Poll USPS: Junk Mail!!!

[athena53]

If you really need an address, I would recommend 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield.

Currently owned and occupied by Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. But I don't think they'd mind if you used it.

When my phone number is a required field on a Web site and I can't see any valid reason for it, they get (my area code) 867-5309.

 

[JustCurious]

When my phone number is a required field on a Web site and I can't see any valid reason for it, they get (my area code) 867-5309.

I prefer my area code, then 555-1212.

 

[Midpack]

I prefer my area code, then 555-1212.

Long ago people used 555-U812...

 

[aja8888]

U.S. Postal Inspection Service

This site only has to do with fraud issues. There is no action on their part to remedy packages and mail that are frequently mis-delivered. The link to "delivery issues" brings you to the USPS online site where you can track a package or buy postage.

 

[scrabbler1]

When my phone number is a required field on a Web site and I can't see any valid reason for it, they get (my area code) 867-5309.

LMAO you're a hoot! Is your middle name Jenny?

Even though I have been able to reduce my junk mail a decent amount by calling some of the individual senders and getting taken off their lists, I still answered "over 81% by weight" because within a lot of the legit mail I get there are all those inserts and advertising. My Optimum bill (cable+TV+Internet) has more unwanted stuff in there than the bill itself. And because I pay via ACH every month, I don't need a return envelope, either.

I use a simple shredder to shred anything which has my name and address or any other sensitive info on it. To cut down on the wear and tear on the shredder, I separate the to-be-shredded stuff from everything else. I have gone through 3 or 4 shredders in the last 13 years.

Now that we are coming close to the election, I get lots of political mailers. Some years, I get lots of that junk before the primaries, too. And remember, I live in a one-person household. I can't begin to imagine how much more junk mail a household with two or more people must get.

I live in an apartment building with about 60 units, so I get mail put into one of my neighbor's boxes from time to time. Depending on whether I am coming or going, I will leave it at the neighbor's doorstep (indoor common-area hallways). Sometimes, the mailman leaves me mail for the right apartment but wrong building in our 4-building complex. Just gotta leave it on the table next to the mailboxes.

 

[braumeister]

This site only has to do with fraud issues. There is no action on their part to remedy packages and mail that are frequently mis-delivered. The link to "delivery issues" brings you to the USPS online site where you can track a package or buy postage.

You didn't pursue it far enough.

Last year I had a problem where an expected package was not received although the USPS website said it had been placed in my mailbox. I used the "track my package" link and was merely redirected to their "confirmation of delivery". We have had many, many misdelivery problems on my street, so I reported it to the inspectors as a possible theft.

Within a couple of days they found that the carrier had put it in an unoccupied box a block away and they had him deliver it to me in person at the door with an apology.

 

[calico1597]

I've been getting more credit card offers lately than usual. I enjoy cutting up the contents including the envelope it arrived in and stuffing it all back into the postage paid envelope to send back to them. Plenty of time to do that since I'm retired and I get extra exercise walking back to the mail box. I hate seeing postal rates go up and figure I'm helping them out.

 

[hesperus]

Yup. Big source of revenue for the struggling postal system though. I don't mind throwing it away if it helps them maintain service levels and reduce postage price increases.

+1
It's a small price to pay compared to the possibility of a privatized postal service.

 

[Katsmeow]

Not sure why the mutually exclusive alternatives for weight and piece. I could have answered yes to 2 questions but could answer one.

There are really 2 kinds of junk. First, it the pure junk that I never did business with someone and it is just totally useless. There is only one of these that I find useful. There is a real estate agent who does a lot of work in our subdivision and she sends out a mailer every month - a little booklet -- with the houses sold or for sale in the subdivision and on the back cover she puts a summary of the number of houses sold, average price, DOM, price per SF and then does that for the year to date and for a couple of prior years. This is actually interesting and when we sell this house I will at least call and talk to her.

The rest of it goes straight to trash.

Then there is the mail where maybe you did business with someone once and now you get a ton of useless stuff from them in the mail. I end up throwing that out too but have to look and make sure it isn't relevant to what he did or are doing business on.

But -- none of those are what really annoys me.

We have been in the his house over 5 years. We still get mail to the prior owners. I have begged and pleaded for it not to be delivered to no avail. I can't just throw it away. If I put it back in the box with no comment it just stays there forever.

I finally got tired of writing not at this address on the stuff and bought a stamp from Amazon that was self inking that says Not At This Address Return to Sender. So I can quickly stamp the stuff that comes in and put it back in the box. That usually means it goes away in a few days. But still amazing.

The most useful things I get from mail are packages, mostly from Amazon. Around here the majority of my Amazon deliveries are done by the USPS mail carrier. We even get these on Sundays which blows my mind.

 

[Sunset]

..... stuffing it all back into the postage paid envelope to send back to them. Plenty of time to do that since I'm retired and I get extra exercise walking back to the mail box. I hate seeing postal rates go up and figure I'm helping them out.

I have started doing this for some Investment Group, they send me huge envelopes to do a survey and return it.
So I return it with my name left on it, but I write "STOP SENDING THIS JUNK TO ME" on the top.

Naturally I use their postage paid envelope to do it. Will they notice

 

[CaptTom]

FWIW, my standard answers in stores:
"Can I get your phone number?"
"Sorry, it's unlisted and I don't give it out."

We give them our old land line number. We actually asked the phone company and they said they're unlikely to ever re-issue it.

+1
It's a small price to pay compared to the possibility of a privatized postal service.

+1 to that! The USPS is by far my preferred shipper. They deliver every day. They deliver everything that comes in that day. They charge the lowest rates.

The privatized services (UPS and FedEx) have been known to hold packages in their warehouse if the sender didn't pay for quick delivery. If you only paid for five-day shipping, they'll hold it for four days. They also charge large shippers reduced rates, who in turn charge us the grossly inflated "retail" rates when we buy from them.

We've all seen the YouTube videos of bad delivery drivers, and we've all seen mistakes. You can argue which service has more of those, but from what I've seen they've all been very reliable. So that's not an issue.

USPS = better price + better service. Let's not mess with that!

It's interesting that, in our area, both FedEx and UPS use the USPS to deliver their packages.

 

[JDARNELL]

After April 18 I will be going to a mail forwarding service as we prepare for nomad life. I do not intend to wholesale change my address but rather individually change address on the important things over the next year. Then when we move I hope much of the junk mail disappears. It seems though that a lot of mail we get is locally generated as circulars etc.

 

[zedd]

I've been getting more credit card offers lately than usual. I enjoy cutting up the contents including the envelope it arrived in and stuffing it all back into the postage paid envelope to send back to them. Plenty of time to do that since I'm retired and I get extra exercise walking back to the mail box. I hate seeing postal rates go up and figure I'm helping them out.

+1

Yep, been doing this for years

 

[Car-Guy]

USPS junk mail is way down. Maybe 20%, maybe.... I wish I could say the same about email. Good thing Google and Yahoo have great spam filters.

 

[Danmar]

Our place in Arizona is a junk mail magnet. After 6 months away the pile is huge. Probably 95 % into the trash unopened. I will keep the odd local newspaper to catch up on local news and that’s about it. If it wasn’t for that it would be 100% into the trash. Makes you wonder if we really need such frequent service.

 

[JP.mpls]

I've been thinking about this topic lately. We want to travel on and off, and not worry about mail and junk mail building up.


I know we can stop our mail delivery for short periods of time, but I don't like the idea of telling the PO that we won't be home for 1-2 months. Maybe no big deal.


Is it possible to establish a PO Box, and cancel home delivery completely? I was thinking they might not continue to add junk mail into the PO Box. What happens if these get very filled up?


This would still leave the problem of misc. junk mail flyers being thrown around our door. Will have to ask friends or neighbors to check periodically for that.


What is everyone else doing about mail build up when they travel?


Thanks for comments.




JP

 

[scrabbler1]

Three years ago, I went out of town for 17 days and had the PO hold my mail. When I went to pick it up upon my return, it was amazing how little of it was actually legit mail, mainly a few bills. The rest was all junk, even the bills had lots of junk inserts.

 

[audreyh1]

When I hold my mail, they seem to leave out most of the junk. At least the big fliers.

 

[GrayHare]

Is it possible to establish a PO Box, and cancel home delivery completely? I was thinking they might not continue to add junk mail into the PO Box. What happens if these get very filled up?

A friend did that, and would pick up the batch monthly. He paid for a large p.o. box and the office held the overflow for him but I doubt that's standard procedure. Might take a few gifts at a smaller office for that rules-stretch to happen. Certain letters are marked "if undeliverable, return in 5 days" and similar. Anything that takes up lots of space, i.e. boxes, will likely get returned after a week or so too.

 

[davismills]

I'm thinking about wiring the shredder directly into the mailbox.

 

[CaptTom]

I've been thinking about this topic lately. We want to travel on and off, and not worry about mail and junk mail building up

We were gone for 3 months last year.

We used a mail forwarding service. They helped fill out the paperwork to have our mail temporarily forwarded to them. They opened and scanned anything that looked legit, then put it on line so we could look at it. Anything we told them to hold, they would. Everything else got shredded after something like 14 or 30 days. We ended up having everything shredded.

The place we used was local. There's a more well-known one in Florida that all the RV'ers and cruisers use. I'll look up the name if no-one else has it handy.

 

[ducky911]

It would be nice if you could go on a cruise and not let them know your address. We have gone on Princess and Viking, it is shocking how many catalogs we get. Not odd to get three on the same day.

 

[SumDay]

If you haven't already done so, you can set up an account at the Direct Marketing Association's website DMA choice.org

We moved a couple of years ago and noticed the junk mail creeping back in. Apparently the DMA choice thing doesn't follow you, so I signed up again and it's way down, again. Both of us have accounts.

 

[braumeister]

It would be nice if you could go on a cruise and not let them know your address. We have gone on Princess and Viking, it is shocking how many catalogs we get. Not odd to get three on the same day.

Don't hold your breath.
I told one company I was dead a few years ago and after a nice interval of about a year I started getting catalogs and offers addressed to "Estate of Braumeister". I'm still getting them

 

[Walt34]

Don't hold your breath.
I told one company I was dead a few years ago and after a nice interval of about a year I started getting catalogs and offers addressed to "Estate of Braumeister". I'm still getting them

They probably figure that it took a year to settle the estate and now your heirs are eager to spend that big fat inheritance you left them. And what better way to honor "good ol' Braumeister" than by going on a cruise paid for by him!