Before Spam, There Was—and Still Is—Junk Mail

I remember a day when I'd walk to my mailbox, actually looking forward to what I might find inside. Today, I tend to approach the whole process more gingerly, as though something ferocious might fly out when I open the lid.

And while bills don't bite, they still sting.

You see, my mail experience is lacking. The magazine subscriptions are long since canceled. You can forget personal letters from a friend—what is this, any year starting with the number 19'? And wish all you may, but people just don't find tidy piles of cash in the mailbox anymore. And that saddens me, because I like cash.

And yet, the mailbox is rarely empty. So what's in there? It's a highly technical term—junk.

Junk mail is an epidemic. Is it an annoyance? Sure, but a minor one. Is it wasteful? You bet, on a grand scale. But what's most convoluted about the heedless flow of unwanted items that arrive in your mailbox is the laws that govern them. There's two very powerful forces at work here, and that's the Direct Mail Association and the United States Postal Service.

It may seem that with environmental issues getting more attention over the years, this would be a problem that works itself out. But according to the Department of the Treasury, 29 percent of mail in 1980 was "advertising mail;" by 2003, that figure jumped to 43 percent. That's a trend worth bucking.

What's worse—but no doubt plausible—is that 44 percent of junk mail is discarded without even being opened, and only 32 percent is recycled.

There are a number of great services out there that make substantive claims about reducing the bulk of your unsolicited mail. A few include 41pounds.org (the name referring to the weight of junk mail an average adult receives in a year), catalogchoice.org, and precycle.tonic.com.

But even before relying on a service (which have premium options for $10 to $20 that will eliminate 80 to 95 percent of unwanted mail), you should visit dmachoice.org. There you'll register for free, and can control what's sent to you.

Yes, that's the same DMA, as in Direct Mail Association. Of course, when you land on their homepage, you're pitched on why you should receive more mail, not less.

Once you're done with the mail you didn't want in the first place, it can likely be recycled. According to the Burlington County Office of Recycling, window envelopes are fine, but first pull out any product samples or plastic cards. Catalogs, magazines and phone books: recycle, recycle and recycle. 

(You're still receiving phone books? Visit YellowPagesGoesGreen.org to stop automatic home delivery of these quaint tree-bricks.)

Of course, where this issue gets thorny is the fact that more than half of the United States Postal Service revenue comes from direct mail. Legislation prohibiting such unsolicited mailings would have a severely detrimental effect on that workforce: 600,000 strong. But with nine out of 10 people saying they'd prefer not to receive it, both junk mail and the postal service have a rough road ahead.

Now go reclaim your mailbox. I'll keep an eye out for my thank-you note.