Virtually Paul

Junk Mail

August 18, 2007 on 1:51 pm | In Environmentally Trendy |

I used to deliver Junk Mail when I was in high school but that was back when I didn’t have my own letterbox to clear.  My Mum loves the stuff, so the year when all of the catalogues got delivered by a truck to our house a few days before I delivered them to everyone else, she was pretty happy.   She even used to pass the leftovers on to people from church and from her work, who lived in other areas and didn’t get the catalogues for particular shops.

Suffice it to say, there is a market out there for junk mail.  People read it and they make purchase decisions based on it.  A percentage of the population study it.  Some probably just look at the front if something catches their eye.  Either way, the companies are making money, so they’re happy to pay for us to receive it.

In my situation though, I’m wondering whether it’s a justifyable use of paper.  Chances are that if I really need to buy something, I’ll work that out on my own.  Knowing that Dick Smith have those BlueAnt phone car kits for $99 is in no way helpful for my bank balance.  I am probably going to buy one now and it’s all Geoff’s fault for leaving the catalogue lying on the kitchen bench.  Not to mention the car stereo I saw in the JBs catalogue, which also reminds me of all of the DVDs that I was thinking I might buy.

In my previous two houses, one of my housemates was a massive greenie, so he got his black texta and wrote “No Junk Mail” on the letterbox.  It usually faded off after a while and when he moved out (got married), the junk mail started to come back.  Someone would generally bring it inside but none of us read it.  For a good while there, we were stockpiling it behind the front door.

Anyway, feeling quite chuffed with myself, I found one of those annoying magnetic cards that politicians use to advertise themselves (with a few emergency phone numbers and a calendar in an attempt to thinly disguise it).  I peeled off the card, wrote “no junk mail” on the paper-y surface still stuck to the magnet, and whacked it on the letterbox.  It was recycling poetry.

Now that I’m sharing with Geoff, the ball game has changed a bit.  It seems he isn’t anywhere near as junk mail averse as myself.  So, while I’d like to go for the permanent solution and put the magic sign on the letterbox once again (or alternatively put the recycling bin next to it), it seems that Geoff isn’t particularly passionate about it either way.

What’s your stance?