— by Donna Riordan —
I know I’m not alone in trying to minimize waste and garbage, so I’m compelled to call my fellow islanders’ attention to our local USPS, in particular the massive waste of paper and fuel resources required to create, haul, deliver, recycle, and then destroy junk mail — especially catalogs.
Just before Thanksgiving, the Eastsound Post Office announced that it would no longer recycle catalogs and other direct marketing mail on site (for PO Box users) due to a cancellation of the hauling contract. USPS workers say they have no control over that decision, or the mandate to deliver catalogs and other direct marketing materials. The postmaster posted a notice with an erroneous address for the Direct Marketing Association that one could use to request in writing ($.46 stamp plus an envelope) to be deleted from catalog mailing lists. For a more speedy response, one can visit the DMA website and pay a $5 fee to request cancellation on line. Or, amazingly, we can call each individual catalog and request to be taken off its mailing list!
The irony of USPS’s position was not apparent to me until I started digging into the junk mail issue. As part of its business model, USPS gets paid to deliver junk mail that we don’t want to postal customers either by name or the ubiquitous “current resident.” Then, once junk mail is delivered, we have to pay to have our piles of it hauled off island after depositing it at the local dump. Once an address or PO Box is on a mailing list it will stay there forever unless individuals take active steps to get it removed. In reality, as I learned, getting off a list means considerable time and effort. For that level of service, our postal rates will rise again in January.
The bottom line is that we are all unwilling participants in a fiscal folly to keep the USPS afloat by accepting direct marketing materials. At a time when Orcas Islanders are struggling to cope with the solid waste stream, our local post office should be doing whatever it can to reduce the mountain of junk mail it delivers every year. What can we do? I don’t know, but I’d like to work with others to request a public meeting with our local postmaster to discuss options for issues such as minimizing junk mail, securing a new recycling contract, and so on. Anyone interested in helping me organize such a meeting can contact me at donnagr@cruzio.com.
The USPS gets paid less to deliver more via the bulk mail pricing schedule. If the USPS were trying to make ends meet fiscally than they could charge the same rate for every piece of mail that they handle, within the sizing category. That would probably cut down on junk mailings very quickly.
Also, why is it free to have mail delivered to your mailbox at your house but it costs me $44 to have a PO Box mail delivery?
Good question. I, too, have a PO Box, which is where I’ve been receiving reams of junk mail addressed to many prior owners of that same box. That’s what has caused me to ask these kinds of questions.
The post office is giving bulk rate discounts to catalogues. If they did not have that revenue stream they would cease to be viable. I would say receiving the junk and paying to dispose of it, which I think is $2.00 a can is the least I can do to keep the Post Office operating. I believe that the Republicans in their zeal to privatize everything would shut it down if they could.
Mr Aldort: With respect, your reasoning lacks even the most basic of common sense. You are worried about the “revenue stream” of the USPS. I would suggest that if they can’t compete with FedEx or UPS then the USPS is in the wrong business. They have been operating at a loss for decades.
We receive dozens of unwanted, unsolicited and unread catalogues a week. And now we are asked to take them home and pay to have them disposed of. BTW, I think it is $5 per can at the transfer station. We have called/emailed these catalogue companies to stop sending them but they are unresponsive to that. The cost to the environment, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, is enormous.
Thank you Harvey Aldort. People who have route delivery do not get the luxury of leaving any trash behind. The contract has been reinstated. As Deer Harbor Postmaster, I can say our service has been restored. I cannot answer for other post offices on the island. But they do have the ability to dispose of lobby recycling exactly as it was before.
PS I never realized that 2 dollars a can was such a big deal
It’s not the cost so much (though when you think of it, it’s pretty strange that we can’t refuse unwanted mail yet have to be responsible to dispose of it). It’s the sheer volume of paper that goes to waste. We got the same catalogs over and over from October to December. I don’t think that the local Post Office staff can do anything about it, but there are ways to address the issue. I thought it would make a great senior project — researching and distributing the information. One service is Catalog Choice.
But if you cease the stream of junk mail, how will I get my wood stove started every day? ;-)
Imagine a world where someone else gets to decide who may send mail to you.
It may take a bit but if you ask not to be sent a catalog every time you make an online order, they will disappear eventually. You must make yourself a postit to put at your desk to help you get in the habit.
As for firestarter, colored and or slick advertising copy should never be used in woodstoves. Black and white newsprint only. The other puts out toxic fumes.