Banish junk mail

comments from our community

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  Posted by Erin Thu Mar 5, 2009 3:16pm PST

  I've used MailStopper, and it was great. i saw a big drop in junk mail after about 6 week or so.

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  Posted by Rogers Starks Thu Mar 5, 2009 8:43pm PST

  Yes, yes, banish junk mail! It is intrusive and disputive and who needs it!

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  Posted by tgvanl Sat Mar 7, 2009 8:31am PST

  My biggest complaint concerning junk mail is the super excessive requests from charities after you have been gracious enough to make one donation.

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  Posted by gathrightc Sat Mar 7, 2009 9:10am PST

  yeah right.. I've signed up for these to put and "end" to the junk mail.. to no avail.. I still recieve just as much as I always did.. but now its from different catalogs than before.. and just once I used an online catalog and ordered and now I get their catalogs every two weeks.. despite my requests to stop.. NO service does a hundred percent but I've had no reduction at all.. so good luck..

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  Posted by APL Sat Mar 7, 2009 9:11am PST

  Remove the contents of your volume of junk mail and randomly stuff it in the postage paid business envelopes you received with it. Great for helping the Postal Service gain extra revenue. I send back a few hundred a year this way. Do not remail the credit card application forms-shred them.

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  Posted by dianez Sat Mar 7, 2009 9:11am PST

  very informativebills unplugging smaller tv's.appliances,phone chargers,nightlights,washer -cannot reach dryer plug-- using a power strip on the bigger tv--has cut my bill many people are not aware of this whole concept-- should make this a news announcement--for we are tying to slash bills we will all get through this nightmare thanks

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  Posted by Bill b Sat Mar 7, 2009 9:18am PST

  the post office needs to charge everyone the same rate per item. no more reduced rates for non-profits or bulk mail.

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  Posted by Anna Loving Life Sat Mar 7, 2009 9:27am PST

  I agree with all three of you. I joined Lifelock for the credit aspect. I order one or two catalogs but then the onslaught begins. I have to hire someone to keep my front yard and porch clean on a daily basis from all the unwanted mailers, fliers, etc. Pretty extreme but I don't have time and if it's not dealt with on a daily basis my yard looks like a parade went through it. I totally support a do not send or a refusal with the post office. I have even tried cajoling my postal carrier into skipping my house as far as papers, ads and coupons go, but no luck! It's not only annoying, it ruins the landscape, the trees are certainly suffering and God knows what it is in the inks. Don't get my started on plastic and styrofoam...

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  Posted by Shocked Sat Mar 7, 2009 9:52am PST

  You put up with commercials on TV because they pay for the content so you can watch for free. The junk mail makes it possible for the postman to visit every address in America six days per week and still only have it cost you 44 cents to send a letter anywhere in the country. That's a great deal! Get rid of junk mail, and service will go down and cost will go up.

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  Posted by d0ggie30 Sat Mar 7, 2009 11:25am PST

  You know the US Post OFFICE is in the red right.

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  Posted by whenwillwelearn Sat Mar 7, 2009 11:52am PST

  I have heard this argument about Junk Mail for many years. First of all, it works, it creates hundreds of billions of dollars of business in this country every year. It allows the small business person to target a small area so they can compete with the huge corporations. It is also good for the consumer. If you take a little time to get the discount coupons out of the mail you will save lot's of money each and every year. I agree that is is a nuisance but so is every form of advertising. Would TV, Radio, or the internet exist without advertising. Hell no. Should we fire all retail employees and close all the stores just so we can order things over the internet. The only people employed would be telephone order takers, warehousemen, and delivery truck drivers. There is an old saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It creates business, puts millions of people to work. Just recycle what you can and opt out if you don't want it. Simple.

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  Posted by antoninar Sat Mar 7, 2009 11:53am PST

  I have emailed or called my junk mailers and told them I do not approve of their wasteful practices and that I would no longer patronize their companies if they continued to send me so much stuff. This has worked about 50% of the time with big companies like Sierra Trading Post and AARP. This action has the added benefit of directly educating the junk mailers to my values and furthermore, alerts them to the growing possibility that many others are turned off to their business bcs of their practices. It's good to educate.

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  Posted by Howard Sat Mar 7, 2009 11:57am PST

  I contributed to a couple of causes - save Medicare and Social Security. I now receive 10 OR MORE solicitations a week. Most of them originate out of the Washington, D.C., area but claim to help the Alzheimer's fund in San Bernardino County or some other cause in our City. How much do these solicitors stick in their own pockets?

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  Posted by Norman Sat Mar 7, 2009 12:06pm PST

  Advertising is out of control; but if you ban direct mail, how will companies and charities get their message to the consumer? Billboards are MUCH worse from both an environmental and an aesthetic perspective, TV is wildly expensive and newspapers are dying. And e-mail marketing works only is some circumstances. Direct mail is the best of the lot from an environmental perspective. After all, you should already be recycling paper and can just drop your junk mail into that container. And note that flyers thrown on your porch are NOT mail.

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  Posted by Herring Sat Mar 7, 2009 1:46pm PST

  30% of all the mail delivered in the world is US junk mail. That’s right– we’re receiving nearly a third of the world’s mail, even though we by and large don’t want it. Instinctively, it doesn't make sense. When you analyze more closely, you realize it genuinely makes no sense. Comments above justify it as something that still *works* for the Postal Service-- but that isn't even remotely true. Even before the economy went south the USPS predicted that they’d lose a billion bucks in 2008. As things really did go south they ended up losing $2.8 billion, but that’s less unsettling than the fact that a year ahead of time they had no hope of being within a billion dollars of profitability. And they've built their business model on giving us greater and greater quantities of junk mail. How does this make sense? Deforestation accounts for 20% of all global carbon emissions– more than all trains, planes, and automobiles combined. Let's start reducing the rate of deforestation by cutting back on something we already don't want: sign the petition at donotmail.org

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