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activistPnk ,

My counter attack: I save all the junk flyers over the span of ~4 years or so. Then at election time when the campaign flyers are junking up my box, I find the address of politician whose campaign flyer made it into my mailbox, and I stuff the past 4 years of junk accumulation into their mailbox all at once.

toaster OP ,
@toaster@slrpnk.net avatar

This is hilarious.

JacobCoffinWrites ,
@JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net avatar

Wait does this work in the US? I can make one right now if so!

activistPnk ,

It cannot work in the US; but itā€™s also useless under US rules. That is, it is already illegal nationwide for anyone other than USPS to feed your official US Mail postbox. Some people hate the fact that this gives USPS monopoly power because UPS and FedEx also cannot put anything in your mailbox. But the upside is US mailboxes donā€™t get junked up by a leafletter.

So in the US, the only legal way for mail to enter your postbox is at the hands of USPS, which IIUC means only mail that is addressed to your address because I donā€™t think USPS delivers unaddressed material unless itā€™s actually from USPS. That also means junk mailers must pay postage. If the local pizza shop stuffs flyers in your mailbox, itā€™s criminal and actionable.

The ā€œno marketingā€ tags that people put on mailboxes outside the US (e.g. Europe) is to cover situations where anyone can junk up your mailbox. Then the signage means (in effect) ā€œno mail that is unaddressedā€.

Of course junk /can/ be addressed to you specifically (inside and outside the US), but you wouldnā€™t want the postal worker making guesses about whether itā€™s junk, would you? So I think thatā€™s always delivered.

JacobCoffinWrites ,
@JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net avatar

Good to know. I looked it up around when I asked and it looks like there's a couple websites in the US you can try to opt out on but one requires a SSN and a fee, so I'm skeptical.

activistPnk ,

Hmm.. that reminds me, there may be something w.r.t. direct marketing. Marketers have to get your address and pay postage to junk mail you in the US. That only deters the most reckless marketing efforts. For some ad companies it is worth the postage cost. So then they have to get your address, which means buying your address from a data broker. You can probably pay a fee to get removed from some databases that feed junk mailers.

Data protection is mostly non-existent in the US. So there are countless data brokers that are happy to sell you a removal service. Some data brokers will even remove your records at no cost. But the number of data brokers would require you to quit your job in order to have time to make all the removal requests and constantly monitor new data brokers. So there are services that remove your records from a bulk number of data brokers, for a fee. I think itā€™s normal that they want your SSN because thatā€™s the primary key for everything. But yeah, itā€™s a double-edged sword because you have to trust the cleaning company with your SSN and you canā€™t really know if that SSN just ends up enriching the records of some of the more black market data brokers.

BlitzoTheOisSilent ,

No, it wouldn't work in the US. I won't touch on anything the other commenter said, they are correct, I'd just like to add a few things.

When I was a carrier, I used to open mailboxes and find basically those car windshield flyers sometimes stuffed in the mailbox. Since they weren't delivered by USPS, and don't have proper postage, we were technically supposed to and allowed to take them all back to the office. Once there, the original owner (so whatever business did these shenanigans) would receive notice from the Postmaster basically saying "You owe us $X amount in postage, and you can't have your flyers back until it's paid." It didn't happen often where I was at, and normally the business owner would just write them off and we'd throw them away.

The bigger issue I always had with customers was the "Current Resident/Postal Resident/Postal Customer/Etc" addressed mail. Yeah, it's a flyer full of coupons you don't want, and it doesn't explicitly say your name, but unfortunately, it is still addressed to you, so no, I can't just not deliver it or throw it away. I'd have customers get visibly upset that we kept delivering them, failing to recognize that they weren't the customer in that transaction.

Basically: USPS only delivers things that have proper postage paid, while mail delivery itself is a free service. So if you didn't pay the postage, you aren't the customer. So all those spam flyers and newspapers and crap that say "Current Resident" and all that, USPS was paid to deliver them, and would be breaking the law if they didn't. Is it annoying af? Absolutely, believe me, when I worked there, I would've preferred to save my back/shoulder and throw them out too, but that's not how it works, and people (not you OP) need to get over the entitlement mentality of "but I don't want them delivered to me!!!"

SpaceNoodle ,

What will that accomplish?

blinks6517 ,

I wonder if they are in another country which still has hand dropped advertisements.

toaster OP ,
@toaster@slrpnk.net avatar

Unfortunately, yes.

SpaceNoodle ,

How is that unfortunate? They're delivered by the postal service in the US.

toaster OP , (edited )
@toaster@slrpnk.net avatar

How is that unfortunate?

My mailbox is stuffed full of flyers, Religious pamphlets, etc.

ulterno ,
@ulterno@lemmy.kde.social avatar

What you need is ideas for origami, kirigami and paper mache.
And some free time with family, perhaps.

bjoern_tantau ,
@bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de avatar

Probably depends on the country but often it is not allowed to disregard these stickers on a mailbox. Unless it says please, then it's just a suggestion as had been ruled in Germany.

AchtungDrempels ,

Works like a charm on my mailbox, just that one Pizzeria's flyer runner can't read i guess.

edit: That is funny with the "please", haven't heard about that.

activistPnk ,

Probably depends on the country

Exactly. No one is mentioning their country but it makes all the difference in the world.

In Switzerland, people must subscribe if they want a junk-free mailbox which costs them the equivalent of $/ā‚¬ 30/year. I donā€™t suppose anyone is enthusiastic about paying that heafty fee, but the upside is that it works. If someone puts junk in your Swiss mailbox, itā€™s strictly enforced. The perp gets a fine, which I donā€™t recall if any of that goes toward compensating the victim.

In Belgium, itā€™s free to put a sticker on your mailbox. And itā€™s illegal for people to junk up your mailbox if you have the sticker. But itā€™s unenforced. So the level of junk mail drops a little with the sticker, but it never stops the flow of junk completely because everyone knows itā€™s unenforced.

mindbleach ,

That is... painfully German. Makes sense! But still, Christ.

RageAgainstTheRich ,

They work very well where i live. I don't receive any ads in my mail anymore after putting it on my mailbox.

toaster OP ,
@toaster@slrpnk.net avatar

No more flyers and religious pamphlets. Essentially, anything that isn't addressed. Where I live, the postal service honours signs like these.

It keeps my mailbox clear and reduces waste. I'm tired of being bombarded with advertisements without consent. And judging by how the recycling bin next to the mailboxes is always full of ads, my neighbours feel the same.

Anarki_ ,

I also have one, but how does it reduce waste?

The stuff is still printed and sent.

bjoern_tantau ,
@bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de avatar

They'll have to adjust their output when too much of the stuff comes back.

bitchkat ,

Two years on, I'm still getting mail addressed to the guy I bought the place from (he died shortly after). I write "Deceased. Please Forward". I've been up to the post office they swear they will take care of it but still it come. His realtor says they did a forwarding to his daughters and even paid for the "extra" forwarding. I think the mailman is a dick.

Ultragigagigantic ,
@Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world avatar

"People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply youā€™re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.

You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.

Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. Itā€™s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.

You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially donā€™t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, donā€™t even start asking for theirs."

ā€“ Banksy

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