How much junk mail does the U.S. Postal Service need to send to make up an indefensible deficit of $25 million a day?

When the U.S. Postal Service proposed eliminating Saturday delivery to help put it back on a fiscally sustainable path, I decided to keep track of my inbound mail, excluding packages, to find out how much of it was worthwhile.

I suspected, appropriately as it turns out, that most of my mail was useless junk mail.

The numbers support this suspicion.

In the month of April, I received 251 ounces of mail. Of that, 105 ounces of mail was useful — bills, magazines, and notices from organizations that I support.

The other 146 ounces — more than 9 pounds of junk mail — went directly into the trash.

In other words, 58 percent of my incoming mail was landfill fodder.

I hope increasing junk mail isn’t being considered as part of the solution for the U.S. Postal Service’s fiscal problems. If it is, I’m going to need a lot bigger mailbox.

What a waste.

You weighed your mail?

Have you ever filled out a "change of address" form at the post office when you moved, so that they can forward your mail? If so, USPS has just sold your address to thousands of potential junk mailers. The trick when you're filling out this form is to check the box indicating a "temporary move". This will forward your mail for six months without selling your address to anybody.

Once you're on the list there's not much you can do...other than take the 30 seconds to call each mailer and get removed from their list. Might seem like a pain, but just think of it as doing your part to help the environment and screw the postal service.

So what? They make money from it. If mailers are dumb enough to keep mailing UPS will gladly take their money.

I wish they printed the ad crap I get in my mail on burnable material, atleast then I could use it for kindling.

OP is a whiny ass titty baby who is too retarded to simply throw away the junk mail.

The junk mail deluge helps limit costs for us to mail things. Look at it that way.

Instead of starting a crappy thread about your issues.

WATB detector Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OP is a whiny ass titty baby who is too retarded
> to simply throw away the junk mail.
>
> The junk mail deluge helps limit costs for us to
> mail things. Look at it that way.
>
> Instead of starting a crappy thread about your
> issues.


it fills up the mail box, and it makes me accidently miss important mail

Butt Hurt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WATB detector Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > OP is a whiny ass titty baby who is too
> retarded
> > to simply throw away the junk mail.
> >
> > The junk mail deluge helps limit costs for us
> to
> > mail things. Look at it that way.
> >
> > Instead of starting a crappy thread about your
> > issues.
>
>
> it fills up the mail box, and it makes me
> accidently miss important mail


That 'junk mail' is about the only thing that the post office doesn't lose tons of money on. And the only reason why you pay only a small portion of the actual cost for delivering first class mail. You can like it or not, but it's what's paying the freight.

Butt Hurt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WATB detector Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > OP is a whiny ass titty baby who is too
> retarded
> > to simply throw away the junk mail.
> >
> > The junk mail deluge helps limit costs for us
> to
> > mail things. Look at it that way.
> >
> > Instead of starting a crappy thread about your
> > issues.
>
>
> it fills up the mail box, and it makes me
> accidently miss important mail


Yep, retarded.

OP is confused. Companies send mail to the public because they find it effective advertising. The USPS delivers it. They are mandated by Congress to do so and deliver to every address in the country. USPS is continuing to deliver mail 6 days per week because Congress signed a continuing resolution mandating that. USPS is prevented from making changes that would reduce costs by Congress. Some people are hostile to USPS. They really don't understand the situation. Consider what would happen to any company if the public decided not to buy its product but Congress insisted that they maintain the same infrastructure and deliver to every address 6 days per week regardless.