Junk Mail

[AugieTN]

I hate all the Junk Mail I get every day. Today I looked at a piece of Junk Mail today and their postage was 23 cents.

As a citizen, we pay 73 cents to mail a letter

That is really messed up

 

[Unforgiven]

I've been saying for years the USPS could solve their budget problem by charging bulk mail the same rate as normal. If it is worth it for the company to send, they will pay. If it isn't, which I'd argue most isn't, it won't be clogging up the mail system.

 

[Rob]

I despise junk mail so, so much.

I think that we inadvertently sign up for junk mail when we sign the all sorts of different TOS, giving them permission to not only spam us but sell our information to 3rd parties.

There should really be a "DO NOT MAIL" list the same way there is a "DO NOT CALL" list and you should be able to opt-out of the vast majority of crap that hits your mailbox.

Unbelievable how much junk I get. Reminds me of this Mitch Hedberg joke:

 

[AugieTN]

In France you just have to note it on your mail box and you won't get junk mail

 

[AugieTN]

I've been saying for years the USPS could solve their budget problem by charging bulk mail the same rate as normal. If it is worth it for the company to send, they will pay. If it isn't, which I'd argue most isn't, it won't be clogging up the mail system.

That's a great idea!

 

[treb1797]

On a monthly basis we get a huge packet from some wildlife saving group. So you want me to save a whale or 2, but in the meantime you kill 10 trees in the process.

 

[Steven58]

Think about the waste. The trees. The money. To the spam mailers it must pay, though. With spam postage you can't setup a spam rule like with email. Wouldn't it be great if you could?

 

[rootabaga]

My wife and I have taken a few cruises with Viking. Initially we got mailings pretty much on a monthly basis, and then we asked them to stop since we also get their marketing emails. To their credit, they did so.
Ironically, starting about 6 months ago we started seeing Viking mail again, albeit addressed to the former owners (10+ years ago).

 

[Hadron]

I despise junk mail so, so much.

I think that we inadvertently sign up for junk mail when we sign the all sorts of different TOS, giving them permission to not only spam us but sell our information to 3rd parties.

There should really be a "DO NOT MAIL" list the same way there is a "DO NOT CALL" list and you should be able to opt-out of the vast majority of crap that hits your mailbox.

In the UK there is one, and has been for decades, at least for direct mail addressed to the individual. For a long time there wasn't an opt-out for stuff with an address but no name, or rather there was but they'd say they couldn't discriminate between commercial junk and information from the council (which struck me as a deliberate choice they made to stop people opting out). There is now, but honestly the volume of junk post here is a small fraction of what it used to be, presumably because it's far more expensive than other forms of spam.

Back at the peak of UK junk mailing one of my brothers had a policy: whenever he signed-up for something he'd introduce a subtle error into his address, nothing that would stop mail being delivered but identifiable, and keep a record of which company got which error (he'd invent new ones for each company). Then when a couple of months later he started getting junk with that typo in the address he'd call the company back and ask why they hadn't respected the "do not use this address for marketing or pass on to other parties" box he'd ticked on the form: this always resulted in denials and "why do you think it was us?", which got rather awkward when he told them how he knew it was them...

(I took a simpler approach: I made a note of which companies sent me unsolicited post and ensured that I never did business with them).

 

[Unforgiven]

You can fight back whenever you get the postage paid return envelopes with the junk mail. Just stuff as much junk mail in there (without your identifiable information) and drop it in the mail. Let them dispose of it.

 

[Milo Williamson]

Very rarely I will ever get an envelope to somewhere or even show apperication,
I do not get any mail out here, just some political b.s. with the farm grounds too.
Jeep Cheroke, would you all please stop giving me junk mail to sell my farm?!

 

[treb1797]

AAA is another one that kills an entire forrest with what they send out. We get one every month which is so stupid as I am already a member and have been for years.

 

[olbriar]

They are chatty. I have United Health Care advantage plan. They are the worst at filling my box with trash.

 

[Steven58]

They are chatty. I have United Health Care advantage plan. They are the worst at filling my box with trash.

I don't see myself getting anywhere near an Advantage plan, BUT in some states where they have minimal copays and minimal annual maximum out of pocket expenses, I would consider it. My state is like most states. Lots of out of pocket. SoCal, Florida and Oregon are three states that I know of that have good Advantage plans.