How to Stop USPS Junk Mail

eHow.com ^ | not specified | Shelly Schumacher

[Patriot777]

How to Stop USPS Junk Mail By Shelly Schumacher, eHow Contributing Writer The average American receives 41 pounds of junk mail per year. Not only does junk mail clog up our mailboxes, it also wreaks havoc on the environment. Nearly half of the junk mail received annually (44 percent) ends up in a landfill. In addition, nearly $320 million in local tax money is used to dispose of junk mail, and more than 100 million trees are used to create pulpwood for paper products. While the United States Postal Service does not have a one-stop method for reducing junk mail, there are many ways to reduce the amount you receive:InstructionsThings You'll Need: Telephone Computer with Internet connection Pen and paper Postage Step 1Black out the bar code and address on all junk mail that is delivered using first class postage. Put a circle around the postage and write "Not accepted: return to sender." This can be put in any mail box, and it will be returned to the business that sent it.

Step 2Request a 1500 form from the U.S. Postal Service to stop the delivery of sexually explicit material.

Step 3Call 1-800-5 OPT OUT to stop mail generated from the three major credit reporting agencies. This will stop the majority of credit card offers.

[Patriot777]

Let's face it---junk mail is just that: Junk Mail. Let's stop the menace.

[smokingfrog]

The USPS doesn’t want it to stop, otherwise they would loose a major source of income.

[Star Traveler]

Good grief! LOL ... with all the rest of what is going on in this country ... I don’t put “junk mail” as too high a priority right now ... :-)

[mountainlion]

Junk mail is what is keeping the US PO afloat. I use junk mail to light my fires at night. I keep it all summer and make fuel out of it in the winter.

[randog]

Or you could do what I do—place a trash can next to the mail box and take 10 seconds to sort the mail.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Get rid of bulk mail rates, get rid of junk mail. But that would also gut the finances of the U.S. Postal Service.

Hmmmm, two birds with one stone.

[earlJam]

Postal Employee: "May I help you?"

Kramer: "Yeah, I'd like to cancel my mail."

Postal Employee: "Certainly. How long would you like us to hold it?"

Kramer: "Oh, no, no. I don't think you get me. I want out, permanently."

Newman: "I'll handle this, Violet. Why don't you take your three hour break? Oh, calm down, everyone. No one's canceling any mail."

Kramer: "Oh, yes, I am."

Newman: "What about your bills?"

Kramer: "The bank can pay 'em."

Newman: "The bank. What about your cards and letters?"

Kramer: "E-mail, telephones, fax machines. Fedex, telex, telegrams, holograms."

Newman: "All right, it 's true! Of course nobody needs mail. What do youthink, you're so clever for figuring that out? But you don't know the half of what goes on here. So just walk away, Kramer. I beg of you."

Supervisor: "Is everything all right here, Postal Employee Newman?"

[gunsequalfreedom]

Are you willing to have your postal rates increase to have junk mail stopped?

I get as irritated by it as you do. But each time I look at it I realize it helps pay the way for all other postage.

[ClearCase_guy]

Nearly half of the junk mail received annually (44 percent) ends up in a landfill.

I've heard that it takes 10,000 years for a piece of paper to decompose in a landfill. ;)

[theDentist]

I use junk mail to light my fires at night. I keep it all summer and make fuel out of it in the winter.

Me too.

[easternsky]

I open it Stuff it full of whatever is handy paper, Gospel tracts, other junk mail make it real heavy and return it and they have to pay extra postage.Learned that years ago right here on FR.

[Little Pig]

You’re thinking of styrofoam. Even the glossy stuff will decompose into ordinary cellulose inside a month if it’s wet, at which point bacteria will chew it up.

[DBrow]

“Nearly half of the junk mail received annually (44 percent) ends up in a landfill.”

OK, where does the rest wind up? Gotta be a pretty big pile somewhere.

[ClearCase_guy]

Hey, I added a ;) to my comment!

Seriously, the greenies seem to think that all human acts automatically cause irreversible damage to the environment. They need to get over themselves.

[GonzoGOP]

I don’t put “junk mail” as too high a priority right now

I figure after the SHTF we can use it to heat our homes. Neither rain nor sleet nor even socialist totalitarian takeover will stop the postman from dumping JCPenny catalogs and TrueGreen adds in my mail box.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

Here in Maine, they burn trash in two large facilities....one in northern Maine and one in southern Maine.....in order to generate electricity.

PERC.....Penobscot Energy Recovery Corporation, Orrington, Maine (nothern Maine)

MERC.....Maine Energy Recovery Corporation, Biddeford, Maine
(southern Maine)

Alot of newspaper, cardboard, aluminum cans, bottles, etc. are also recycled throughout the state.

[TankerKC]

...nearly $320 million in local tax money is used to dispose of junk mail...

I wonder where that figure came from...

[KarlInOhio]

Open up all of your junk mail and look for toll free phone numbers. Use those numbers to call them often, preferably from pay phones.

(Can you still make toll free calls for free from pay phones and stick the person you called with the extra surcharge? You used to be able too, but it has been three years since I used a pay phone and that was just to call my cell phone company about a lost phone)

[KTM rider]

USPS says the junk mail keeps postal rates lower because junk mail is low cost to deliver and the income it generates creates a steady revenue base. If junk mail were to halt, postal rates would have to spike in order for the USPS to make budget

[Jack Hydrazine]

“When you control the mail, you control...information!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg_4z2adv6Q