Super Eco

Photo credit: lu_lu, flickr

52% of US mail is junk. That's right! More than half of what comes into your mailbox—catalogs, circulars, advertisements, credit offers, sweepstakes offers, everything urging you to buy! buy! buy!—is something you're likely to throw away. And while the USPS's lobby recycling program is laudable, and certainly will help in keeping this junk out of landfills, it makes much more sense to stop junk at its source. The problem? The USPS doesn't want you to.

Opt-out programs are burdensome. You can register online with the Direct Mail Association, but this only affects direct mail sent to you by the companies that subscribe to its list. And their lists are updated maybe only quarterly, so your junk mail won't stop immediately. You can also mail in a form (along with a dollar). But what about other mail? You can eliminate Val-Pak and other "occupant" mailers of envelopes stuffed with coupons by writing them directly. Again, burdensome. Catalog mailing is from a list kept by Epsilon; email them to decline further catalogs. For credit offers, you can phone (888) 5OPTOUT (888-567-8688) to opt out. There are ways to opt out of receiving phone books (plus anything resulting from having your name listed IN a phone book), sweepstakes, charities, product registration notices, supermarket loyalty mailers, as well as anything mailed to you from large data compiling companies. Each of these requires a separate letter, email, or phone call. No one stop shopping here. Want to stop junk mail? The burden is on you.

But hold on. What was that earlier about the postal service not wanting us to opt out of junk mail?

Easy. Junk mail is a big source of income for the USPS. Think about it. If over half total mail volume is junk, that's a lot of bulk-rate postage, isn't it? Never mind that the USPS is billions of dollars in debt (and raising postage in May to 44¢ isn't exactly going to make a huge dent in that deficit).

Not only that, but postal worker's pay is tied directly to mail volume delivered. It's in the best interest of your local postal carrier to bring you junk. How messed up is that?

So let's talk about alternatives. There's a handy one right next door in the Great White North: Canada. Known for being on the progressive side about things like health care and defense, Canada also has a handle on junk mail.

In Canada, if you don't want to receive junk mail, you post a notice ("No Junk Mail") on your mailbox. That's it. Junk mail stops. Even if your notice falls off and blows away, you won't get junk mail. Ever. Because Canada Post centralizes its information, and once it gets the message that you're not a fan of the junk, it stops arriving. Forever.

Plus, apparently Canada Post is a pretty great place to work. Average pay for letter carriers is between $55,000 - $60,000 (average USPS letter carrier pay is about $50,000, about the same as Canada with currency equivalency) and they rate working conditions high with benefits like day care. And environmentally it's a way better deal, too. Every time someone posts "No Junk Mail" on their mailbox, it's one less piece of mail even created. If Canada Post won't deliver it, it doesn't get made to begin with. Saves resources for everyone. Postage prices aren't exactly out of whack, either, at 54¢ for a basic letter.

We can't expect to overhaul a huge gaping sore like the USPS overnight, but change is called for. It's leaking money constantly, and small-scale postage increases won't fix that. So what can help?

We do see hope. Next week in San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors votes to ban junk mail. So goes San Francisco, so goes the nation? Perhaps. You can sign a petition to get a Do Not Mail registry in your state. (It worked for junk telephone calls.)

Until then, you can always go extreme. Or change your address a lot.