After realizing most of his mail was junk mail, Ferndale resident Tim Pfannes knew there had to be a way to take himself off mailing lists.

Soon after, Pfannes and his two brothers, Shane Pfannes and MSU alumnus Sander DeVries, began their company, 41Pounds.org. "It's like the stuff they do with the 'Do Not Call List,'" he said.

"I thought it was one of the best ideas in the world — there's got to be something like this. To really eliminate 80-90 percent of the junk mail, you have to contact about 15 to 20 companies, and I thought this would be a great service to people."

For $41, a subscriber can sign up, and the company will get the subscriber's address off mailing lists, DeVries said.

"(Some companies) won't let us contact them on someone's behalf and ask for a hand-signed letter," Pfannes said. "For those hard-core companies that are difficult to get off their mailing list, we fill out postcards and put (the subscriber's) name on there and pre-stamp it and send it to the subscriber for them to sign and send off to those companies."

Half of the earnings 41pounds.org makes go toward fundraisers or to charities, Pfannes said.

"We're trying to sell it as a fundraiser for kids — we're hoping to get kids more environmentally conscious at an early age, and then they can raise money for their school or sports teams instead of selling coupon books or wrapping paper that people really don't want," he said.

For subscribers who sign up on their Web site, half of the proceeds go to a leukemia and lymphoma charity or to Forest Ethics, a company that aims to protect endangered forests. The Web site went live last month and so far there are about 25 subscribers, but Pfannes said he hopes to get between 400-500 subscribers by next year.

"Junk mail is a disaster," Pfannes said. "It's interesting the post office doesn't want you to unsubscribe because they make the majority of their yearly revenue from junk mailers."

Advertising mail surpassed the amount of First-Class Mail two years ago in sheer volume, said Gerry McKiernan, a spokesperson for the United States Postal Service.

McKiernan also said he doesn't understand why people wouldn't want to receive advertising through direct mail.

"There are just too many good opportunities and bargains," he said.