Every day, in every way, we're urged to pay our bills online, by utility companies, credit card companies, etc

Question

Yet six days a week, we receive junk mail which must be disposed of & is not readily recyclable! In addition, almost every newspaper we buy contains "sales" ads. Many of these multipage ads are printed on slick, magazine-like paper, so the paper cannot readily be recycled like newsprint & ends up in landfills! Who else finds it difficult to take the conservation of paper & wood seriously when we are innundated with these slick, glossy, multipage "sales" ads at least *every* week (I only subscribe to weekend newspaper editions)? In addition, every magazine received contains *multiple* subscription cards & other cards to send for something! Weekly, most households where I live receive "The Bag", which contains mostly classified ads, grocery & other ads. Forty years ago, all of the many discount & major dept, auto parts, lumber, appliance, electric supply firms, hardware & plumbing suppliers, etc., put out ads only when they were having *real* sales! Aren't weekly grocery ads enough?

Answer 1

You said it, brother..........I ask the same question and come up with no decent answer.  We seem to be a 'throw away nation' more and more all the time.  It gets very tiresome.

Answer 2

I was thinking that just this week.  When everything I do is paperless, why is my mailbox still full of junk that I have to throw away?!  I decided that in the winter, I am going to keep all of the paper for a fire starter.  I've also heard that it is a good idea to send the prepaid postage offers back to the credit card company at THEIR expense with a big NO! on the application.  If everyone did that, they would learn to stop wasting so much money.

Answer 3

I agree with the junk mail assessment I don't like it at all.  However I would like to correct the idea that the harvesting trees is bad for the environment.  It is bad not to harvest them and  maintain a healthy strong and growing forest.  I can show you timber stands that I cut off ten years ago and you would not even know it was harvested and it is healthy and strong and in a few years be ready to be harvested again.  The lack of forestry is causing forest fires, old growth timber that prevent young growth and yet we have this idea its a terrible thing to cut down a tree.

Answer 4

There are millions of people producing tons of junk every day. Not just paper, but plastic widgets and new-fangled bottle openers and cuddly dogs. It's encouraged by governments because they're scared to death that "economic growth" will slow down if we stop producing the junk. The fact is that we're destroying the planet in the name of "consumerism" but nobody seems to be able to stop it.

Answer 5

your so right!

I tell U most of the sales ad's I get, I put in a bag a carry off, they go unread!  If they wouldn't waste the money to tell us what they've got, the clothes would be  more affordable to begin  w/.

I live in an area were they don't pick up my recycles I have to be conscious to dispose of it properly.

Answer 6

As usual sir, you're way ahead of the game!  Fabulous point! I agree!

Answer 7

We use a "no junk mail" sticker on our letter box, therefor we don't get advertising mail. We read the news via the internet, so we don't buy newspapers. The only thing we get on a weekly basis is the local news via paper format in the mail box, which we recycle when we've finished reading it. (Either in the recycle bin or to line the floor of the cat's eating area.)

Answer 8

Everyday when to mail comes to my house, I make two stops.  The first is at the mailbox near the street.  The second is at the trash container in the kitchen.  I read what's left over - if anything.  I do not subscribe to my local paper because it's a left leaning dog of an attempt to mislead.  Circulars, etc. that find their way to my door are disposed of without so much as a glance, as are the approximately eight telephone directories I receive each year.  Do I recycle?  No, I'm not responsible for what these people print and refuse to make it my problem.

Answer 9

This question really strikes a nerve.............

I had a very lucractive (profitable) career as a retail manager.  Many things went againt my grain.  I was always at odds with myself and my conscience.  In retail, we promote many tactics and "marketing techinques" that cause us to question ourselves.  It is a SAD business for a Christian.

Personally, I do not buy into the "marketing of Christmas", but as someone who understands the meaning of Easter, it caused a great deal of torment for me.

One particular Easter, as we were setting the endcaps, displays and "promotions" of the Season......................an old gentleman picked up an ugly, cheap, "affordable" easter basket, as he held it to me for my personal inspection (and soul searching retrospection) he calmy asked, "do you believe in this"?............

My only true response was, "no Sir, I do not allow my own children to celebrate Easter in this way'..........he quietly went about his way, without expressing an opinon..........

But I, the retail manager could not escape this...........HOW could I promote to others something that I myself did not take part in, allow my own children to particpate in, did not subscribe to, just to make a profit?

It did take me from Easter to mother's day to make my break, but the simplicity of that old gent, showed me what I was selling and giving up in order to "show a profit' to my corporation.

The break is NOT easy, for a single parent, it may seem unthinkable.  I will not judge the individual who works in retail, wholesale or distribution for the sake of providing for family............this is what American means........providing for family!

People are behind what we see in advertising, promotions, store management, sales, service............

That question of one old man made me realize that I had sold out, without him, I might be a district or regional manager by now..  Without my family, I might still be "selling out".

There is a 'person" behind the sales call, the ad, the promotion, the sales goal.  We all belong to the family of humanity.

Your personal concern of recyliabilty, of overworked landfills, are indeed admirable..............but a PERSON lays somewhere behind and connected to that piece of junk mail.

I think our message as a consumer should be, "when I want tomatoes, I will buy tomatoes, if I need sheets, I will buy sheets, when my washing machine breaks, I will seek to replace it:.........STOP the promotions, and the ads, I will buy what I want and need when I want and need it.  Your "sale" does not influence me............there is NO value in buying an unneeded or unwanted item!

Advertisers, sales managers stand to make money........CO

NSUMERS control the purse strings...........change will not come until the consumer speaks up and out!

Manufactuers, wholesalers and retailers will continue to put their money where the mouth is................CONSUMERS are the mouth!