For about the past two years I've been taking all of the junk mail I get that have the pre-paid "business reply mail" envelopes and sending it back empty or stuffed with messages that state my feelings on receiving junk mail. It is very easy, takes almost no time at all, and it (hopefully) discourages junk mail. Just now thought about spreading the word.

To me junk mail is annoying and wasteful. Probably won't have much of an effect until you get millions of people doing this, but who knows, it may catch on. It definitely makes me feel good though. Thought that I'd pass along. Feel free to participate (or not).

1/30/2008 8:38:31 PM

Ive been doing this for about 5-6 years already

1/30/2008 8:40:21 PM

I like to send them other junk mail back.

1/30/2008 8:43:34 PM

Glad there are others out there. Spread the word.

1/30/2008 9:01:18 PM

Ya know junk mail is lame and all...but at least THEY are covering their own expenses and not passing it on to us like spammers do.

1/30/2008 9:06:40 PM

if they could pass it on to us, they surely would

1/30/2008 10:22:18 PM

I just put it back in the outbox.

1/30/2008 10:23:03 PM

just enable your junk mail filter

1/30/2008 10:26:08 PM

Quote :

"Ya know junk mail is lame and all...but at least THEY are covering their own expenses and not passing it on to us like spammers do."

You'd like to think so, unless you realize they pay less for postage than we do for a first class stamp. My bills subsidizing junk mail ftl.

1/30/2008 10:40:33 PM

the postal service should be restructured

1/30/2008 10:43:51 PM

Quote :

"the postal service should be restructured"

you mean a govt-run program is inefficient and not as effective as it could be?

you must be joking

1/30/2008 10:51:31 PM

just write return to sender on it. Don't need to do all that shit.

1/30/2008 10:53:05 PM

I'm starting to think I should've been born with a 14 inch cock that's fully erect 24/7.

1/30/2008 10:54:28 PM

yeah, or you could opt-out of all the junk mail so you never get it to begin with
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t
http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Junk-Mail

1/30/2008 10:55:24 PM

hey, thanks for wasting our tax dollars by sending shit back to them via the postal service, jackass

1/30/2008 10:55:34 PM

Quote :

"just enable your junk mail filter"

1/30/2008 10:55:40 PM

a) the postal service is self-supporting
b) business reply mail is paid for by the business you're replying to; he's not wasting anything except their money

1/30/2008 10:59:16 PM

Quote :

"hey, thanks for wasting our tax dollars by sending shit back to them via the postal service, jackass"

"prepaid" means that the company who sent the envelope pays for it. jackass.

1/30/2008 10:59:46 PM

Quote :

"You'd like to think so, unless you realize they pay less for postage than we do for a first class stamp. My bills subsidizing junk mail ftl."

They pay a bulk rate...much like any company that sends out a lot of mail does. The USPS would actually have big problems if people stopped sending junkmail because between email, ups/fedex/dhl, people getting e-statements instead of paper statements, people paying for things directly from the bank and online.... the amount of mail has dropped drastically.

1/30/2008 11:02:47 PM

Quote :

"Sick of junk mail? "

The title of most of my junk mail reads exactly that.

1/30/2008 11:04:33 PM

Quote :

"the amount of mail has dropped drastically"

almost, but not really

1/30/2008 11:13:45 PM

this could be bullshit...

but I've heard if you tape that envelope to a brick/bowling ball/anvil and then drop it in the mail, they have to pay the postage

1/30/2008 11:16:51 PM

Quote :

"a) the postal service is self-supporting b) business reply mail is paid for by the business you're replying to; he's not wasting anything except their money"

false. The post office has never balanced its budget during its entire history. Thus, sending that letter, even though it's prepaid, is a waste of tax dollars. Even moreso when you realize that the prepaid cost is less than the cost of a 1st class stamp. Hey, at least do us a favor and put a 1st class stamp on the damned thing so the postage gets paid twice.

1/30/2008 11:20:31 PM

http://www.usps.com/history/anrpt07/highlights.htm

the past couple years look pretty balanced to me

1/30/2008 11:26:56 PM

^^ yeah, gonna need to see some sources for that "fact"

http://multichannelmerchant.com/news/USPS_profit_120705/

Quote :

"Impressive as those figures are, the bottom line eroded somewhat from fiscal 2004, when USPS posted $3.1 billion in net income. USPS chief financial officer Richard Strasser attributes the decline in profit to rising costs that the Postal Service cannot compensate for via quick price changes. Nonetheless, “2004 and 2005 are the first two years that the USPS showed an actual profit since the Postal Service was reorganized in 1971,” says Strasser. “The prior 32 years all produced deficits.”"

of course, shouldn't you be part of "Citizens Against Government Waste", burro? According to them, the USPS made $5B profit in the late 90's
http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=policy_United_States_Postal_Service

of course, i guess with the anti-government types, you win either way. If the USPS carries a deficient, then they're wasting tax money. If they make a profit, they're stealing tax money.
Just finesse the numbers however you want so you can always find something to complain about

1/30/2008 11:30:56 PM

aaronburro loses this thread so hard

1/30/2008 11:45:38 PM

Yes - the government may be completely incompetent in almost everything they do - one thing they make sure to do well is to collect revenue.

1/31/2008 10:16:58 PM

I'm still doing this...continue the movement.

9/2/2015 10:30:23 PM

Word

9/2/2015 10:35:16 PM

seems like a good way to make the minimum wage people who open those envelopes have a worse day. Yeah, you're really sticking it to the people that deserve it.

9/2/2015 10:58:05 PM

Unsolicited mail should be against the law. It is a waste of resources, especially at the scale to which it must be employed to make any money. I should have to opt in to receive anything from a company or organization through the mail.

[Edited on September 2, 2015 at 11:13 PM. Reason : ]

9/2/2015 11:12:44 PM

^^probably gives them a much needed laugh

me? i just toss those shits in the recycling bin right beside the mailbox

^robo callers and some other telemarketing stuff is against the law...doesnt stop em though

[Edited on September 2, 2015 at 11:15 PM. Reason : .]

9/2/2015 11:15:28 PM

This thread reminded me that every week for the ~6 years I've been living in my house, someone has been throwing a junk "newspaper" in my driveway. It's nothing but advertisements and coupons for crap I'll never buy. It's wrapped in plastic though to protect it from rain or whatever but they always show up. I don't know who delivers them or where they come from but everyone in the neighborhood gets one every week. I've come back from trips before and found like three of them (one of them almost completely mush from being out there the whole time) on top of each other. Usually go right into the recycling bin.

I've seen the person delivering them a handful of times and if they see me outside they don't throw it out. The first time I saw them I grabbed the recycling bin and told them to throw it directly into it and they just sped away. Shady shit.

9/3/2015 8:59:51 AM

9/3/2015 10:31:19 PM

Jerry. . . the whole building is made of brick. . .

9/3/2015 10:42:01 PM

I have a wrap-around driveway on a small piece of property at the corner of two streets. For as long as I can remember, the paper man has been depositing the (free) local paper at each end of my driveway. You'd think he would look up at some point and realize that he is always giving the same house 2 papers.

9/3/2015 11:08:31 PM

"You can just call me Henry"

9/4/2015 8:59:57 AM

in australia you can put 'no junk mail' on your mailbox and they won't give you that crap

9/4/2015 9:08:23 AM

"Well it's my job, and I'm pretty damn serious about it."

9/8/2015 10:10:20 PM

So maybe I'm late to the party, but I guess you can watch every episode of Seinfeld in HD on YouTube



[Edited on September 8, 2015 at 10:18 PM. Reason : and by HD, I mean with a big glare in the middle of the picture]

9/8/2015 10:15:03 PM

^Well, that didn't last long. Glare or no glare.

9/19/2015 8:01:35 PM

lol

9/19/2015 8:06:51 PM

that link up there from agentlion to opt out still works, however their site's certificate doesn't seem to be as secure as it should be. Luckily they have a phone number, as well, which I found on an FTC site:

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0148-prescreened-credit-and-insurance-offers

To opt out for five years: Call toll-free 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688) or visit http://www.optoutprescreen.com. The phone number and website are operated by the major consumer reporting companies.

9/19/2015 8:22:46 PM

Helpful information, in MY Chit Chat?!

9/19/2015 8:35:44 PM

It's more likely than you think.

9/26/2015 11:50:42 PM

^^^Sounds like that is just for insurance and credit card offers. i.e., you'll still get Valpaks of coupons, flyers from local restaurants, ads from AT&T trying to get you to buy a landline, other things that go to "TreeTwista10 or current resident"

But still, getting rid of some is better than getting it all

9/27/2015 12:40:05 AM