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Have you noticed a dramatic increase in the amount of unwanted mail in your box: advertisements, coupons, credit card 'pre-approval' announcements, and what not? I can hardly find my legitimate mail in the bulk of it anymore. In my community mail center, there is a conveniently placed trash bin that is perpetually overflowing with discarded mail. Not only is the mail somewhat harassing, but it is also an extraordinary waste of paper, and it is not being recycled. In our age of Greenpeace and Al Gore inspired quests to preserve the Earth, why has no one spoken up about this ever growing atrocity? Perhaps, someone has, somewhere; but I have not heard of any actions taken to stop this abuse of our diminishing resources.
My theory is that this marketing vehicle has resulted, post the 'do not respond' lists that we have established, to protect ourselves from the harassments of telemarketers. Telemarketing has now gone paper, and they are relentless in their pursuits via the post office. Call me a tree hugger, but just don't call me apathetic to the various efforts to preserve the Earth.
"What then must we do?" was the question asked by Billy Kwan to Guy Hamilton in the 1983 film 'The Year of Living Dangerously' and this question swims through my mind on a multitude of ethical issues and political policies. What then must we do? For starters, we must first recognize the problems. However small, or however seemingly unattainable, we can not just simply, 'Do Nothing.'
In the scheme of things, putting an end to the waste of precious trees, may seem absurdly petty. But small things that go unnoticed, can build into larger things in the blink of an eye in modern times. And perhaps this article isn't really about trees. Awareness is key. But action is the only way to enforce change. Look around you, and ask yourself, "What can I do?" We sure used to be a society of protesters.
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» left by Susan Thom(8,705) Susan Thom (223 days 19 hours ago.)
hi jennifer,
this was a well written, interesting artlice, and very true. something we can all relate to.
it's even worse when you have a P O Box, and it fits 3 letters, and you find it stuffed with junk mail.
thanks for a good article,
best regards,
sue thom Respond to this comment
» left by Jennifer Cuddy(1,528) Jennifer Cuddy (223 days 19 hours ago.)
Thank you! yes, my box is about the same size as a p.o box. i'm always amazed at how much of my 'mail' i immediately throw away. i would say, on average, it's about 80%. kindof scary when you think of 80% times 4 billion households.
again, thank you so much for reading and commenting.
» left by Lorrie Davids(5,419) Lorrie Davids (222 days 10 hours ago.)
Thank you, Jennifer. Good points. In this age of online billing and email, most of what comes to my home is just junk. A total waste of time, resources and money. There is a place to contact to be on a 'Do not mail' list that restricts the amount of paper advertising you receive. I think I need to do some research and contact them. You article has prompted me to action. Respond to this comment
» left by Jennifer Cuddy(1,528) Jennifer Cuddy (222 days 8 hours ago.)
thanks for the info! i'd realised that i could be recycling my own mail, but i'm much prefer to not receive the mail in the first place!
» left by Jim Murdoch(50) Jim Murdoch (220 days 5 hours ago.)
Hi Jennifer, they spam our email inboxes, our fax machines and our regular mail boxes. Why don't these wasters stop and think about the effectiveness of such "marketing" techniques. Oh, yes, and there are the door to door spammers and the telephone spammers as well. This is not just about a waste of paper, but of people's time and resources. Respond to this comment
» left by Hannah Quinn from Australia (220 days 2 hours ago.)
It is a modern blight, I agree. I have a notice on my letter box saying 'No Junk Mail.' Mostly I don't get junk mail, but sometimes a deliverer will just stuff it in anyway - thankfully not often. I have a sign outside my front door that says 'No door-to-door' and 'no religious callers' - I get bypassed by them. Sometimes, when I'm near a front window, I see them walk up the path, reach the door and then they are walking down the path again. So, it works. I also have a 'No smoking' sign at my front door and when one of my son's friends who smokes comes over, they never smoke in the house. Fortunately, only two of his many friends smoke anyway. I leave a pot outside for them to place their butts, and they do. I wish there was someway to put a sign up to stop email spammers but at least the bulk of it is filtered into it's own folder so I just have to delete it. All this paper IS a tree problem. Because paper is made from soft wood, it is a mostly renewable resource, but the increasing demand means hard woods and old growth is often felled to make way for pine and other soft wood forests with detrimental affects on the environment, eco-systems and habitats, and over here it adds to fuel during bushfire season. What we do end up with in terms of paper junk mail, we should all recycle - or perhaps learn how to make recycled paper of our own to use. Thanks for bringing this forefront for discussion.
» left by Lorrie Davids(5,419) Lorrie Davids (219 days 21 hours ago.)
Yeah, Hannah--I asked our letter carrier about it a while back. She said they have to deliver it - period. At that time there was an investigation into mail being tossed by letter carriers - all junk mail - and some carriers had been fired. Seems if someone pays the postal service to deliver it, it has to be delivered whether we want it or not. There is supposed to be a place to register to not receive solicitations by mail. I haven't attempted to locate the website yet. Respond to this comment
but yikes! i'm late for work
i will get back to your comments as soon as i can
xo Respond to this comment
» left by Sandra E. Graham(2,240) Sandra E. Graham from Paragould, Arkansas, USA (219 days 13 hours ago.)
Great article, Jennifer. I'm glad finally someone wrote something on this issue. What a waste of trees! Over 50% of the mail I receive daily is tossed without even being opened and another 25% is tossed shortly after opening.
Great article.
SEG Respond to this comment
» left by Mark Wallace(0) (217 days 16 hours ago.)
Very nice article! I loved the point and the way it was written. I am amazed to find such a interesting writer that also is hot. :) Respond to this comment
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