m not against consumption or advertising, I do think it’s important to be mindful with consumption.
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