Do you think the issuers of junk mail advertisements have a right to force you to receive their junk mail? (Junk mailers have contracts with the US postal system which mandates that their ads be delivered and the recipient cannot refuse to receive it.)

Comments

• Spam, eggs, bacon, and spam.

  • Report
  

  by Stableboy on January 11th, 2008

• Hey, thanks for that tip! I'm going to use it! :-D +++

  • Report
  

  by u.. on January 11th, 2008

• Tell your friends, too, u. Something like 70 million tons of junk mail end up in landfills every year. I read that that's like cutting down all the trees in Rocky Mountain National Forest EVERY 3 months!

  • Report
  

  by gone on January 11th, 2008

• I will. Wow! That's a lot of trees. Where I live we have to pay an extra $80 a year for a "blue" recycling can - no sorting necessary -- just dump all your paper, cardboard, aluminum, glass & plastic in it and roll it curb-side on pick-up day. Really couldn't be any easier or more convenient. My "trash" can goes to the curb with very little in it as almost everything can be recycled. My blue can is always full. Great program, right? But guess what? I'm the only one in my neighborhood who has one because it costs $6.67 a month and my neighbors think that's terrible. I keep telling them -- $6.67 a month to quit trashing our part of the planet yet you think nothing of paying $99 a month to watch cable TV. Hello!

  • Report
  

  by u.. on January 11th, 2008

• The current apathy of so many people is staggering! Kudos to you for your awareness and attempts. Our little town doesn't even have a recycling program. One of my goals for this year is to try to make that happen, but in a town this size it's probably not profitable for the waste companies to take on.

  • Report
  

  by gone on January 11th, 2008

• Ok, I signed up for the catalog killer site. But somebody needs to come up with something more like the do-not-call list, i.e. "don't send me ANY junk mail unless I expressly request it". The current story from the postal service is "junk mail supports the system, holding down postage rates for everyone else". I say pooey to that -- let me pay 70 cents for a stamp, just get that crap to stop coming!

  • Report
  

  by Stableboy on January 11th, 2008

• Amen, Sb! Good for you for signing up! I'm tempted to post a question with the website in it (hmmm?) If even 1/2 of AB signed on, surely that would make an impact?

  • Report
  

  by gone on January 11th, 2008

• Well, don't be too sure. There have been some unintentional, self-made millionaires made in the recycling business. One of the big "reasons" that my neighbors won't recycle is because they don't want to "give" away their "valuable recyclables" to anyone else -- they claim the trash company makes a mint on what I "give" them in my blue can. I don't mind because I'm not dealing with heaps of trash around my garage and yard and I don't have the messy job of loading it all up and driving it somewhere. Never mind that I see their trash cans full to overflowing with all their "valuable recyclables" because if they don't get the money for it, why should anyone else? There's an attitude that's good for the planet. Not. I keep telling them that if everyone signed up for a blue can that the program would turn a profit for the collection company and we wouldn't be charged $80 a year. The costs would be offset by the profits. Aaannnddd, it would be a huge plus for our planet.

  • Report
  

  by u.. on January 11th, 2008

• I'm with you Stableboy!! I would willingly pay more for my stamps if it got rid of junk mail. I dunno ComplexlyKate, maybe that would be a good question to ask. I didn't know about this website until you told me and I thank you for sharing your most worthy knowledge.

  • Report
  

  by u.. on January 11th, 2008

• You're welcome, u! It's a pleasure to 'meet' you! And thanks for your knowledge about recycling. A real boost to get me in motion!

  • Report
  

  by gone on January 11th, 2008

• Thank you ComplexlyKate. And it has been my pleasure to meet you! Good luck with the recycling. Green is good!! :)

  • Report
  

  by u.. on January 11th, 2008

Comments

• Yep. It's so hard here to get off junk mail lists. I think it's criminal that these kinds of businesses can force themselves onto anyone they wish. I think people should have the individual right to determine if they wish to receive junk mail.

  • Report
  

  by u.. on January 11th, 2008

Comments

• If it wouldn't just end up trashing my neighborhood, I would leave the junk mail sitting on top of our neighborhood mailbox. I wish we could get our trash company leave a recycling bin at the mailboxes that we could just toss our junk mail into. They won't do it. Sad, huh?

  • Report
  

  by u.. on January 11th, 2008

Comments

• Oh, I've researched this thing. It's unbelievable. There are actually inspectors sent out by the junk mailing companies (the biggest ones anyway) who do random checks to see if all their junk is delivered as per their contract with the postal system. Any carrier who doesn't stick that junk in every mailbox gets written up and it can be grounds for getting fired.
  
  I've tried doing what you said you did, and it didn't seem to phase the advertisers. The junk just keeps coming regardless of how I feel about it.

  • Report
  

  by u.. on January 11th, 2008

• Yes..My actions did not stop the deluge! lol Wouldn't it be nice if like email, the junk went in one box with a garbage can under it and the important mail would be left in the box. Imma just dreamin!

  • Report
  

  by macdjug-Paxvobiscum on January 11th, 2008

• Do you ever think what a pleasure it would be to only have your essential & important mail show up in your box and not have to fiddle with all the junk mailers just to make sure you throw out something that is actually important to you? If I were a tree I would feel so bummed out to be murdered for the sake of becoming a bunch of pizza fliers and grocery store coupons. What an ignoble end! Hmmm, I wonder if the Civil Liberties Union would take up their cause. . . . the trees I mean. ;)

  • Report
  

  by u.. on January 11th, 2008

Comments