It’s 2021: Junk Mail Should Be Banned

I consider myself to be a modern, techie person. My bills are paid online and I have all of my bills sent in the form of an e-statement. Why should I check my mailbox daily?

The only time I ever check my mailbox is if I am expecting a package, that's it. Our neighborhood has community mailboxes. You know the ones where there are about 30 on a block. The mailboxes are small and they're only accessible by key.

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10 days passed since I last check the mail and I was expecting a package. I slid my key into the community mail, open my mailbox and find that it is jam-packed. When I say full, I mean it. I had to take two trips back to my truck just to get all of the mail out of the mailbox.

Why so much mail in only 10 days? Junk mail. Junk mail everywhere. After spending about 5 minutes in my truck sifting through the newly acquired mail removing all of the ads, flyers, and grocery store coupons, I was left with a total of 30 envelopes.

Sorting out the ads made carrying the mail into the house more manageable. However, the part I detest is still yet to come. This part is what I call the "Rip and Sort". I start to rip open the envelopes to decipher whether or not it's something that is important or just plain junk.

A total of five envelopes opened and I have yet to receive a single piece of mail that doesn't need to be burned in the fire pit. On the sixth envelope, I finally get a piece of mail that warranted another pile other than junk.

As you can imagine, junk mail from about every aspect was in that pile. From mortgage refinancing offers to extended car warranties, real estate brokers wanting to purchase my home and even junk mail addressed to my dad who passed away nearly a decade ago. It's sheer lunacy.

The daunting task of opening 30 envelopes took me nearly 20 minutes to complete. When it was all said and done, I was left with six pieces of actual mail and 24 envelopes of useless paper.

The one sure-fire way that some of these solicitors get you to open their junk mail, is to use deceptive tactics. They disguise the mail as an important bill that is overdue with second attempt or final notice stamped in red on the front of the envelope. Verbiage like that will put you in a panic-opening frenzy, only to find a letter saying you've been selected for a special deal on an extended car warranty.

I don't know about you, but I would never even consider giving my business to a company that utilizes these types of marketing tactics to gain a customer. It's kind of a scummy thing to do to make someone think they have missed a payment on one of their bills in the hopes the receiver of that letter will open it.

There's are all sorts of bans, laws, and rules in place. Why not one for junk mail? It's useless and a waste of materials. These envelopes and their contents either end up being recycled or tossed in the trash.

Keep the grocery store coupons coming though. Because who doesn't want $1.00 off two pints of ice cream. Yes, I do love a good deal.