[HN Gopher] One person's war on junk mail
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One person's war on junk mail
Author : _wldu
Score : 32 points
Date : 2021-05-12 20:46 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.langston.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.langston.com)
| cosmotic wrote:
| Ever wonder how much it costs to deliver unaddressed junk mail?
|
| https://eddm.usps.com/eddm/customer/routeSearch.action
| aendruk wrote:
| Thanks, I didn't know there was a name for this. "EDDM" is the
| most infuriating form of spam as there's nothing I can do to
| opt out. I diligently return every piece to the misdirected box
| in pathetic protest.
| jeramey wrote:
| I always wonder if these kinds of stories are real, and this one
| does seem to be. It was reported in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
|
| https://digital.sandiego.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=117...
| (PDF link)
| exabrial wrote:
| If I weighed the total amount of unsolicited bulk physical mail I
| got each year, it'd be several hundred pounds. I can't think of
| the amount of diesel fuel used to cut the trees down, chop up the
| pulp, make the paper, deliver the paper, print the paper, deliver
| the paper to my mailbox, then haul the trash away to dump. I'm
| 100% for massive postage increases on non-parcels, or complete
| elimination of this practice otherwise.
| throwawayboise wrote:
| Junk mail is vital for the USPS finances. It's over 20% of
| their income, ~$16 billion/yr.
|
| It's a shame. Anthing I get in the mail that's not a first-
| class letter addressed to me by name goes into the trash
| unopened. But without the will to significantly downsize and
| reorganize the USPS it is a necessary revenue stream.
|
| https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/1114-...
| cpeterso wrote:
| > Junk mail is vital for the USPS finances. It's over 20% of
| their income, ~$16 billion/yr.
|
| I wonder how time and money processing and delivering that
| junk mail cost them. They could forgo that $16B and have more
| time to provide better service for non-junk mail.
| joe-collins wrote:
| Except, of course, that the USPS is categorically not a
| business, and no fundamental barrier exists to direct funding
| from the federal government, as with many other federal
| services. It has historically been _expected_ to self-
| finance, and doing so may appeal to some sense of prudence,
| but that does not need to be the case if the externalities of
| doing so exceeds the income generated.
| jnwatson wrote:
| It is easier to me to imagine the waste involved; I live in a
| high rise. There's a large trash bin in the middle of the mail
| room that's empty at the beginning of the day and full at the
| end.
|
| 90% of the USPS' job is to transmit dead trees to our waste
| facilities.
| 3GuardLineups wrote:
| We can all aspire to be like Bob Beken
| cmckn wrote:
| The worst part of renting is moving into a new place and having
| to start the journey of cancelling the Penny Saver subscription
| of a tenant that lived there a decade ago. Most of these
| subscriptions can't even be truly cancelled; they restart after
| several years if you don't bump it. I remember hearing last
| summer during the USPS dumpster fires that junk mail subsidizes
| postage for the rest of us -- I'd gladly pay more to end this
| silliness.
| acomjean wrote:
| I've had luck with the Direct Marketing Association list removal
| service. I signed up years ago and it works pretty well for most
| credit card offers and such.
|
| It cost money though. Not a lot. I think they've rebranded since
| I signed up, but this looks like this is it:
| https://www.dmachoice.org/static/faq.php
|
| Lamentably I found myself on some charities mail lists. They're
| not part of the Direct Marketing Association and will send you
| stuff unsolicited (gloves? seriously?) in an attempt to guilt you
| into joining..
| dharmab wrote:
| You can refuse mail by writing "Refused" on it and returning it
| to the mail system.
|
| https://about.usps.com/what-we-are-doing/current-initiatives...
| derefr wrote:
| The really annoying thing is that the service here is only
| available to US residents, even though much of the bulk mail I
| receive as a Canadian comes from US businesses that only bother
| to check the DMA list (and not the Canadian equivalent) even
| for the operations of their Canadian subsidiaries.
|
| Given that it's a list for companies to obey, the service
| shouldn't care what country _I_ live in, but only where the
| _company sending the mail_ is headquartered, no?
| seanwilson wrote:
| In the UK, I found putting a simple "No junk mail - addressed
| mail only" sticker on letterbox flaps cuts down junk mail by
| about 90%. It's rare to get a lot addressed junk mail but maybe
| that's just me.
| schemescape wrote:
| I've had luck opting myself out of junk mail, but how do I stop
| junk mail that is addressed to a previous resident?
|
| Writing "return to sender; not at this address" has not
| noticeably helped (and in one case the mail was re-delivered to
| me anyway...).
| joe-collins wrote:
| I've had _some_ success with NOT AT THIS ADDRESS in red on the
| front. I also occasionally pay for a month 's use of the Paper
| Karma app.
|
| https://www.paperkarma.com/
|
| Notable bad actors who refuse to acknowledge either:
|
| * A previous tenant in this apartment received catalogs from
| MCX (Marine Corps Exchange, not MXC, the crypto exchange). Lots
| of complaints online about these guys sending unstoppable spam.
|
| * A local self-storage facility sends monthly notices to a
| previous tenant, and despite returned mail, phone calls, and
| even an in-person visit, insists that they cannot stop sending
| those letters because they are obligated by law to "make every
| attempt" to contact that person.
| schemescape wrote:
| Thanks, I might try the Paper Karma app since it claims to
| deal with previous residents' mail too (unlike the DMA opt-
| out site).
|
| My other idea is to look up the previous resident on a
| "living person" search site and then notify the mailer of
| their (supposed) new address myself. I'd hate to have it
| redirect the torrent of mail to some other innocent person,
| but hopefully it will just go to the rightful addressee.
| joe-collins wrote:
| For the self-storage spam, I eventually just googled the
| name and region and found contact information for a
| plausible match. I sent them an email explaining the
| situation, and while I never heard back from them, I
| haven't seen any more mail yet...
| aendruk wrote:
| I've had the most success with contacting the sender and
| telling them to stop sending mail to this address, no mention
| of the mismatched name.
|
| What I don't know how to solve is that after successfully
| unsubscribing from a particular spam mailing I just started
| receiving apartment n+1's instead. What am I supposed to do,
| work my way through the whole building?
| annoyingnoob wrote:
| I've opted out of most junk mail. There are a few places that do
| not honor that request. If its addressed to you the USPS will
| deliver it.
|
| My biggest issue since opting out of most things is that the
| postal carrier will still deliver the grocery coupons, coupon
| packages addressed to a different address. I've complained so
| many times, USPS just stuffs them in and doesn't care.
|
| One thing you cannot opt out of is Every Door Delivery Mail from
| USPS. USPS allows advertisers, typically local folks, to buy
| delivery to an entire route and not be required to individually
| address the mail items.
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(page generated 2021-05-12 23:01 UTC)