5 ms·

I'm fine with the delivery of paper mail, but the idea of unsolicited paper mail is unacceptable. Nothing should ever be delivered to my house that I didn't agr

I'm fine with the delivery of paper mail, but the idea of unsolicited paper mail is unacceptable. Nothing should ever be delivered to my house that I didn't agree to.

jedberg 7y ago
That unsolicited mail is what keeps it cheap though. Without that, a stamp would cost a few dollars each. Chances are all the people who send you paper that you do want would want to charge you for the privilege if it cost that much.
- izzydata 7y ago
  That sounds terrible to me. I fully support the idea of paper mail costing a lot if it reduces the amount that is sent.
- tathougies 7y ago
  One possibility is to simply attach an advertisement to each piece of mail sent. If you disclose what's inside (often done for insurance purposes), then they can even match it up to the best ad.
  - munk-a 7y ago
    Advertising is a form of waste in our society - we need to stop coming up with ways to excuse it and just work on eliminating it entirely.
    - tathougies 7y ago
      Meh. I love mail advertising. Get all my coupons in and pay less for the same stuff. That being said, thank you for paying full price, so I don't have to!
      - munk-a 7y ago
        I don't pay full price in that scenario, I pay over full price. You end up paying full price. At any rate, I actually just avoid the supermarket near me that has a circular and go to the one that averages lower prices but without those "killer deals". I'm not doing poorly for myself so I'd be happy to subsidize people less well off (which ideally would all be consolidated into my taxes) but I think the cost in terms of time and paper goods couponing levies on society is simply not worth it.
- mac01021 7y ago
  I don't think there is any paper that I want. Is there for anyone, other than maybe magazines?
  - jedberg 7y ago
    My mother in law likes the grocery ads. She even takes ours for extra coupons.
    - kleiba 7y ago
      I like them too, study them every week. No coupons though where I live.
- munk-a 7y ago
  I think it should be worth it to us to subsidize mail in some manner that doesn't involve tons of paper waste. Anyways ,there are much better ways for the post service to save money, chief among which is the closure of unneeded stand alone physical locations like Canada has done. Up in Canada most post office locations are embedded in a different retail location (like a 7/11 or Shoppers (basically CVS))
dumbfounder 7y ago
And how exactly do we do that? By having the government track every piece of mail every person sends and receives?
- izzydata 7y ago
  For one you could apply something similar to the canned spam act for paper mail. It shouldn't be so difficult to opt-out of a company sending you regular spam.
- blacksmith_tb 7y ago
  USPS is already scanning the front (and maybe back) of every piece of mail, you can sign up to have those images sent to you ~1 day before the mail itself arrives in your mailbox[1]. 1: https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.acti...
Mountain_Skies 7y ago
The Direct Marketing Association has a "Do not mail" list that's much more effective than the "Do not call" list. It doesn't eliminate all junk mail but most, if not all, DMA members honor the request. For me it eliminated somewhere between 80% and 90% of the junk mail I used to receive. https://dmachoice.thedma.org/register.php https://dmachoice.thedma.org/register.php
- izzydata 7y ago
  This is much appreciated. Thank you for informing me.
  - exabrial 7y ago
    $2, FYI
    - Mountain_Skies 7y ago
      That's an unfortunate development. When I signed up a few years ago, there was no processing fee. Wonder if they added it as a form of identity verification rather than just a way to cover costs.

I'm fine with the delivery of paper mail, but the idea of unsolicited paper mail is unacceptable. Nothing should ever be delivered to my house that I didn't agree to.

jedberg 7y ago

That unsolicited mail is what keeps it cheap though. Without that, a stamp would cost a few dollars each. Chances are all the people who send you paper that you do want would want to charge you for the privilege if it cost that much.

izzydata 7y ago
That sounds terrible to me. I fully support the idea of paper mail costing a lot if it reduces the amount that is sent.
tathougies 7y ago
One possibility is to simply attach an advertisement to each piece of mail sent. If you disclose what's inside (often done for insurance purposes), then they can even match it up to the best ad.
- munk-a 7y ago
  Advertising is a form of waste in our society - we need to stop coming up with ways to excuse it and just work on eliminating it entirely.
  - tathougies 7y ago
    Meh. I love mail advertising. Get all my coupons in and pay less for the same stuff. That being said, thank you for paying full price, so I don't have to!
    - munk-a 7y ago
      I don't pay full price in that scenario, I pay over full price. You end up paying full price. At any rate, I actually just avoid the supermarket near me that has a circular and go to the one that averages lower prices but without those "killer deals". I'm not doing poorly for myself so I'd be happy to subsidize people less well off (which ideally would all be consolidated into my taxes) but I think the cost in terms of time and paper goods couponing levies on society is simply not worth it.
mac01021 7y ago
I don't think there is any paper that I want. Is there for anyone, other than maybe magazines?
- jedberg 7y ago
  My mother in law likes the grocery ads. She even takes ours for extra coupons.
  - kleiba 7y ago
    I like them too, study them every week. No coupons though where I live.
munk-a 7y ago
I think it should be worth it to us to subsidize mail in some manner that doesn't involve tons of paper waste. Anyways ,there are much better ways for the post service to save money, chief among which is the closure of unneeded stand alone physical locations like Canada has done. Up in Canada most post office locations are embedded in a different retail location (like a 7/11 or Shoppers (basically CVS))

dumbfounder 7y ago

And how exactly do we do that? By having the government track every piece of mail every person sends and receives?

izzydata 7y ago
For one you could apply something similar to the canned spam act for paper mail. It shouldn't be so difficult to opt-out of a company sending you regular spam.
blacksmith_tb 7y ago
USPS is already scanning the front (and maybe back) of every piece of mail, you can sign up to have those images sent to you ~1 day before the mail itself arrives in your mailbox[1]. 1: https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.acti...

Mountain_Skies 7y ago

The Direct Marketing Association has a "Do not mail" list that's much more effective than the "Do not call" list. It doesn't eliminate all junk mail but most, if not all, DMA members honor the request. For me it eliminated somewhere between 80% and 90% of the junk mail I used to receive. https://dmachoice.thedma.org/register.php https://dmachoice.thedma.org/register.php

izzydata 7y ago
This is much appreciated. Thank you for informing me.
- exabrial 7y ago
  $2, FYI
  - Mountain_Skies 7y ago
    That's an unfortunate development. When I signed up a few years ago, there was no processing fee. Wonder if they added it as a form of identity verification rather than just a way to cover costs.