Going to the post office would be more enjoyable -- I like the socializing -- if there was something in our mailbox other than bills. But I always find myself irked by junk mail -- my own and that addressed to deceased family members. At least I don't have the worry a homeowner in Leeds, England has after being threatened with legal action after a woman claimed she trapped her hand in his letterbox while delivering unwanted junk mail.
Paul O'Brien, 44, said, “I just cannot believe someone who came on to my property uninvited, to put junk mail that I didn’t want through my door, can now sue me because they hurt themselves.”
Students at a San Francisco art academy recently used junk mail to create fashion, fine art and design. English artist Anne Cohen was inspired by junk mail to create a sculpture that sets her garden apart from the rest of the street. Her frustration was channelled by mounting the unwanted mail on a tall metal spike outside her Newcastle home. It reached over six feet high and by the end she had to stand on a chair to add more.
Cohen told the BBC, “It's amazing when you see how much is there. It is such a waste of paper, inks and energy, as most people just pick this sort of stuff up by the armful and bin it.”
Return unwanted post
Officials in a small Swedish town called Flen are so tired of receiving junk mail that they now return any unwanted post to the sender with a note explaining the local council's environmental policy. The town said has even requested it not receive any new phone books at town hall since all the information is readily available on the Internet.
Our neighbours to the south receive an unimaginable 100 billion pieces of junk mail each year or 30 per cent of all mail delivered in the world. According to the conservation group ForestEthics, about 44 per cent of it gets pitched unopened -- yet it takes 17 trees to make a ton of paper.
In 2003 the Do Not Call Registry addressed those pesky telemarkers calling at suppertime with what became the most popular consumer rights bill in U.S. history. Pollsters have proved that over 80 per cent of people dislike the junk and are seeking a mechanism that will address their frustration and concern. Last week ForestEthics launched its Do Not Mail Registry.
The word is junk mail kills more than 100 million trees each year in our boreal forest and more tropical places. Canadian trees store more carbon than any other ecosystem on earth I'm told. Forest destruction apparently produces as much global warming emissions as 3.7 million cars.
Starting to slump in UK
ForestEthics has placed a petition at
www.DoNotMail.org, where Americans can register their disapproval.
Surely big business would benefit in the long run because the signup process would eliminate mailings to people who aren't going to read their messages anyway, saving money and allowing them to target their audience better.
In Britain, direct marketing is starting to slump. According to the Royal Mail, there are now 800,000 fewer items being delivered annually than at the industry peak in 2003. Perhaps firms are getting better at targeting direct mail so people only get offers that they might be interested in.
There are some web sites worth checking out on this topic like one to stop catalogs -
www.catalogchoice.org. You can opt out of credit card mailings by phone at 1-888-567-8688, or online at
www.optoutprescreen.com. I even discovered you can sign up with the Deceased Do Not Contact list at
www.ims-dm.com But best of all Michaele Kustudich at the local Council of Canadians was networking on the topic last week and recommended the really sensible Red Dot Campaign. Beth Ringdahl and two fellow Vancouverites started the campaign to spread the word about Canada Post’s ‘Consumer Choice Option,’ which lets people opt out of receiving unwanted advertising by writing a letter.
It behooves us all to take some responsibility. One fifth of the world’s richest people consume over 84 per cent of the worlds paper. The poorest fifth use just over one per cent.
