Today, first class postage goes up for the third consecutive year to 44 cents, and it provides a good opportunity to think about who the US Postal Service really seems to be serving. While everyday citizens, like you and me, are again paying a little bit more, junk mailers, who already pay around a third of what we pay, are getting an extra 30% rebate this summer if they send out even more junk mail than they did last summer.
The USPS has taken a look at its precarious situation, and decided that the problem is that Americans aren’t receiving enough junk mail. They’re evidently uninterested in the fact that most Americans resent junk mail. And they certainly don’t mind all the paper waste at a time when deforestation is a major global climate issue.
Does this sound like a USPS headed in the right direction?
It’s not really about an increase of a few cents on a stamp, it’s about a government institution making sense. Call me crazy, but I think ‘making sense’ is generally a good goal for the goverment.
Growing up in the 80s and 90s, stamp collecting was already becoming a somewhat retro hobby. But I do remember that it seemed like a big deal in 1993 when the Elvis stamps came out in 1993. I wasn’t completely sure why.
But there’s no question that, along with handmade cards and USPS uniforms (which I always thought were cool!) stamps have always been one of the more aesthetically interesting aspects of mail.
Every article I’ve seen on this has used “D’oh!” in its title, but I’m wondering what other jokes you Simpsons fans out there can come up with. There’s got to be some good ones.
With symphony musicians in the family, our home is often filled the sounds of concertos, symphonies, and string quartets. When I write (which I do a lot), lyrics can break my concentration, so if I’m sitting down to plot out a first draft of something, it’s All Classical radio or nothing.
Like a lot of organizations, they send out some direct mail. But the last mailing they sent me was definitely the best because, well, it’s going to be the last! Here it is:
Beginning July 1, we are eliminating Clef Notes, our monthly printed newsletter. This will save All Classical over $65,000 per year and save many trees. From a stewardship point of view, it was hard for us as broadcasters to continue to incur printing costs and distribute content on paper that was redundant to our e-newsletter and website…
Kudos to All Classical for recognizing the cost—financial and environmental—that a monthly printed newsletter incurs, and for trying something new. How many other local businesses and nonprofits are doing the same? If you know of any, let us know in the comments!
At the end of this article titled “DMA, Forest Ethics trade jibes Over SF Do Not Mail Resolution” (the article’s actually not that exciting), the writer asks a “lobbyist” for his/her take on how to continue to beat down Do Not Mail and consumer choice:
The Lobbyist’s Take: Consumers are not just price-sensitive, in today’s economy they’re price-driven. If this resolution ever threatens to be put to public vote, individual mailers should use mass media to showcase examples of bargains available only to through-the-mail shoppers…and then point out that any consumer electing to be on the do-not-mail list is going to pay more. Note the wording there, folks: It ain’t about missing out: it’s about paying more. We’re in hard-sell times. And an interesting note: Postmaster general Jack Potter has commented that when standard mail volume drops, per-piece standard mail prices rise. Any local SF merchants, who use direct mail to generate foot traffic, care to weigh in?
I’ll weigh in!
The whole logic behind this strikes me as weird. Let me see if I understand this right:
Marketers know that large numbers of Americans would prefer not to be advertised to through the mail;
This lobbyist is suggesting that instead of taking this information to heart and adapting to give customers what they want, direct marketers should reject their customers’ wishes and instead try to limit their customers’ options only to the thing that they don’t want, in the hopes of convincing them that what they don’t want is actually something that they do want.
Like, doesn’t this violate some pretty basic tenets of marketing? This is like NBC or CBS taking their worst rated show and, instead of canceling it, putting it on 24 hours a day: “Then they’ll have no choice but to like it!”
Annabelle Gurwitch, host of Planet Green’s show “Wa$ted” and all-around renaissance progressive, was recently on the CBS Early Show, where the host made a predictable ‘going green can help you save green’ joke and Annabelle discussed one of her favorite topics: donotmail.org!
Of course, your home and mine has also been inundated with lots and lots of junk mail, but anecdotal evidence suggests that someone may be deliberately signing up Covington Township for everything from Antique Power Magazine to free samples of eye cream in an effort to lodge some sort of protest. Or, perhaps, in an effort to inform them about antique power or eye cream. The majority of it, officials say, is health-related. Hmmm…. Excuse me for a moment while I arch my eyebrows and thoughtfully stroke my chin.
City officials also feel that it’s laborious to dispose of, annoying, and a threat to the security of their identities:
Since November, she’s logged in nearly 500 pieces of unsolicited mail. Before then, the junk mail was discarded.
“There’s a lot of work involved in this,” Mr. Yerke said.
“Work that could be used for other things in the township,” added Supervisor Marlene Beavers.
U.S. Postal Inspector Lawrence Dukes said the case would likely be referred to the local postal inspector, and then to the proper law enforcement officials if necessary. It’s unclear at this point whether or not an actual crime is involved.
“It is a nuisance, if nothing else,” Mr. Dukes said.
In addition to costing taxpayers money to correct the mail and interfering with taxpayer business, supervisors worry about what personal information of theirs is out in the public realm.
Mr. Yerke said he’s received calls requesting his Social Security number and birthdate and referencing a trip to Puerto Rico he didn’t book.
Ms. Beavers said she’s been receiving personal calls about her mortgage and credit card — and she has neither. “I feel really violated,” she said.
Sounds to me like Convington Township needs a Do Not Mail Registry.
Today, Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazurus makes a well-intentioned effort to come face to face with people working in the junk mail industry, to hear about how the economy is effecting them, and to consider whether or not he can have a sliver of sympathy for the culprits behind one of the most annoying and wasteful facets of modern life.
Nope—he still thinks junk mail sucks:
On one side of the building, a group of about a dozen women were hand-stuffing envelopes with brochures for a high-end clothing company. On the other side, a machine was stuffing envelopes with pitches for one of those sneaky “mortgage protection” firms that try to look like they’re a government agency. A huge stack of brochures for a cruise-ship line stood nearby awaiting processing.
It was the junk mail heart of darkness.
It’s a great article, but we particularly enjoyed the part bolded above. As my colleague Corinne mentioned this morning, the U.S. Postal Service’s heavy subsidies for junk mail virtually guarantee that Americans receive a large quantity of highly misleading offers regarding our homes and finances.
This system is not an innocent bystander in the economic collapse of this country. In fact, it’s yet another example of a bloated system designed to benefit a very small number of people while doing nothing or worse for the rest of us.
“A ‘do not mail’ program is a blunt instrument that serves nobody well.”
Let me see if I understand this correctly: this is a defense of junk mail that’s accusing somebody else of using ablunt instrument?
Of course, Do Not Mail wouldn’t be a blunt instrument at all. It would give everyone the choice to either receive or not receive junk mail, thereby giving direct marketers a list of the specific customers who might be receptive to hearing from them. In my opinion, that’s precision.
Do you agree? Is Do Not Mail a hacksaw or a scalpel?
We get a lot of fan mail around here, but we also appreciate visits from, ahem, non-supporters, like this comment:
wow in this time of economic crisis you people can still think of ways to take jobs away from those that are still lucky enough to have jobs. Now with the do not mail campaign this will cut mail volume of the post office by up to 50% from an already failing business. Looks like usps, who is the second largest employer in the nation, will have to start laying off employees for the first time in history. Thanks for not helping the economy and putting more fellow americans on the streets. I’m sure there are a lot of people that think the post office will not resort to lay offs but I’m telling everyone now that it will happen and all thanks to the do not mail campaign.
It’s true: the U.S. Postal Service is already a failing business.
If a restaurant serves food that people don’t like, and has been in debt for years because they keep cooking more and more food that their customers don’t want, is the implementation of some basic health regulations (which the public wants) really the biggest threat to the long-term survival of the restaurant?
The U.S. Postal Service insists that their junk mail-intensive business plan is the only plan that will work for them, but the fact is, their junk mail-intensive business plan isn’t working at all. They have been hemorrhaging cash for years.
And that will cost postal jobs long before a Do Not Mail Registry ever does.
There is currently no Do Not Mail Registry in the United States. Anywhere. Yet the Postal Service is in serious, serious financial trouble. They’ve been in serious, serious trouble since before the economic downturn. Regardless of Do Not Mail, postal jobs are not sustainable given the USPS’ current business model.
First class mail has declined due to E-mail, FedEx, and UPS. However, few people argue that these things should be restricted in order to increase postal circulation and protect postal jobs. Why? Because these are things that consumers want. They’re common sense tools for modern life.
The U.S. Postal Service must adapt to meet their customers needs and the needs of the world we’re living in. And they must do this not only for their customers, and for the environment, but they must do it to protect their workforce.
Because Americans want Do Not Mail. Frankly, a lot of people who are not all that concerned about the environment want Do Not Mail. They simply believe that they deserve the choice to opt-out.
And with majorities as large as 89%, they will get what they want. It is critical that the U.S. Postal Service prepare. And stop working so hard to protect a system that isn’t working, isn’t making its employees more secure, and that its customers by and large resent.
Forgive my all-caps madness, but we are unbelievably pumped to announce that for the first time, the junk mail industry has been foiled in its attempt to deny Americans the choice to stop junk mail.
Yes, my friends, the San Francisco Do Not Mail Resolution passed–by a 9-2, veto-proof majority.
Now pardon me while I dance around my office. I was just at the hearing, where I had to keep myself somewhat composed.
<dancedancedance>
OK, I’m back. Having worked on the national Do Not Mail campaign since it launched last March, I’ve seen a lot happen with the campaign. Here are the highlights of this particular chapter of the campaign:
The tireless support and energy of San Francisco Do Not Mail supporters; (Members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors were shocked by the amount of emails and calls they received over the last few weeks!)
The leadership of the resolution’s sponsor Ross Mirkarimi and the steadfastness of the other 8 SF Supervisors who voted for the resolution in the face of intense pressure from the junk mail industry and the U.S. Postal Service; (Send a thank you message to Supervisor Mirkarimi!)
The potential for all the places Do Not Mail–you, me, ForestEthics, and champions of common sense everywhere– can go from here!
Growing up in the 80s and 90s, stamp collecting was already becoming a somewhat retro hobby. But I do remember that it seemed like a big deal in 1993 when the Elvis stamps came out in 1993. I wasn’t completely sure why.
Forgive my all-caps madness, but we are unbelievably pumped to announce that for the first time, the junk mail industry has been foiled in its attempt to deny Americans the choice to stop junk mail.
