You get it at the office.
You get it at home.
Postal spam a.k.a. junk mail. Since the late 1800s flyers, ad-mail, unsolicited magazines and pamphlets have been cluttering up people’s mailboxes and, now, people’s inboxes as well.
In the U.S. alone 5.6 million tons of catalogs and junk mail are thrown out every year and of that 44% is tossed unopened.
As well as being annoying it’s detrimental to the environment. Millions of trees are cut down to satisfy the monster of direct mailing as well as the added pollution of the delivery trucks.
What to do?
In Canada, you can get a sticker for your mailbox indicating that you do not wish to receive this junk and you can sign up with the Do Not Contact Registry of the Canadian Marketing Association. In the U.S. you can call 1-888-5-OPTOUT(1-888-567-8688).
But there’s more.
Whenever you request information or purchase a product online you may be placed on both electronic AND physical mailing lists. As with electronic spam, you should have the option to refuse or cancel your signing up. Double check anything that asks for a street address and make sure you opt out.
If you’re getting mail of any kind addressed to someone or a company no longer at your address “ cross out the name and /or bar code with No longer at this Address “ Return to sender written over it and put it back in the mail. Companies cannot afford to keep paying twice for postage and soon get the picture. However, if it persists, get the company’s 1-800 number or email them and get removed from their mailing lists.
Worst case scenario, recycle the junk but, please remember, in the case of addressed ad-mail, to remove your data from the letter or envelop before you toss it in your blue bin.
Now if only there was a spam filter in real life…
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