Mondays Matter: Week 6

Taken from the book, Every Monday Matters: 52 Ways to Make A Difference by Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza

GET RID OF JUNK MAIL

How many trees fit in your mailbox?

Junk mail deliveries surpass the number of US Postal Service 1st Class Mail when 44% of all junk mail is discarded without being opened and people will still spend 8 months of their lives opening junk mail.

Paper will take up 48% of our landfills by 2010.

ACTION STEPS:

1. Write "Please do not rent or sell my name" next to your name whenever you enter a contest, make a purchase or donation, join a club, order a product by mail, subscribe to a magazine, or return a warranty card.

2. Call the customer service number of the company or organizaation that is sending you unwanted mail and ask to be removed from their list.

3. Remove your name from several national mailing lists through the Direct Marketing Associations Mail Preference Service. You can register online or by mail.

4. Contact major consumer credit bureaus to have your name removed from mailing lists used for credit offers.

I have removed my name from lists and I think it has greatly reduced our junk mail load, but definately not eliminated it. Everything that is paper goes into our recycling bin anyway, so at least I know it isn't clogging our landfill. There is an estimated 500 pieces of junk mail per person per year. So, since my father was a postmaster and my mom a rural mail carrier and a good friend is now a mail carrier, do it to save your mail carrier's back so he/she won't have to deliver mail to you that you don't read anyway!