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At one point I got my physical junk mail load down to a trickle by writing "refused - return to sender" on it and dropping it back in the nearest mail box. The

At one point I got my physical junk mail load down to a trickle by writing "refused - return to sender" on it and dropping it back in the nearest mail box. The sender has to pay for return postage, so that will get you dropped off their lists right quick. Unfortunately, it's high maintenance, and it doesn't take too much of a lapse to get back up to the usual junk load. But I occasionally like to daydream that, if we could get enough people in the USA to do this, the junk mail industry itself might become financially untenable.

castlecrasher2 5y ago
>The sender has to pay for return postage, so that will get you dropped off their lists right quick. Actually, returning an unopened USPS-shipped letter or package doesn't cost postage at all. They probably removed you since you essentially took the time to communicate that they're not going to succeed with any future mail.
zmgsabst 5y ago
I wonder what it would take to create private sort centers: - slap “refused — return to sender” stickers on all the junk and drop it in bins for USPS - bundle your actual mail and deliver it
- hedora 5y ago
  Oohhh. This could be done without postal service cooperation. Just stamp all the junk mail, and put it in a curbside bin. Once a month, a service pickes it up, then leaves a dumpster of spam next to the local USPS mail drop. (Or shovels it over the counter at the post office.) Also, provide a list of houses subscribed to the service to the USPS. The ball's in their court now!
  - zmgsabst 5y ago
    I don’t think you’d need more than regular business service: - postal worker comes every day, with pre-sorted bins and leaves with outgoing bins; businesses already do this. - first you re-sort the pre-sorted personal mail to remove spam, preserving the post office sort to keep it by customer - then you sort all the removed junk by sender you’re returning to — and when your next mail arrives, you give the USPS worker the pre-sorted outbound mail of returned junk - keep a Instagram of your piles of returned junk mail, every day This already happens with, eg, university or large office mailrooms. So you’re not asking anything new if USPS to make it work.
- mrb 5y ago
  I have a PMB (I've tried https://virtualpostmail.com/ https://virtualpostmail.com/ and https://earthclassmail.com/ https://earthclassmail.com/) and never receive any junk mail. They either scan your mail to PDF, or bundle it and forward it to another address like your home. For some reason which I don't understand, marketers don't send junk mail to PMBs.
pokey00 5y ago
I've tried this before, writing "return to sender" on spam, except was putting them back in the mailbox with the flag up. The mailman threw a minor fit after the 3rd or 4th time I did it, left a note in the mailbox complaining about it, and started circling with a pen "or Current Resident" on every piece of junk mail. I quit after that because pissing off the mailman is not worth it and I wasn't about to take the fight anywhere past that.
istillwritecode 5y ago
I like those little business-reply-mail envelopes. I tear up everything and put it in those envelopes and send it back. They DO have to pay for those to be returned.

castlecrasher2 5y ago

>The sender has to pay for return postage, so that will get you dropped off their lists right quick. Actually, returning an unopened USPS-shipped letter or package doesn't cost postage at all. They probably removed you since you essentially took the time to communicate that they're not going to succeed with any future mail.

zmgsabst 5y ago

I wonder what it would take to create private sort centers: - slap “refused — return to sender” stickers on all the junk and drop it in bins for USPS - bundle your actual mail and deliver it

hedora 5y ago
Oohhh. This could be done without postal service cooperation. Just stamp all the junk mail, and put it in a curbside bin. Once a month, a service pickes it up, then leaves a dumpster of spam next to the local USPS mail drop. (Or shovels it over the counter at the post office.) Also, provide a list of houses subscribed to the service to the USPS. The ball's in their court now!
- zmgsabst 5y ago
  I don’t think you’d need more than regular business service: - postal worker comes every day, with pre-sorted bins and leaves with outgoing bins; businesses already do this. - first you re-sort the pre-sorted personal mail to remove spam, preserving the post office sort to keep it by customer - then you sort all the removed junk by sender you’re returning to — and when your next mail arrives, you give the USPS worker the pre-sorted outbound mail of returned junk - keep a Instagram of your piles of returned junk mail, every day This already happens with, eg, university or large office mailrooms. So you’re not asking anything new if USPS to make it work.
mrb 5y ago
I have a PMB (I've tried https://virtualpostmail.com/ https://virtualpostmail.com/ and https://earthclassmail.com/ https://earthclassmail.com/) and never receive any junk mail. They either scan your mail to PDF, or bundle it and forward it to another address like your home. For some reason which I don't understand, marketers don't send junk mail to PMBs.

pokey00 5y ago

I've tried this before, writing "return to sender" on spam, except was putting them back in the mailbox with the flag up. The mailman threw a minor fit after the 3rd or 4th time I did it, left a note in the mailbox complaining about it, and started circling with a pen "or Current Resident" on every piece of junk mail. I quit after that because pissing off the mailman is not worth it and I wasn't about to take the fight anywhere past that.

istillwritecode 5y ago

I like those little business-reply-mail envelopes. I tear up everything and put it in those envelopes and send it back. They DO have to pay for those to be returned.