Should the post office charge more for, or prohibit junk mail ?

Question

Junk mail is one of the most wasteful things to the environment. It uses up trees making wood pulp for something almost no one wants. Even if you recycle, it puts inks and adhesives into the water supply. It creates a lot of extra garbage, and the post office burns a lot of extra fuel delivering junk we hate to get. I get almost 2 KG per week of this mess, and it is a pain to deal with and dispose of safely. Should we just demand an end to it?

Answer 1

That junk mail helps to pay the salaries of those postal workers.  Are you gonna make up the difference in their salaries??

Answer 2

I think everyone reading your question share your pain. Legistration change to eliminate junk mail is not likely to happen as other explain.

What I do is call the companies of those catalogs and tell them to remove my name from their list. You will still receive a few more times but in general it works. I also call the credit card companies to stop mail me those "checks". That's another big contribution to junk mail.

It's a losing battle but each individual can take some efforts and time at least reduce the amount of junk mails.

Answer 3

Aproximately 2 years ago I registered with the Mail Preference list to stop mail shots being sent to me. It took approximately 6 months for this to be replicated around the business world to stop targeted mailshots. This has reduced my postal rubbish to virtually nil.

The main problem I have now is with Leaflet droppers and this includes the Postal Service itself whereupon it uses the Postman as a revenue earner as a leaflet dropper. Thus disregarding my request for nil junk mail.

Where do we go from here ?

Answer 4

You bet they should-  and for all of the excellent reasons you cite ! It's a real a pity it can be done retroactively.

It's not called junk mail for nothing which is just what it's worth  to me- nothing.

I will just continue to toss it in my recycle bin after shreadding anything appropriate.

I have asked my carrier- knowing he can't do it legally- if he could just send it back to the sender-at the sender's expense.

That would stop it.

Answer 5

As much as I hate junk mail, it wouldn't be right to legislate a prohibition on it.   Check out catalog choice in the sources for a reputable site that will stop a lot of your junk mail for free.

Please note, you'll need to do some work to stop the junk mail - it's not automatic.  Once you receive the junk mail, you log in and find the type of junk mail you received and select to opt out.  Catalog choice has a relationship with the junk mailers and they will handle your removal from the list.

Answer 6

Junk mail is the most profitable source of income for the post office.  That, and if mail is banned or outlawed, that would be an infringement on free speech.

There are web sites that you can go to remove your name from marketing list that create junk mail for you, however you cannot stop it as a general rule.

Answer 7

Where there is money to be made though people will always be there.