5 ms·

Not the direct mail industry itself, but the postal service which earns a significant amount of it's revenue from them. Your mail carrier happily delivers any a

by tcdent 10y ago

Not the direct mail industry itself, but the postal service which earns a significant amount of it's revenue from them. Your mail carrier happily delivers any and all unwanted mail in the interest of their continued employment.

burntwater 10y ago
Honestly, I don't mind junk mail that much. - It's slightly depressing to come home to no new mail (I know, that's just a weird mental thing for me). - More importantly, it helps keep the postal service afloat, something that I think is an important service. -- It keeps a sizable chunk of U.S. government workers employed. Employed is good. -- It acts as a proxy wellness check for elderly and rural citizens. -- It lets Grandma cheaply send me a card and $20 for my birthday. Email and Venmo just doesn't cut it.
- strictnein 10y ago
  > "- It's slightly depressing to come home to no new mail (I know, that's just a weird mental thing for me)." 100% agree. I still enjoy getting the mail every day after I get home from work. I even find the junk mail interesting, in a "Why in the world did they send this to me?" type of way.
- officelineback 10y ago
  Interesting because I don't even check my mail every day...on average every 4 business days or so. So I'm guaranteed to have mail. I petitioned the HOA in my townhouse neighborhood to install trash cans at all the mailboxes. Otherwise I'm just carrying trash into my house to throw away.
- officelineback 10y ago
  Interesting because I don't even check my mail every day...on average every 4 business days or so. So I'm guaranteed to have mail. I petitioned the HOA in my townhouse neighborhood to install trash cans at all the mailboxes. Otherwise I'm just carrying trash into my house to throw away.
- ghaff 10y ago
  Yeah. There's the occasional semi-important thing I don't notice because it got tangled up in a pile of mail I'd been throwing in a box. But I flip through catalogs every now and then and don't have a problem with throwing out obvious credit card offers unopened. In the grand scheme of annoyances that include telemarketers, throwing out some mail every day is pretty minor. It does clog up my mailbox but since I swapped out for an extra-giant one that isn't really a problem any longer.
  - brewdad 10y ago
    I find something oddly therapeutic about tearing up credit card offers before tossing them in the recycle bin. The bundle of grocery store ads that comes every Tuesday, I could do without. I don't shop at any of the included stores, but the bundle has such a mish-mash of odd sized circulars that I have to go through it since important mail gets mixed in frequently.
- passivepinetree 10y ago
  What about the environmental impact of printing all those useless letters and flyers? Couldn't that material be better put to use elsewhere?

by tcdent 10y ago

burntwater 10y ago

Honestly, I don't mind junk mail that much. - It's slightly depressing to come home to no new mail (I know, that's just a weird mental thing for me). - More importantly, it helps keep the postal service afloat, something that I think is an important service. -- It keeps a sizable chunk of U.S. government workers employed. Employed is good. -- It acts as a proxy wellness check for elderly and rural citizens. -- It lets Grandma cheaply send me a card and $20 for my birthday. Email and Venmo just doesn't cut it.

strictnein 10y ago
> "- It's slightly depressing to come home to no new mail (I know, that's just a weird mental thing for me)." 100% agree. I still enjoy getting the mail every day after I get home from work. I even find the junk mail interesting, in a "Why in the world did they send this to me?" type of way.
officelineback 10y ago
Interesting because I don't even check my mail every day...on average every 4 business days or so. So I'm guaranteed to have mail. I petitioned the HOA in my townhouse neighborhood to install trash cans at all the mailboxes. Otherwise I'm just carrying trash into my house to throw away.
officelineback 10y ago
Interesting because I don't even check my mail every day...on average every 4 business days or so. So I'm guaranteed to have mail. I petitioned the HOA in my townhouse neighborhood to install trash cans at all the mailboxes. Otherwise I'm just carrying trash into my house to throw away.
ghaff 10y ago
Yeah. There's the occasional semi-important thing I don't notice because it got tangled up in a pile of mail I'd been throwing in a box. But I flip through catalogs every now and then and don't have a problem with throwing out obvious credit card offers unopened. In the grand scheme of annoyances that include telemarketers, throwing out some mail every day is pretty minor. It does clog up my mailbox but since I swapped out for an extra-giant one that isn't really a problem any longer.
- brewdad 10y ago
  I find something oddly therapeutic about tearing up credit card offers before tossing them in the recycle bin. The bundle of grocery store ads that comes every Tuesday, I could do without. I don't shop at any of the included stores, but the bundle has such a mish-mash of odd sized circulars that I have to go through it since important mail gets mixed in frequently.
passivepinetree 10y ago
What about the environmental impact of printing all those useless letters and flyers? Couldn't that material be better put to use elsewhere?