I wish he was my mailman.
I don’t flat out believe that 8 out of 10 people actually use or respond to junk mail. And it IS junk mail. I recycle mine and upon occasion use it to start fires in the fireplace. It has no other purpose in my life. Kudos to him for being human and trying to do his job more efficiently (although I hope nothing important inadvertently got stuffed into all that junk mail). I hope he has $3K to pay that fine, too.
I loved this part:
So the Direct Marketing Association does research that finds that junk mail is both effective and desired by consumers?
In other news, the latest Cigarette Manufacturer’s Association research finds that smoking is good for you, and the Heavy Metal Rockers Association finds no correlation between playing it loud and hearing loss.
We have a recycling bin on the front porch and stop to drop off the vast majority of the mail into it on a daily basis.
It’s a rare day when more than 1-2 pieces of mail actually make it into the house. And that’s almost never things such as catalogs. (Except for yarn catalogs; I adore those – but I’ve signed up for them, so they’re technically not “junk.”)
I’m glad that the folks on his route were so appreciative – if only all mailmen were so considerate of the folks they deliver mail to!
Trouble is, his employer was paid by the marketing companies to get those things delivered - however well-meaning and noble he is, however well-appreciated were his actions, he’s perpetrating (or causing his employer to perpetrate) some kind of fraud.
I mean, I hate junk mail as much as everyone else (or I would, if I received any), but what this guy did was wrong.
Like Mangetout, I hate junk mail. However, It’s my choice, not his, as to what I want to see or throw out. Plus, isn’t it a Federal offense to tamper with the mail? He’s lucky to get off as lightly as he did.
Isn’t there a way to avoid getting junk mail? If I say, I’m not going to respond to your fliers, then they should just stop sending them.
In the UK, there’s a scheme called the Mailing Preference Service. It’s a free list that you sign on to as opting out of unsolicited mail.
I was skeptical of it at first, because it relies on the marketing companies checking the list and being honest enough to delete your details from their database if you’re on it, however, it works really well - I signed up and about a month later, no more junk mail.
I get maybe ten pieces of junk mail a year now, usually addressed to ‘the occupier’ or something generic like that.
Dunno if there’s an equivalent in the USA, and if there is, whether it works as well.
Wouldn’t have any effect on much of my junk mail (not that many mailers pay attention to that list anyway). I get a twice-weekly local newspaper and 80% of the weight of the paper is inserted ads and coupons. The only reason they report local news is to have something to wrap the ads in.
Not to mention the “shoppers” which are 99% ads in the guise of a newspaper.
I strip all this out before entering the house. That mailman would have been doing me a service. Heck, I’d even pay for his service, or at least give him a nice Christmas gift.
His heart was in the right place, but I wouldn’t want him to be my mailman. I use some of the coupons I get in the mail, and have been looking through the employment section of the free paper. I enjoy looking at catalogs. Even if I hated all “junk” mail, this would make me paranoid anytime something I was expecting was late - “maybe he thought it was junk and threw it out” I’d think.
I have trouble seeing the righteous indignation people have about junk mail. Unlike email spam, it’s not overwhelming, it’s easily recyclable, and it costs the sender a decent amount of money to send it, part of which effectively subsidizes my own mail.
The USPS was paid to deliver the junk mail. For seven years he kept it in bins rather than deliver it. Now that the trial is over and the junk mail is no longer needed as evidence, I wonder if the USPS will arrange for the delayed junk mail to be delivered?
I know what I’d think if seven years worth of delayed junk mail arrived in my box one day.
I’m no fan of junk mail, but I do recognize the right of people to send it. The mailman should be jailed.
My understanding is that junk mail actually helps keep postal rates down. The senders of bulk mailings do all the work for the post office, such as by ordering it by address, everything except carry it to the homes.
Yes, at least from companies which make use of the DMA.
It took a full five replies for this to be posted? We’re getting soft here in Doper Land!