Thursday, March 27, 2008

Junk Mail


With all the "Save the Environment" campaigns out there I am appalled at the amount of junk mail I still receive. Not to mention offended. I am not fickle or flighty enough to change my ISP, car insurance, credit card, phone service - both cellular and land line, or TV povider at the drop of a hat just because I've gotten a shiny envelope from some other company. As an intelligent individual, I am perfectly capable of choosing these for myself. I am also capable of doing research and switching to a different company should I become dissatisfied with my current one. I eliminated unsolicited telemarketers by registering on both the state and national Do Not Call lists. I'm sure there must be something similar for junk mail. Adding this to my list of things to look up.

With the elections approaching, my junk mail is now supplemented by political propoganda. My feeling, if a mailing doesn't contain something informative about the individual running for office then don't bother wasting trees on it. Along the same lines are political signs. Is there really a need for one in every yard? Why isn't there a law stating that they must not only be collected but also recycled within so many days after the election? It's not as if it would be difficult to figure out where to send the fine on those not retrieved.

Another thought since I'm rambling today. If we can't eliminate junk mail, we should recycle it in alternative ways. Gather up all your unwanted stuff. Remove everything with your name or address on it. Recycle those items in the traditional manner. Pull out all the prepaid return envelopes and stuff them with pages from companies other than the one they're addressed to. Mix and match. Give the poor drones who process the in-coming mail some entertainment. Who knows? If enough of us do this the original companies may become so annoyed at paying the postage to receive all that junk that they'll finally stop sending theirs out in the first place. Another possible benefit -it could serve the purpose of adding volume to the postal service and may slow the rate of increase on the cost of mailing a first-class letter.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I have a 'no jumk mail' sticker on my mail box. Its is 99.9% effective. By law in OZ you cannot place junk mail in a letterbox with that sticker. You will get reported and fined.

Molly Daniels said...

Can I post a 'no bills' sticker? hahaha...probably wouldn't work!

Yeah...I hate the political junk that lands in my box too. And last year, some polititian's office called me 3 TIMES in the same day, even after I told them I had moved too late to register to vote in this county!

barbara huffert said...

I want one of those stickers...and the law to go with it!