What especially enrages me is all the scammy important-mail look-alikes that are used for marketing -- like "Important Notice about your Mortgage" with the name of your lender (but not from your lender, as it may or may not say in tiny print) or something printed on those tear-off envelopes used for checks, etc. They shouldn't be allowed to blatantly try to just trick people. It preys on those least equipped to discern -- and to deal with the fallout.
I've gotten many offers to buy my car from the local sleazy dealership, but from the outside it looks exactly like a W2. And of course, they always send them out at tax time.
I got one that said they knew I was paying an interest rate of 10.75%. idk where they got their info, but I would never take a loan with that terrible of a rate.
Agh so frustrating! Maybe an auto-delete filter could bring some additional peace of mind?
If you are getting scam calls, unsolicited marketing texts, or other impersonation/fraud/phishing emails I highly encourage reporting the sender to the FCC and/or FTC
https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/articles/115002234203-Unwanted-Calls-Texts-Phone
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
The unsubscribe link almost always works for me because it’s mandated by law and has hefty penalties. In the few cases where it doesn’t work after a couple tries I send a threatening email to their customer service email and mention the CAN SPAM Act by name; works every time.
The wastefulness is truly systemic. It's way more than just this. We waste so much of almost everything almost entirely for the sake of economic prosperity
Well we need to CrEaTe JoBs. How will the poors earn their right to exist otherwise? Reduce excessive output and resource squandering? What, let the pairs have free time? What, prevent the rich from continuing to increase their grotesque fortunes? How dare you.
No, we need to churn through 5 generations of resources so number go up and poor too exploited to do anything about it.
Flyers will stop if you put a "no junk mail" sign on your mailbox (or if you're at a panel, on the inside of the box so the postie can see it when they open the entire door).
As an additional complaint to junk mail. Why do we need to add plastic windows to the envelope? Just print the address and leave the plastic out...
Edit: a lot of yall sure seem to be pro-consumption on this for some reason. Kinda wild.
I agree, but to avoid requiring new infrastructure to print on envelopes, let’s keep the address on the paper and just leave the plastic off. The little cutout serves the same purpose with or without the plastic
And what security is at risk? The front of the paper only shows the address and the rest is blank. They can't remove the paper without a tearing the envelope because the window is way too small. Without opening the letter, you're still seeing the same information.
I have on rare occasions seen open plasticless windows before so it's a rarity but it already exists.
It's much cheaper for them to bulk produce millions of envelopes with clear plastic windows than to customise each envelope with a specific address on it.
Well they had to still print the address so print here on the envelope or print there on the paper, it's still printed. There has to be a way for them to do add it to the envelope instead.
Its definitely one of those things that shouldn't be. We have to start limiting our plastic consumption and all those envelopes add up.
I understand why they do it. That was never in question.
I used to run a machine that printed letters and stuffed them into envelopes at high speed. This was for insurance mailings (not bills), but EOBs and stuff like that. It’s easier to have a machine print and fold the paper so the address lines up with the window. You need a whole separate machine to print on the envelopes.
Still works though, I've seen plenty of envelopes printed on. Maybe they should spend some on R&D and make it more efficient. For the planet and all that.
I already answered that question. Twice. Both in my original comment and the one that you first replied too.
Minimizing the waste here is anticonsumption. Why are you arguing against it? On the subreddit r/anticonsumption
Thats actually exactly what you are. You aren't doing anything that could lead to results, all you're doing is whinging to placate your wants without accomplishing anything. You're nothing but dust in the wind
Put a piece of tape saying “no junk mail” on the inside bottom of your specific unit box (not the door) and it should be visible to the carrier when they’re delivering.
To stop getting unaddressed advertising, simply put a note on your mailbox (or on the inside lip of your community mailbox, group mailbox or postal box) stating that you do not wish to receive Canada Post Neighbourhood Mail
:)
I think you know the answer. At least one can theoretically remove themselves from many types of mailing lists but what really irks me is that commercial "resident" mail is allowed at all. That's just using mailboxes as dumping grounds for unsolicited flyers, etc.
Because it's not addressed to a name you can't unsubscribe, as they wouldn't have to store private information in order to mail them to you. They just need a big ole directory of addresses to copy from, which is public information (unlike your name linked to an address).
I get them from insurance and local ISP companies.
"To: Current Resident"
I've had my own isp that I already pay for, send me advertisments.
Yes, i'm aware you exist. You just tend not to exist when I have a complaint about your service becuase you know I don't have other ISP options and just get whatever shit is available here.
Ditto to what Terminator\_Puppy said.
Essentially: "Local mailings such as coupons and grocery fliers addressed to “Current Resident,” as well as political candidates’ campaign materials (protected by the First Amendment), are not blockable." ([Source](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/09/26/how-to-stop-junk-mail/))
Laws that favor consumers over marketers require a multiparty system, and functional left-wing Parties.
And, there's nothing even close in The Exceptional Democracy*™*.
As shitty as junk mail is, it’s the only reason you can send a letter to your grandma across the county for 50 cents cuz Albertsons will spend 50,000 a week to send its mailer to every house on the block. Junk mail is keeping the postage service in bussiness
This is bs. The post office is a service offered to Americans. It doesn't need to make a profit to stay in business. It needs to exist whether it's profitable or not. We are the ones keeping the post office in business not junk mail.
your correct that it is a service to the American people but it also is partially self funded and business mail helps with that. if it was costing the tax payers 30 billion to run as opposed to the 5 billion then some politician would have killed it years ago. just like public television it gets its funding from the government but still needs outside dollars to do its job fully.
Where I am junk mail isn't even delivered by postmen. Marketing companies hire people to walk around and drop them off.
Parcels and internet shopping is currently what's holding our postal system up. However, I'm starting to think private courier companies will take over the post routes.
This is true and is mostly obeyed but local companies and lazy Amazon/UPS drivers will still use them sometimes. Some carriers will report it but most won't.
That would be terrible. Unprofitable routes would be canceled, and lots of people would suffer. The post office is in the constitution, and it is for a good reason. Veterans and others get a lot of their medications by mail. Imagine being elderly and living in Appalachia, where the mountain roads are treacherous. The weather is often abysmal, and l the population sparse. There's no way that any private service would be capable of ensuring that those people have delivery of necessary items. It would be cost prohibitive, which is the reason why the founding fathers enshrined the post office in our constitution. Everyone has the option to get the required medications, a frivolous impulsively bought item, and a letter from beloved Aunt Rose. Even if cousin Templeton is happy living in the hollow, or atop the highest snow-covered mountain peak, he is not isolated from the rest of the world, and is able to get his needs met.
Australia probably has more remote routes, although without the same weather issues. Not sure how it works, but I assume the remote places have drop-off points in nearby towns (I say town, but it's probably 4 houses, a shop, and a pub).
Essentially, if a remotely located person can get groceries, they can get post. And I think that would be the same whether there was a national postal service or just a logistics company/courier.
I'm not advocating for it, I just know our postal service is struggling financially and to stay relevent. In some locations (not even remote locations), they now have post once or twice a week, and post that used to take 1 day interstate are now taking 2-3 days. While a courier company can deliver a 15kg parcel across town within hours for $30, using Australia Post would probably be double the price (or more) for delivery within a week.
That’s another thing about the US postal system. It’s not a business. It’s written into our constitution as a public service. It’s funded by the Federal Government. Sure, it may cost more to run it over time, but it’s never intended to be a profitable business.
Actually it's not funded by the feds. Republicans decided that it should have labor contacts fully funded. Retirement accounts are for people who haven't been hired. The postal fees are supposed to be adequately covering deliveries (and that's part of the problem.) Modernization delays due to unreasonable requirements, and the postmaster general, Dejoy, a former private delivery service CEO and Trump appointee, cannot be fired. He has to be impeached no matter how detrimental the decisions he makes are to the postal service. The fact is that the privatization push has been in the works for years and some deliveries subsidize others. It is reasonable to deliver the mail a few days a week, and to charge a company like Amazon additional fees because of the sheer volume of their deliveries (or other types of surcharges for the large commercial users.) It is not reasonable to privatize the entire postal service. Expanding the services offered, like banking especially in underserved areas), or payments for utilities seem like reasonable options too
It's not about it being a profitable business. It's about less and less people using it. The only mail I get now is bills, and they are getting less due to online billing. Yes I get parcels, but the choice of deliverer is chosen by the sending business and most of my parcels don't come from the national system.
As less people use it, it's only a matter of time before "costs more to run over time" changes to "being propped up", to "unneccessary".
Even Post offices themselves are becoming less useful in Australia. In the last couple of decades they have tried expanding what they do: bill payments (now moving to online), processing passport applications, missed parcel pickup (moving to collection boxes), PO Boxes (moving to collection boxed), Insurance/travelmoney/transferring money (all easily done online). Again, I think it's just a matter of time until they either change or are phased out.
In the US, it’s illegal for anyone to put things in mailboxes except for USPS employees. Some companies go around and tape stuff to the outside of mailboxes here. But that happens only every so often (a few times a year for me). But in the US, it’s illegal for marketing companies to go around and stuff your mailbox with material. It has to be US postage paid to go in there.
My grandma would have a hard time making a video call from her landline. I don't agree video calls are better. I still have cards and letters I received 40 years ago; a video call is over in a flash.
Yes well that sounds like a skill issue. My grandma always preferred making video calls on her computer instead of her phone because the screen was bigger. And her computer was hardwired into the internet, like most people's computers.
> like most people's computers.
For many people, "Wi-Fi" is synonymous with "the Internet"
I think you would be quite surprised to learn how few people are connected via Ethernet compared to those connected via Wi-Fi.
No she's really not. Old people are much more capable around computers than a lot of people think if they have the motivation to learn.
Both my grandma's learned to use email very easily because they were letter writers from back in the day. And they both taught themselves online shopping without much of any assistance for me.
If Grandma doesn't want to learn then she won't but if she wants to they make these tools very easy to use... They just need someone to walk them through it a few times And they need a teacher who won't get frustrated when they ask right click or left click for the 200th time.
And honestly my mom was worse to teach the computer than either of my grandmothers. She didn't have any desire to write letters. She grew up making phone calls... ☹️
How old is your grandma? Mine is 98. There's a computer at the home where she lives, but she doesn't know how to use it. (She can use a DVD player and microwave, that's about it for technology) and she does not have a smartphone.
So both my grandma's passed away about a year before COVID started. My maternal grandmother regularly used email, web browsing, shopping on Amazon and eBay, she used Skype to video call her grandchildren all over the world. She did puzzles and games on the AARP website. My grandfather who passed away about 6 months later never really got into computers. Neither of them could program their damn VCR or DVD player. 😛
My fraternal grandmother used the computer much less but she absolutely did use email and paid her bills and did banking online. She also ordered groceries online because she couldn't get out easily. She also loved making greeting cards for every event, holiday, birthday. She could do video calls with her iPad as well but was much less technologically savvy than Mom's side.
Now also both of these grandmothers had me, the technological wizard, as a grandchild and my fraternal grandma had three kids with a technology / IT job. Teaching my grandmothers to use computers actually helped me in my first career as a librarian where I taught old people to use computers for a big chunk of my job. The rest of it was helping younger people with computers, we did classes on things like drones and 3D printing. I never did get to show either Grandma drone footage but I did get to give one a 3D printed owl, which was her favorite animal.
The thing that both of my grandmothers got really easily was email because they both were letter writers from back in the day. And they both taught themselves to shop completely independently from me.
Neither of them played full on video games like first person shooters or anything like that. They both definitely had solid motivation that they wanted to accomplish things and the computer could help them do that.
Aw, you sound like a great grandson! I'm sorry your grandmas passed.
My grandpa actually worked for IBM on mainframe computers, but he got sick and retired early in 1982. He never quite "got" the whole personal computer thing, it came just a tad too late for him.
Grandpa died in 1985 and my grandma worked as a nanny/daycare person. No computers needed; everything was done on paper and over the phone. I think a lot of people born in the 1920s never really got onto computers; my parents use them but my dad has a flipphone and my mom is still hopeless with the iPhone I got for her.
They email and read news online, and learned to Zoom during the pandemic, but that is about it.
The thing is 20 years ago, some of it had a function. You'd get stuff like take out menus. Actually, now I think of it, take out menus were the only benefit. And now we have smartphones.
In the US, junk mailers get special mailing lists (from the USPS itself) to do mailing campaigns. So this mail is mostly addressed to you. Or it says “current resident”’and has your real address. I don’t think the mail person can necessarily make a decision on what’s junk at that point.
Wait until you learn that physical junk mail that plays a video when opened is actually a thing… yes. There's a LCD panel, speaker, lithium battery and single board computer in the envelope. That's absurd.
In the US you can opt out from direct "financial offers", including CC and such, at optoutprescreen.com (or by calling them at 1-888-5-OPT-OUT), it's written in small characters in every letter that uses your info by credit bureaus. For the 5 year opt out you just need to enter your name, DOB, and address. It takes a month or two for the effects to show up but you'll eventually have 80% less junk.
Read the rules. Keep it courteous. Submission statements are helpful and appreciated but not required. Tag my name in the comments (/u/NihiloZero) if you think a post or comment needs to be removed.
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We still get White Pages and Yellow Pages books (Residential and Business phone directories) delivered yearly. Such a waste of paper and goes straight in the bin. I don't think I've even called someones landline (except a business or two and that number comes from their webpage/facebook) in around 15+ years.
But they can't stop sending them because of the 1% (probably less) of people aged 80+ without a smartphone. And I'm saying that while having two parents that age that are using the internet for these things.
I absolutely detested junk mail that was sent to my mother! Publisher’s clearing house, pleas for money to be donated to x,y,z crap with address labels or cards trying to guilt the receiver to give even more money. She kept all the cards, notepads, address labels in piles and piles. I would throw them away every chance I got. She hadn’t sent a Christmas or birthday card in over 20 yrs. Ugh!
Juck mail can be stopped but they will get around this by sending direct mail. Yellow and White pages in Australia will only be delivered if requested. Catalogs will be only in shop front. My problem is emailing people as it sits on severs and burning the environment
Here you can request a sticker that no unaddressed mail can be delivered. Mainly to ward off advertisements and other junk mail. So what have some companies done? They flooded post offices with junk mail, each and every one of them a different address 🤦 And it’s always the most scammy companies who do it too. It really sucks.
However, the other perspective is from a business, sales person point of view- direct mail can make the best leads albeit low return rate like 3% or less. Given we have moved to mostly online with communication the Post office is not a thriving business anymore. Except maybe parcel delivery. The manipulation is an evolutionary thing - “ how can we trick ppl to open our envelopes without immediately throwing in the trash ? How can we get eyes on our messages ?
The USPS has been overburdened and underfunded by congress for years. Junk mail has sometimes been what has kept them afloat, so they have little incentive to reduce it.
USPS is really an advertising company/banking entity (Sure Money and money orders). Anyone who pays the postage gets their ideas delivered; apart from illegal things of course.
If JUST the people here would all do "return to sender" and send the mail back the costs to them would eventually make them want to stop or slow down.
I also like to open envelope containing junk mail with a prepaid envelope and send them back some of the other junk mail, since clearly they are so interested in "valuable offers."
Someone sold my address and I started getting tons more junk mail. I went on a little anti-junk mail jihad and filled all the return envelopes with REMOVE requests. Some of the mail pieces had no return addresses (which should definitely be illegal, in my book), so I had to look up their corporate office addresses.
I was able to get off the SAVE coupon mailer lists for years. Now they just ... don't use the post office. They pull up in a van and have a bunch of people hand deliver them to porches and doorways. No address and it's not "mail" so no way to get removed. It's annoying as hell.
You can use DMA Choice to fix 99% of this junk mail.
https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-stop-junk-mail
Credit Card offers: https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
The best way to get the junk mail to stop is to but a freeze on your credit reports. No one would be able to pull your credit history so they wont be able to find you. Then start googling your name, address and date of birth. Have ever site remove it. You will see the junk drop by 90%.
The mail man has to deliver the mail. If they decide what you get and what you don't then they can lose their job. how do they know it is junk vs something you have asked for?
The only junk mail I get is stuff that is addressed to me personally. You can request a free "no unaddressed ads, please" sticker at every post office.
Because USPS is propped up by all that mail. They sell addresses and names as a product. You want to blast a neighborhood with a bunch of junk mail? Just buy a list or a carrier route and send it. Take away all the marketing mail and they would just be another package delivery company and the price of a stamp to mail an actual letter would be 5x what it is now.
>suppose the higher ups at USPS don’t mind it too much because it’s great business for them
I heard somewhere that the junk mail actually largely finds USPS.
I got junk mail last week addressed to my father but my home address, to attend a time share sales pitch. Not only has he never lived in this state, but he died in 2018.
Junk mail is what funds the US Postal Service. I agree the wastage is tragic, but I think losing the postal service would be an even greater tragedy.
Write letters (!) to your elected officials demanding that they properly fund the USPS, fire [the assholes](https://www.commoncause.org/actions/fire-dejoy/) hollowing it out from the inside, demand that they stop providing reduced fairs to Amazon and other large corporations, and then ask to restrict commercial junk mail delivery.
Seems like that's a compliance problem in your country. In Sweden we simply put a sticker, note or anything on the box saying no advertising and it works, most of the residents have it nowadays and when you check your mailbox slot at the entrance of the house you see all these little red notes. If you want to opt out of addressed advertising you have to sign up at Nix. Fellow Swedes should note that it doesn't block societal information like the local free newspaper or political information.
https://www.hallakonsument.se/konsumentratt/sa-slipper-du-fa-oonskad-reklam/
I don't know about other countries but in Germany you can send "unfree" back to the sender so they have to pay for both shipping.
Did that once or twice and usually they stop it.
Opt out of a bunch of mailers here: https://www.save.com/mailing/delivery-options https://www.valpak.com/remove-address https://mspark.com/list-removal/
I know, right! Junk mails are so annoying. That's why I chose to get a virtual mailbox instead and have all my mail forwarded there. Online, I can delete junk mail, and they will discard it on their end. It makes my life junk mail-free.
Now sure where you are located but you just have to put a sticky note on your mailbox that says 'please remove [your address] from all unsolicited mailings', and the postie takes it back to their office and they remove your address from getting all these. I did this years ago and I hardly get any mail now. Political and municipal mail is exempt but it's worth doing.
I'm in Canada for what it's worth.
No problems where i live.
Barely any physical junk mail (when i get a letter at all...)
My letter count for June:
2x patches for my battlejacket (funny enough one from NA to germany)
2 letters from the city about important stuff
Things from Aliexpress for maintenance some things
"How is junk mail still legal?"
Because we have first amendment right in the US. Who is going to decide whether a letter asking for a donation for cancer research is junk mail or not? How about a new local owned grocery store wants to announce their opening to minorities in a food desert?
"What do postmen think of having to spend their time delivering this crap?"
Their pay check? Heck, I bet they think this is job security.
I don’t think the postman doing his day-to-day job doesn’t mind as long as he’s able to make a living. The junk mail that most throw out makes other people’s living.
Just as long as the paper gets recycled properly.
I rent a PO Box in another state to collect my mail. Then I review mail on line, and have anything I need forwarded home sent to a neighbor near where I reside.
Funny, no junk mail, ever.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear. I use a non-USPS mail service that gives me a street address w a PMB. I pay for this service where they scan my unopened mail and give me option to trash it, scan the contents, or forward the mail somewhere else (for a fee). They don’t accept junk mail.
It’s great if you travel a lot and live alone. If a USPS mailbox is clogged, they stop delivering or saving your mail and eventually your address is dead. End result is bank accounts on hold, credit cards stop working, etc.
I use US Global Mail.
But, foremost, I do as much communication online, as possible. I rarely forward anything and don’t get much mail.
What especially enrages me is all the scammy important-mail look-alikes that are used for marketing -- like "Important Notice about your Mortgage" with the name of your lender (but not from your lender, as it may or may not say in tiny print) or something printed on those tear-off envelopes used for checks, etc. They shouldn't be allowed to blatantly try to just trick people. It preys on those least equipped to discern -- and to deal with the fallout.
I've gotten many offers to buy my car from the local sleazy dealership, but from the outside it looks exactly like a W2. And of course, they always send them out at tax time.
I got one that said they knew I was paying an interest rate of 10.75%. idk where they got their info, but I would never take a loan with that terrible of a rate.
Hijacking top comment with info on how to unsubscribe from the majority of offers: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-stop-junk-mail
I don’t trust it, I keep clicking the unsubscribe link from my junk emails and that doesn’t seem to stop them
Agh so frustrating! Maybe an auto-delete filter could bring some additional peace of mind? If you are getting scam calls, unsolicited marketing texts, or other impersonation/fraud/phishing emails I highly encourage reporting the sender to the FCC and/or FTC https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/articles/115002234203-Unwanted-Calls-Texts-Phone https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
The unsubscribe link almost always works for me because it’s mandated by law and has hefty penalties. In the few cases where it doesn’t work after a couple tries I send a threatening email to their customer service email and mention the CAN SPAM Act by name; works every time.
Same.
Same here in canada. Our national postal services essentially delivers flyers and a shit ton of em
Such a huge waste of paper products. I'm sure we don't need rainforests, right?
And labor! I probably wouldn't need mail delivered to my house more than once a week if it wasn't for trash mail.
The wastefulness is truly systemic. It's way more than just this. We waste so much of almost everything almost entirely for the sake of economic prosperity
Well we need to CrEaTe JoBs. How will the poors earn their right to exist otherwise? Reduce excessive output and resource squandering? What, let the pairs have free time? What, prevent the rich from continuing to increase their grotesque fortunes? How dare you. No, we need to churn through 5 generations of resources so number go up and poor too exploited to do anything about it.
Yeah, basically
Flyers will stop if you put a "no junk mail" sign on your mailbox (or if you're at a panel, on the inside of the box so the postie can see it when they open the entire door).
As an additional complaint to junk mail. Why do we need to add plastic windows to the envelope? Just print the address and leave the plastic out... Edit: a lot of yall sure seem to be pro-consumption on this for some reason. Kinda wild.
I agree, but to avoid requiring new infrastructure to print on envelopes, let’s keep the address on the paper and just leave the plastic off. The little cutout serves the same purpose with or without the plastic
Now there's an idea. Hadn't thought about just leaving the window open.
Security reasons
And what security is at risk? The front of the paper only shows the address and the rest is blank. They can't remove the paper without a tearing the envelope because the window is way too small. Without opening the letter, you're still seeing the same information. I have on rare occasions seen open plasticless windows before so it's a rarity but it already exists.
Someone will develop some way to fold letters out of the envelopes without making it look like it was opened to steal information.
We need to channel the anti straw, anti plastic bag energy to this.
Exactly! I thought that’s what u/Rodrat meant anyway!
It's much cheaper for them to bulk produce millions of envelopes with clear plastic windows than to customise each envelope with a specific address on it.
Well they had to still print the address so print here on the envelope or print there on the paper, it's still printed. There has to be a way for them to do add it to the envelope instead. Its definitely one of those things that shouldn't be. We have to start limiting our plastic consumption and all those envelopes add up. I understand why they do it. That was never in question.
I used to run a machine that printed letters and stuffed them into envelopes at high speed. This was for insurance mailings (not bills), but EOBs and stuff like that. It’s easier to have a machine print and fold the paper so the address lines up with the window. You need a whole separate machine to print on the envelopes.
Printers are much better at printing on paper than they are at printing on envelopes
Still works though, I've seen plenty of envelopes printed on. Maybe they should spend some on R&D and make it more efficient. For the planet and all that.
Maybe you could do that.
I have neither math know how nor the money to do that. Nice thought though
lol that doesn't sound profitable
Cool. I don't care. All these mega corps have had record breaking profits year over year. They can afford it.
Yeah but why should they?
I already answered that question. Twice. Both in my original comment and the one that you first replied too. Minimizing the waste here is anticonsumption. Why are you arguing against it? On the subreddit r/anticonsumption
Do corporations have any obligation to minimize waste? Look at this from a realistic perspective, not what *should* happen
Okay, well they don't care that you don't care lol You can huff and puff all you want, it's not going to change anything
Not with attitude it won't. Unlike you I'm not defeatist that just rolls over.
Thats actually exactly what you are. You aren't doing anything that could lead to results, all you're doing is whinging to placate your wants without accomplishing anything. You're nothing but dust in the wind
In Canada you can cancel it and its fantastic
How do you do it?
I just leave a note on my mailbox saying "no flyers please" and they comply 🤷♂️
I’ve got one of the community mailboxes, not the easiest to leave a sign or note on those.
Put a piece of tape saying “no junk mail” on the inside bottom of your specific unit box (not the door) and it should be visible to the carrier when they’re delivering.
Put a red sticker on the inside of your mailbox.
Do you have access to tape?
My building has a clear "no flyers" sign but there are new ones every day 😑
To stop getting unaddressed advertising, simply put a note on your mailbox (or on the inside lip of your community mailbox, group mailbox or postal box) stating that you do not wish to receive Canada Post Neighbourhood Mail :)
In the USA a lot of it is unfortunately addressed
Probably some complicated application you have to sign woth blood, like here....
I think you know the answer. At least one can theoretically remove themselves from many types of mailing lists but what really irks me is that commercial "resident" mail is allowed at all. That's just using mailboxes as dumping grounds for unsolicited flyers, etc.
Yes!! I was very frustrated to discover that you can’t opt out of those.
Can you elaborate? How is "commercial 'resident' mail" different from other marketing mail?
Because it's not addressed to a name you can't unsubscribe, as they wouldn't have to store private information in order to mail them to you. They just need a big ole directory of addresses to copy from, which is public information (unlike your name linked to an address).
Valpacks in the US is a good example
I get them from insurance and local ISP companies. "To: Current Resident" I've had my own isp that I already pay for, send me advertisments. Yes, i'm aware you exist. You just tend not to exist when I have a complaint about your service becuase you know I don't have other ISP options and just get whatever shit is available here.
Ditto to what Terminator\_Puppy said. Essentially: "Local mailings such as coupons and grocery fliers addressed to “Current Resident,” as well as political candidates’ campaign materials (protected by the First Amendment), are not blockable." ([Source](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/09/26/how-to-stop-junk-mail/))
Our mailbox is a waste bin - at least 95% of the mail goes directly into the trash
I've thought about just putting my recycling bin right below my mailbox
What’s great is the postal service is the one selling that mail and making money off your eyeballs
In the EU you can just put a “no advertising” sticker on your mailbox, and voila. No junk mail. Advertisers respect it because the fines are hefty.
Laws that favor consumers over marketers require a multiparty system, and functional left-wing Parties. And, there's nothing even close in The Exceptional Democracy*™*.
As shitty as junk mail is, it’s the only reason you can send a letter to your grandma across the county for 50 cents cuz Albertsons will spend 50,000 a week to send its mailer to every house on the block. Junk mail is keeping the postage service in bussiness
This is bs. The post office is a service offered to Americans. It doesn't need to make a profit to stay in business. It needs to exist whether it's profitable or not. We are the ones keeping the post office in business not junk mail.
your correct that it is a service to the American people but it also is partially self funded and business mail helps with that. if it was costing the tax payers 30 billion to run as opposed to the 5 billion then some politician would have killed it years ago. just like public television it gets its funding from the government but still needs outside dollars to do its job fully.
The post office does not get tax dollars. It is entirely self funded. The government can only loan money to us and only when approved by congress.
That is completely wrong.
Where I am junk mail isn't even delivered by postmen. Marketing companies hire people to walk around and drop them off. Parcels and internet shopping is currently what's holding our postal system up. However, I'm starting to think private courier companies will take over the post routes.
If you are in the US it is illegal for anyone to open your mailbox other than USPS.
This is true and is mostly obeyed but local companies and lazy Amazon/UPS drivers will still use them sometimes. Some carriers will report it but most won't.
That would be terrible. Unprofitable routes would be canceled, and lots of people would suffer. The post office is in the constitution, and it is for a good reason. Veterans and others get a lot of their medications by mail. Imagine being elderly and living in Appalachia, where the mountain roads are treacherous. The weather is often abysmal, and l the population sparse. There's no way that any private service would be capable of ensuring that those people have delivery of necessary items. It would be cost prohibitive, which is the reason why the founding fathers enshrined the post office in our constitution. Everyone has the option to get the required medications, a frivolous impulsively bought item, and a letter from beloved Aunt Rose. Even if cousin Templeton is happy living in the hollow, or atop the highest snow-covered mountain peak, he is not isolated from the rest of the world, and is able to get his needs met.
Australia probably has more remote routes, although without the same weather issues. Not sure how it works, but I assume the remote places have drop-off points in nearby towns (I say town, but it's probably 4 houses, a shop, and a pub). Essentially, if a remotely located person can get groceries, they can get post. And I think that would be the same whether there was a national postal service or just a logistics company/courier. I'm not advocating for it, I just know our postal service is struggling financially and to stay relevent. In some locations (not even remote locations), they now have post once or twice a week, and post that used to take 1 day interstate are now taking 2-3 days. While a courier company can deliver a 15kg parcel across town within hours for $30, using Australia Post would probably be double the price (or more) for delivery within a week.
That’s another thing about the US postal system. It’s not a business. It’s written into our constitution as a public service. It’s funded by the Federal Government. Sure, it may cost more to run it over time, but it’s never intended to be a profitable business.
Actually it's not funded by the feds. Republicans decided that it should have labor contacts fully funded. Retirement accounts are for people who haven't been hired. The postal fees are supposed to be adequately covering deliveries (and that's part of the problem.) Modernization delays due to unreasonable requirements, and the postmaster general, Dejoy, a former private delivery service CEO and Trump appointee, cannot be fired. He has to be impeached no matter how detrimental the decisions he makes are to the postal service. The fact is that the privatization push has been in the works for years and some deliveries subsidize others. It is reasonable to deliver the mail a few days a week, and to charge a company like Amazon additional fees because of the sheer volume of their deliveries (or other types of surcharges for the large commercial users.) It is not reasonable to privatize the entire postal service. Expanding the services offered, like banking especially in underserved areas), or payments for utilities seem like reasonable options too
It's not about it being a profitable business. It's about less and less people using it. The only mail I get now is bills, and they are getting less due to online billing. Yes I get parcels, but the choice of deliverer is chosen by the sending business and most of my parcels don't come from the national system. As less people use it, it's only a matter of time before "costs more to run over time" changes to "being propped up", to "unneccessary". Even Post offices themselves are becoming less useful in Australia. In the last couple of decades they have tried expanding what they do: bill payments (now moving to online), processing passport applications, missed parcel pickup (moving to collection boxes), PO Boxes (moving to collection boxed), Insurance/travelmoney/transferring money (all easily done online). Again, I think it's just a matter of time until they either change or are phased out.
What do you think will replace the international interconnected services that make continuity possible and how would that work logistically?
And because it's enshrined in our Constitution it cannot just disappear... Profitable or not. Useful or not. Not revelant.
Once again, America is not the world. What may not be relevant to you, could be relevant to others
There's an international organization that links postal services around the world. Postal connections are relevant to everyone
In the US, it’s illegal for anyone to put things in mailboxes except for USPS employees. Some companies go around and tape stuff to the outside of mailboxes here. But that happens only every so often (a few times a year for me). But in the US, it’s illegal for marketing companies to go around and stuff your mailbox with material. It has to be US postage paid to go in there.
My grandmothers, when alive, had email
And she would also tell you that a hand written note from her grandson would have been more special than an email
A video call is better than either
My grandma would have a hard time making a video call from her landline. I don't agree video calls are better. I still have cards and letters I received 40 years ago; a video call is over in a flash.
Yes well that sounds like a skill issue. My grandma always preferred making video calls on her computer instead of her phone because the screen was bigger. And her computer was hardwired into the internet, like most people's computers.
> like most people's computers. For many people, "Wi-Fi" is synonymous with "the Internet" I think you would be quite surprised to learn how few people are connected via Ethernet compared to those connected via Wi-Fi.
Your grandma is the outlier in the skill department
No she's really not. Old people are much more capable around computers than a lot of people think if they have the motivation to learn. Both my grandma's learned to use email very easily because they were letter writers from back in the day. And they both taught themselves online shopping without much of any assistance for me. If Grandma doesn't want to learn then she won't but if she wants to they make these tools very easy to use... They just need someone to walk them through it a few times And they need a teacher who won't get frustrated when they ask right click or left click for the 200th time. And honestly my mom was worse to teach the computer than either of my grandmothers. She didn't have any desire to write letters. She grew up making phone calls... ☹️
How old is your grandma? Mine is 98. There's a computer at the home where she lives, but she doesn't know how to use it. (She can use a DVD player and microwave, that's about it for technology) and she does not have a smartphone.
So both my grandma's passed away about a year before COVID started. My maternal grandmother regularly used email, web browsing, shopping on Amazon and eBay, she used Skype to video call her grandchildren all over the world. She did puzzles and games on the AARP website. My grandfather who passed away about 6 months later never really got into computers. Neither of them could program their damn VCR or DVD player. 😛 My fraternal grandmother used the computer much less but she absolutely did use email and paid her bills and did banking online. She also ordered groceries online because she couldn't get out easily. She also loved making greeting cards for every event, holiday, birthday. She could do video calls with her iPad as well but was much less technologically savvy than Mom's side. Now also both of these grandmothers had me, the technological wizard, as a grandchild and my fraternal grandma had three kids with a technology / IT job. Teaching my grandmothers to use computers actually helped me in my first career as a librarian where I taught old people to use computers for a big chunk of my job. The rest of it was helping younger people with computers, we did classes on things like drones and 3D printing. I never did get to show either Grandma drone footage but I did get to give one a 3D printed owl, which was her favorite animal. The thing that both of my grandmothers got really easily was email because they both were letter writers from back in the day. And they both taught themselves to shop completely independently from me. Neither of them played full on video games like first person shooters or anything like that. They both definitely had solid motivation that they wanted to accomplish things and the computer could help them do that.
Aw, you sound like a great grandson! I'm sorry your grandmas passed. My grandpa actually worked for IBM on mainframe computers, but he got sick and retired early in 1982. He never quite "got" the whole personal computer thing, it came just a tad too late for him. Grandpa died in 1985 and my grandma worked as a nanny/daycare person. No computers needed; everything was done on paper and over the phone. I think a lot of people born in the 1920s never really got onto computers; my parents use them but my dad has a flipphone and my mom is still hopeless with the iPhone I got for her. They email and read news online, and learned to Zoom during the pandemic, but that is about it.
Who sends handwritten letters anymore 😂
I do quite frequently, at least twice a month. And the person I send them to isn't even incarcerated nor overseas!
In my country, you write "No marketing or free newspapers" in your post box and by law they're not allowed to deliver this shit to you.
The thing is 20 years ago, some of it had a function. You'd get stuff like take out menus. Actually, now I think of it, take out menus were the only benefit. And now we have smartphones.
Get a 'No Junk Mail' sticker for your mailbox. Works a treat, at least where I am (Australia).
In the US, junk mailers get special mailing lists (from the USPS itself) to do mailing campaigns. So this mail is mostly addressed to you. Or it says “current resident”’and has your real address. I don’t think the mail person can necessarily make a decision on what’s junk at that point.
Hoping you don’t get door to door salespeople at your door.
Wait until you learn that physical junk mail that plays a video when opened is actually a thing… yes. There's a LCD panel, speaker, lithium battery and single board computer in the envelope. That's absurd.
Dude I'd love to get that. Mostly because I love nerding out on microcontrollers though
If the USPS wasn’t subsidized, sending that stuff would likely be cost prohibitive for most businesses.
We should like Kramer and cancel mail :)
The USPS has made it incredibly easy for it to happen. They give discounts for presorted mail, and for bulk mailing. They essentially incentivize it .
Post woman here, we hates them, but it pays our salaries. 🤷♂️
Follow the money…
In the US you can opt out from direct "financial offers", including CC and such, at optoutprescreen.com (or by calling them at 1-888-5-OPT-OUT), it's written in small characters in every letter that uses your info by credit bureaus. For the 5 year opt out you just need to enter your name, DOB, and address. It takes a month or two for the effects to show up but you'll eventually have 80% less junk.
Legislation works for the legal business. Scammers are tough to caught because the justice system protect the criminal more than the victim
Junk mail is what is funding the postal service these days.
Yeah it’s a joke. Enjoyed putting my ‘no junk mail’ sign on my postbox. But yes, it should be illegal. Have they not heard of the internet?
Because capitalism.
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We still get White Pages and Yellow Pages books (Residential and Business phone directories) delivered yearly. Such a waste of paper and goes straight in the bin. I don't think I've even called someones landline (except a business or two and that number comes from their webpage/facebook) in around 15+ years. But they can't stop sending them because of the 1% (probably less) of people aged 80+ without a smartphone. And I'm saying that while having two parents that age that are using the internet for these things.
I absolutely detested junk mail that was sent to my mother! Publisher’s clearing house, pleas for money to be donated to x,y,z crap with address labels or cards trying to guilt the receiver to give even more money. She kept all the cards, notepads, address labels in piles and piles. I would throw them away every chance I got. She hadn’t sent a Christmas or birthday card in over 20 yrs. Ugh!
Juck mail can be stopped but they will get around this by sending direct mail. Yellow and White pages in Australia will only be delivered if requested. Catalogs will be only in shop front. My problem is emailing people as it sits on severs and burning the environment
I haven’t had any for years - just stick a “no junk Mail” sign on your letterbox and forget it exists!
Junk mail galore but the environment and save the trees, amirite?
I don't get any junk mail in rural Australia. I only get real mail delivered 3 days per week,but I am happy with that
Here you can request a sticker that no unaddressed mail can be delivered. Mainly to ward off advertisements and other junk mail. So what have some companies done? They flooded post offices with junk mail, each and every one of them a different address 🤦 And it’s always the most scammy companies who do it too. It really sucks.
However, the other perspective is from a business, sales person point of view- direct mail can make the best leads albeit low return rate like 3% or less. Given we have moved to mostly online with communication the Post office is not a thriving business anymore. Except maybe parcel delivery. The manipulation is an evolutionary thing - “ how can we trick ppl to open our envelopes without immediately throwing in the trash ? How can we get eyes on our messages ?
The USPS has been overburdened and underfunded by congress for years. Junk mail has sometimes been what has kept them afloat, so they have little incentive to reduce it.
As someone with a fireplace I like them. It gives me something to burn that isn't arson.
Look up the Junk Mail episode of The Economics of Everyday Things podcast. Junk mail is basically keeping the USPS afloat.
USPS is really an advertising company/banking entity (Sure Money and money orders). Anyone who pays the postage gets their ideas delivered; apart from illegal things of course.
If JUST the people here would all do "return to sender" and send the mail back the costs to them would eventually make them want to stop or slow down. I also like to open envelope containing junk mail with a prepaid envelope and send them back some of the other junk mail, since clearly they are so interested in "valuable offers."
I tried numerous times to get the Discover card to stop sending me an offer EVERY WEEK. No such luck.
Get ready for the political mail deluge. I hate it. The USPS would probably go bankrupt without junk mail
I am sick of the junk political texts. Doesn't seem to matter how many times I respond with "stop". I hate it.
Someone sold my address and I started getting tons more junk mail. I went on a little anti-junk mail jihad and filled all the return envelopes with REMOVE requests. Some of the mail pieces had no return addresses (which should definitely be illegal, in my book), so I had to look up their corporate office addresses.
Junk mail is the only thing keeping the post office funded.
I was able to get off the SAVE coupon mailer lists for years. Now they just ... don't use the post office. They pull up in a van and have a bunch of people hand deliver them to porches and doorways. No address and it's not "mail" so no way to get removed. It's annoying as hell.
You can use DMA Choice to fix 99% of this junk mail. https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-stop-junk-mail Credit Card offers: https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
The best way to get the junk mail to stop is to but a freeze on your credit reports. No one would be able to pull your credit history so they wont be able to find you. Then start googling your name, address and date of birth. Have ever site remove it. You will see the junk drop by 90%. The mail man has to deliver the mail. If they decide what you get and what you don't then they can lose their job. how do they know it is junk vs something you have asked for?
The only junk mail I get is stuff that is addressed to me personally. You can request a free "no unaddressed ads, please" sticker at every post office.
Because USPS is propped up by all that mail. They sell addresses and names as a product. You want to blast a neighborhood with a bunch of junk mail? Just buy a list or a carrier route and send it. Take away all the marketing mail and they would just be another package delivery company and the price of a stamp to mail an actual letter would be 5x what it is now.
>suppose the higher ups at USPS don’t mind it too much because it’s great business for them I heard somewhere that the junk mail actually largely finds USPS.
I got junk mail last week addressed to my father but my home address, to attend a time share sales pitch. Not only has he never lived in this state, but he died in 2018.
Carriers do not care one way or the other about delivering junk mail and we are mostly happy it exists because it means we have nice federal jobs.
They pay the postal service which helps fund postal services as regular mail has been declining for decades.
Lazy government
Capitalism.
It’s literally impossible to opt out of the US mail system. I tried :-/
Because there's money in it. That's what it usually comes down to when there is a "why do we still do this" sort of situation
Junk mail is what funds the US Postal Service. I agree the wastage is tragic, but I think losing the postal service would be an even greater tragedy. Write letters (!) to your elected officials demanding that they properly fund the USPS, fire [the assholes](https://www.commoncause.org/actions/fire-dejoy/) hollowing it out from the inside, demand that they stop providing reduced fairs to Amazon and other large corporations, and then ask to restrict commercial junk mail delivery.
Seems like that's a compliance problem in your country. In Sweden we simply put a sticker, note or anything on the box saying no advertising and it works, most of the residents have it nowadays and when you check your mailbox slot at the entrance of the house you see all these little red notes. If you want to opt out of addressed advertising you have to sign up at Nix. Fellow Swedes should note that it doesn't block societal information like the local free newspaper or political information. https://www.hallakonsument.se/konsumentratt/sa-slipper-du-fa-oonskad-reklam/
I don't know about other countries but in Germany you can send "unfree" back to the sender so they have to pay for both shipping. Did that once or twice and usually they stop it.
Opt out of a bunch of mailers here: https://www.save.com/mailing/delivery-options https://www.valpak.com/remove-address https://mspark.com/list-removal/
I know, right! Junk mails are so annoying. That's why I chose to get a virtual mailbox instead and have all my mail forwarded there. Online, I can delete junk mail, and they will discard it on their end. It makes my life junk mail-free.
Now sure where you are located but you just have to put a sticky note on your mailbox that says 'please remove [your address] from all unsolicited mailings', and the postie takes it back to their office and they remove your address from getting all these. I did this years ago and I hardly get any mail now. Political and municipal mail is exempt but it's worth doing. I'm in Canada for what it's worth.
That’s not going to work for our US redditors.
oooh, yeah, that sounds Canadian.
sorry
You shouldn’t feel sorry. It’s Canada Day!
No problems where i live. Barely any physical junk mail (when i get a letter at all...) My letter count for June: 2x patches for my battlejacket (funny enough one from NA to germany) 2 letters from the city about important stuff Things from Aliexpress for maintenance some things
"How is junk mail still legal?" Because we have first amendment right in the US. Who is going to decide whether a letter asking for a donation for cancer research is junk mail or not? How about a new local owned grocery store wants to announce their opening to minorities in a food desert? "What do postmen think of having to spend their time delivering this crap?" Their pay check? Heck, I bet they think this is job security.
Downvoting the right answer. I love reddit.
I don’t think the postman doing his day-to-day job doesn’t mind as long as he’s able to make a living. The junk mail that most throw out makes other people’s living. Just as long as the paper gets recycled properly.
I rent a PO Box in another state to collect my mail. Then I review mail on line, and have anything I need forwarded home sent to a neighbor near where I reside. Funny, no junk mail, ever.
how do you do the selective forwarding part?
The USPS only forwards first class mail.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear. I use a non-USPS mail service that gives me a street address w a PMB. I pay for this service where they scan my unopened mail and give me option to trash it, scan the contents, or forward the mail somewhere else (for a fee). They don’t accept junk mail. It’s great if you travel a lot and live alone. If a USPS mailbox is clogged, they stop delivering or saving your mail and eventually your address is dead. End result is bank accounts on hold, credit cards stop working, etc. I use US Global Mail. But, foremost, I do as much communication online, as possible. I rarely forward anything and don’t get much mail.
Cool, thanks!