15 ms·

I'd give anything to get rid of my phone, but almost everyone you do business with (DMV, electric/gas/water company, etc) expects you to have one. Same thing wi

I'd give anything to get rid of my phone, but almost everyone you do business with (DMV, electric/gas/water company, etc) expects you to have one. Same thing with USPS and their paper spam. At this point they're little more than government-mandated spam delivery channels. Private companies are handling the spam situation infinitely better.

0des 4y ago
You aren't mandated to have mail or phone. Edit: Noting a lot of downvotes on this comment, which is odd. I can only conclude one thing- don't be Amish on HN. Perhaps this could be an opportunity to explore a different way of life, and a different community structure. It is not all horse buggies and barns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6SlJZk5guI&list=PLEyPgwIPkHo7lOk-72-tXJ-NjahfkNF_r https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6SlJZk5guI&list=PLEyPgwIPkH...
- ntoskrnl 4y ago
  Sure, I could move to the woods and live off wild berries for the rest of my days. But if you want to be part of modern society, your bank will mail you your credit card, and your water company will text you a code to login and pay. Realistically, what choice do you have?
  - the_only_law 4y ago
    > Sure, I could move to the woods and live off wild berries for the rest of my days You'd probably just be removed from someones property eventually.
  - 0des 4y ago
    Do you not encounter Amish people where you live?
    - ntoskrnl 4y ago
      I wasn't offended and didn't downvote you. But the Amish do receive mail and use phones. First article I found: https://amishamerica.com/do-amish-use-telephones/ https://amishamerica.com/do-amish-use-telephones/
      - 0des 4y ago
        > But the Amish do receive mail and use phones. I am assuming you don't mean to generalize to the degree that is being conveyed at first glance in your explainer comment. Amish people are not a monolith. As a culture it is quite a spectrum, from Beachy to Swartzentruber.
        ntoskrnl 4y ago
        My experience is based on visits to an Amish town in Ohio when I was growing up in the 2000s. I distinctly remember being surprised to see they used phones and rode in cars. But that was a long time ago and only one town of many. I didn't mean to generalize all Amish communities.
        0des 4y ago
        No worries. It takes all kinds. Who knows, maybe you re-examine the culture and find some things you'd like to take home to your community.
      - zdragnar 4y ago
        Every community decides for itself what technologies to adapt. The nearest to me have a single phone booth in the front yard of one member's house. Anyone wants to use the phone, they go there to make a call, and most only use it if they need to make an appointment at a hospital for serious illnesses. Others not quite as close are a fair degree more liberal in what they adopt, while I imagine there's probably a few that are more strict.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  I'm pretty sure you are mandated to have mail in the US, or rather the mails are mandated to deliver to you. IIRC it's constitutional.
  - 0des 4y ago
    > I'm pretty sure you are mandated to have mail in the US, or rather the mails are mandated to deliver to you. IIRC it's constitutional. You'd be incorrect. Ask your postmaster.
    - criddell 4y ago
      They are correct. The USPS has a universal service obligation. If you send a letter or parcel to any address in the US, the post office must deliver it.
      - 0des 4y ago
        I respectfully disagree. The postal service is held to a standard of service by a USO - Universal Service Obligation. [0] This means it is an org mandated to accept your request for service at a reasonable price regardless of your location of residence. There is an important distinction between that, and being mandated to receive mail service. That is not a stipulation of being alive in USA. [0] - https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/postal-service-and-its-obligation https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/postal-service-and-its-obligati...
        zdragnar 4y ago
        Just imagine, every drifter, nomad and homeless person were required to set up a mailbox. It's just silly.
        nobody9999 4y ago
        >Just imagine, every drifter, nomad and homeless person were required to set up a mailbox. It's just silly. They don't have to. Just have mail sent to: Joe/Jane Drifter General Delivery TownNearWhereYouSquat, <State> <ZipCode of post office> Or at least that's how it's been done for decades.
- philwelch 4y ago
  I can understand the concept of Amish communities not having telephones or mailboxes, but that lifestyle seems inconsistent with the behavior of arguing for the merits of that lifestyle on Hacker News.
  - 0des 4y ago
    Beachy Amish, it's fine.
kube-system 4y ago
I don't think I agree with that. I rarely get scams via USPS, never get explicit or potentially damaging content, the senders are all in my legal jurisdiction, and the spam arrives once per day in a manageable format. Almost all of the content is from businesses in my local area, businesses that I have previously shopped at, or political ads. Electronically from private companies I frequently get a larger volume of spam, malware, scams, explicit content, and most of them originate outside of my legal jurisdiction to evade the law. And it's a steady stream all day, on multiple mediums. I'd take 10x the amount of spam in my mailbox if I could get rid of all of the rest of the garbage I'm bombarded with. I obviously would rather not have any of it, but the hoops you have to jump through to send snail-mail inherently filters out most of the worst garbage.
- xmprt 4y ago
  > I'd take 10x the amount of spam in my mailbox if I could get rid of all of the rest of the garbage I'm bombarded with I for one would not. Digital spam is easy to deal with. There are automated filters, easy ways to block them, and the few that slip through are simple to deal with. Mailbox spam is physically painful to deal with and it's a massive waste of paper.
  - kube-system 4y ago
    Email is the least of my problems. If you know of any good filters for SMS, phone calls, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram, etc, I'd be very interested. I have to mute all of them because it is a constant stream of garbage from all of them.
    - rglullis 4y ago
      For Snapchat/LinkedIn/Instagram: just close your account and put email filters?
      - kube-system 4y ago
        In that case, the problem is just as easy to solve with snail mail. Remove your mailbox and your mail will be returned as undeliverable.

0des 4y ago

You aren't mandated to have mail or phone. Edit: Noting a lot of downvotes on this comment, which is odd. I can only conclude one thing- don't be Amish on HN. Perhaps this could be an opportunity to explore a different way of life, and a different community structure. It is not all horse buggies and barns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6SlJZk5guI&list=PLEyPgwIPkHo7lOk-72-tXJ-NjahfkNF_r https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6SlJZk5guI&list=PLEyPgwIPkH...

ntoskrnl 4y ago
Sure, I could move to the woods and live off wild berries for the rest of my days. But if you want to be part of modern society, your bank will mail you your credit card, and your water company will text you a code to login and pay. Realistically, what choice do you have?
- the_only_law 4y ago
  > Sure, I could move to the woods and live off wild berries for the rest of my days You'd probably just be removed from someones property eventually.
- 0des 4y ago
  Do you not encounter Amish people where you live?
  - ntoskrnl 4y ago
    I wasn't offended and didn't downvote you. But the Amish do receive mail and use phones. First article I found: https://amishamerica.com/do-amish-use-telephones/ https://amishamerica.com/do-amish-use-telephones/
    - 0des 4y ago
      > But the Amish do receive mail and use phones. I am assuming you don't mean to generalize to the degree that is being conveyed at first glance in your explainer comment. Amish people are not a monolith. As a culture it is quite a spectrum, from Beachy to Swartzentruber.
      - ntoskrnl 4y ago
        My experience is based on visits to an Amish town in Ohio when I was growing up in the 2000s. I distinctly remember being surprised to see they used phones and rode in cars. But that was a long time ago and only one town of many. I didn't mean to generalize all Amish communities.
        0des 4y ago
        No worries. It takes all kinds. Who knows, maybe you re-examine the culture and find some things you'd like to take home to your community.
    - zdragnar 4y ago
      Every community decides for itself what technologies to adapt. The nearest to me have a single phone booth in the front yard of one member's house. Anyone wants to use the phone, they go there to make a call, and most only use it if they need to make an appointment at a hospital for serious illnesses. Others not quite as close are a fair degree more liberal in what they adopt, while I imagine there's probably a few that are more strict.
pessimizer 4y ago
I'm pretty sure you are mandated to have mail in the US, or rather the mails are mandated to deliver to you. IIRC it's constitutional.
- 0des 4y ago
  > I'm pretty sure you are mandated to have mail in the US, or rather the mails are mandated to deliver to you. IIRC it's constitutional. You'd be incorrect. Ask your postmaster.
  - criddell 4y ago
    They are correct. The USPS has a universal service obligation. If you send a letter or parcel to any address in the US, the post office must deliver it.
    - 0des 4y ago
      I respectfully disagree. The postal service is held to a standard of service by a USO - Universal Service Obligation. [0] This means it is an org mandated to accept your request for service at a reasonable price regardless of your location of residence. There is an important distinction between that, and being mandated to receive mail service. That is not a stipulation of being alive in USA. [0] - https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/postal-service-and-its-obligation https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/postal-service-and-its-obligati...
      - zdragnar 4y ago
        Just imagine, every drifter, nomad and homeless person were required to set up a mailbox. It's just silly.
        nobody9999 4y ago
        >Just imagine, every drifter, nomad and homeless person were required to set up a mailbox. It's just silly. They don't have to. Just have mail sent to: Joe/Jane Drifter General Delivery TownNearWhereYouSquat, <State> <ZipCode of post office> Or at least that's how it's been done for decades.
philwelch 4y ago
I can understand the concept of Amish communities not having telephones or mailboxes, but that lifestyle seems inconsistent with the behavior of arguing for the merits of that lifestyle on Hacker News.
- 0des 4y ago
  Beachy Amish, it's fine.

kube-system 4y ago

I don't think I agree with that. I rarely get scams via USPS, never get explicit or potentially damaging content, the senders are all in my legal jurisdiction, and the spam arrives once per day in a manageable format. Almost all of the content is from businesses in my local area, businesses that I have previously shopped at, or political ads. Electronically from private companies I frequently get a larger volume of spam, malware, scams, explicit content, and most of them originate outside of my legal jurisdiction to evade the law. And it's a steady stream all day, on multiple mediums. I'd take 10x the amount of spam in my mailbox if I could get rid of all of the rest of the garbage I'm bombarded with. I obviously would rather not have any of it, but the hoops you have to jump through to send snail-mail inherently filters out most of the worst garbage.

xmprt 4y ago
> I'd take 10x the amount of spam in my mailbox if I could get rid of all of the rest of the garbage I'm bombarded with I for one would not. Digital spam is easy to deal with. There are automated filters, easy ways to block them, and the few that slip through are simple to deal with. Mailbox spam is physically painful to deal with and it's a massive waste of paper.
- kube-system 4y ago
  Email is the least of my problems. If you know of any good filters for SMS, phone calls, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram, etc, I'd be very interested. I have to mute all of them because it is a constant stream of garbage from all of them.
  - rglullis 4y ago
    For Snapchat/LinkedIn/Instagram: just close your account and put email filters?
    - kube-system 4y ago
      In that case, the problem is just as easy to solve with snail mail. Remove your mailbox and your mail will be returned as undeliverable.