Wasting Trees: Why I Hate Junk Mail
I know I’m not alone when I say that junk mail really irritates me–not only for the unsolicited mailings that waste obscene amounts of paper, but also because someone out there to which I entrusted my personal information is trading or selling it without my consent. With nearly all my correspondence done through email, a trip to the mailbox is no longer filled with anticipation of invitations, announcements and good tidings. I know what to expect in my mail box these days, and that has me wishing for less mail.
Junk mail consumes 100 million trees annually, according to The Sierra Club, but the companies that churn it out could care less. Companies using ad mail to solicit business know full well the abysmal response rate of direct mail; their persistent use of it amounts to willful support of the removal of trees for the purpose of producing, essentially, garbage. Nearly all junk mail–97% to 99%–is ineffective at soliciting a response and more than half of it doesn’t even get recycled.
Even if everyone could and did recycle their junk mail, the damage has already been done by the time the mail reaches our mailboxes. The trees lost, energy consumed and pollution created to produce 5.4 million extra tons of paper just for junk mail cannot be recouped through recycling. The only way to reduce the damaging effects of junk mail is to reduce how much is created in the first place. You could sign-up with a service that assists in getting your name removed from key mailing lists, but these services cost money and sometimes create more paper than is necessary to accomplish the task. They also aren’t helpful when it comes to proactive measures to reduce unwanted mail that only you can initiate.
1. Be proactive. Every time you charge a purchase, join an organization, subscribe to a catalog or sign up for something, you unwittingly invite a new deluge of junk mail to the address you provided. To avoid new junk mail from following on the heels of your every transaction, tell sales people taking your information that you do not want to receive advertising offers, and that you deny them permission to sell or trade your information to anyone else.
2. Call the sender. As soon as you get a catalog or offer you don’t want again, call the toll free number provided and ask to be removed from the mailing list. This method is really only manageable if you make calls before junk mail starts to pile up. Making one or two phone calls a day will only take a few minutes and is something that can be done on speaker phone while you’re doing something else.
3. Opt out. Fill out the brief forms at the following websites to eliminate specific types of junk mail.
a. Direct mail from DMA members: dmaconsumers.org/offmailinglist.html
b. Insurance and credit offers from major credit agencies: optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t
c. All catalogs from Abacus Cooperatives: abacusoptout.com
d. Specific catalogs: catalogchoice.org
4. Change the law. Support new legislation that would enable people to opt out of unsolicited ad mail by going to donotmail.org and signing onto their campaign.
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