How Much Junk Mail?

Like everyone, I receive what seems like waay too much junk mail. So last year (2011) I decided to conduct a little experiment.

For the calendar year, January 1 through December 31, every credit card offer I received I tossed not into the trash, but into a box. (Actually, I never toss them into the trash, I toss them into the paper shredder, for security purposes. But never mind.)

At the end of the year, the box contained 154 individual mail pieces, ranging from ordinary #10 business envelopes to custom chipboard packets.

That's one year’s worth of credit card offers, only – it does not include the similarly-plentiful mailers about switching my phone to the cable company or switching my cable to the phone company or switching my cable to the other cable company or switching my phone to the other phone company.

Nor does it includes all the other “normal” junk mail, such as supermarket fliers, local merchant coupons, driveway paving offers, roofing company mailings... you don’t need me to tell you how long the list can be.

Nor does it include my two favorites, regular mailings from two national organizations to which my wife and I have belonged for several years, inviting us to join.  How much lower might our annual membership cost be if it were not supporting repeated membership solicitations to people like us who are already members?

Anyway, back to the year’s worth of credit card offers. 154 individual mail pieces means that, on average, I received a credit card offer every 2.37 days last year. If we eliminate weekends and holidays, including only business days in 2011, then I received a credit card offer every 1.63 days.

Sadly, if was seeking to document a large volume of junk mail I may have chosen the wrong genre to collect.  I think that the phone/cable mail pieces outnumbered the credit card offers, as they frequently arrived in multiple numbers on a single day.

Earlier this year I started the process of putting all these credit card offers through the paper shredder.  Saving a year's worth doesn't seem like such a good idea any more...

It's a Bargain

In an earlier post, below, I wrote about, among other things, paying bills online. There exists a very direct link between that practice and the recent announcement from the US Postal Service concerning its latest rate increases. A First Class stamp will go from the current 44 cents to 46 cents beginning on January first of next year. Among the reasons cited, diminished postal revenue due to increasing use of e-mail and online bill paying.

Predictably, many people and organizations have their shorts in a bunch over this increase. Not me.

Oh, I understand the impact this increase has on business users and on non-profits and other organizations. I operate a business and I send out plenty of mail. I am an officer in a not-for-profit that sends out a newsletter. A 4.5 percent increase in any cost is not to be dismissed.

But for individuals, the persons who might be sending a bill payment to the plumber or a birthday card to Aunt Millie, 46 cents remains a bargain.

I look at it this way: I have in my hand an envelope that needs to go from New Jersey to Denver. How do I get it there? I engage a courier to take it there for me. That courier charges me 46 cents. 46 cents to carry my envelope across town or across the country. It’s a steal.

Despite the incredible convenience and timeliness of e-mail and web-based delivery, there are still plenty of occasions for which a physical envelope needs to be sent. For those occasions, I am perfectly happy to pay the USPS their First Class rate.