Comments on: Guardian Goes Green, Supports U.S. Mail

By: sam the sham

sam the sham — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 11:53:19 +0000

I have also been doing this for years – in addition to recycling. Does not appear to stop the junk mail, but it is, as robert says puts it, a hobby.

By: Depot Bill

Depot Bill — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:34:24 +0000

I take it one step beyond. I include (if it fits in the envelope) additional junk mail from spammers who are too cheap to send me a return envelope. This way I am (1) preserving the land fill for my milk cartons, and (2) helping the Post Office volume-there by keeping the workers from being disgruntled and grabbing guns.

By: robert

robert — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 22:30:27 +0000

New found thing??
I’ve been doing it for years. I even tear the one’s out of magazine and send them back to them.
It’s a hobby. Well okay i’m trying to piss em off.

By: bikeboy

bikeboy — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:25:10 +0000

I’ve been doing what you describe – sending back business-reply junk mail – for quite some time, Dave. Welcome aboard! (I’d heard that it was a regular first-class rate if you send it back.)

I do one additional thing, however. Rather than tear off my name and address, I write a cheerful-and-polite “no thanks” across the application in big letters, usually with a happy face, and put it and all the accompanying mail-detritus back in the envelope and send it on its way. I want ’em to know who I am – maybe they’ll quit “spammin'” me.

(A lot of that stuff goes to Young America, Minnesota. I bet life is great in a place called Young America… until you turn 30 and they whack you with a corn-chopper. But I digress.)

By: Sara

Sara — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:57:25 +0000

Dave – you mean you don’t recycle? All waste paper that comes in the mail, all newspaper, all cardboard can be recycled at the curb with the exception of those astrobright papers. There is never a reason to throw it away.

I know this sounds incredibly granola headish but think of it this way. The less that goes into the landfill means the farther out into the future the County jacks the rates through the roof.

EDITOR NOTE–We do indeed recycle MOST items and even have our own sorting system for cans, plastics, and newspapers.

By: Michael Quinlan

Michael Quinlan — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:21:47 +0000

The rates for Business Reply Mail (BRM) are at http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/507.htm#wp1044635. For “High-Volume Qualified BRM” it is 38 cents for the 1st ounce plus 17 cents for each additional ounce plus 0.5 cents per piece.

FYI

By: Clancy

Clancy — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:26:14 +0000

I think the USPS will earn some cash but not the whole $.41. Bulk mail usually travels out at a lower rate and probably back to the culprit at the lower rate. Fill them with extra nuts, washers etc…..

Or RECYCLE the paper.