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Most US locales in which I've lived provide only a very small garbage bin, and charge hefty fees for any extra bags you put out for collection that don't fit neatly inside the bin. This puts a burden on residents to keep their trash collection fees lower by engaging in more responsible consumption practices.
But what about trash that isn't the resident's fault, trash that gets HAND DELIVERED to one's mailbox completely unsolicited, ie junk mail?
I propose that any mail which is sent unsolicited must include a small extra postal stamp, the cost of which is credited directly to the recipient's trash collection account to offset the cost of them discarding it. After all, why should I have to pay to dispose of this trash you've sent me?
[link]
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You shouldn't have to go to such lengths to stop unsolicited paper from being stuffed into your mailbox though. |
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Two things exist to fix that north of the border. 1) Opt out of receiving circulars etc - just put a little note on your mailbox "no flyers or unsolicited mail please". Works fine. 2) Lose the bin - we put out however many bags we have. |
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Funny the weird problems the US runs into sometimes. Curious if this is an issue literally any where else in the world. |
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As per [tatterdemalion], do you not do "No Junk Mail" signs in the USA? Is it a "Home Owners Association" sort of rule? |
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1. Retain SASE envelope(s) sent to you by obnoxious cash- or feedback-seeking entity as part of the unsolicited "junk" mail. |
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2. Stuff those envelopes full of junk mail from other entities (after sifting through and retaining any SASE envelopes)*. |
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3. Mail the thus re-used junk mail envelope(s), thus being rid of all offending junk mail, at no cost to yourself. |
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*2b. You may wish to include a jolly note explaining that you don't appreciate receiving unsolicited mail, and you would appreciate the help of the unsolicited-mail sender to manage this mail from other unsolicited-mail senders, thank you very much. |
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//And then there's this// Thank you for the prescient summary of my annotation [a1], which I could've looked at earlier, I suppose. |
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I'm a bit surprised there isn't yet a tiny device that efficiently burns junk mail along with dried used coffee grounds and tea leaves to heat a single serving of water for more tea/coffee. |
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a1, the link of yours I've flagged is "Access denied". It's visible on archive.org though. |
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//2) Lose the bin - we put out however many bags we have.// |
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Some places require you to put stuff in the bin provided.
We used to be allowed to put out however many bags we wanted, but now the bin-men won't collect anything which isn't in the (actually quite large) bin the local authority provided. |
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Being able to charge a fee on a service to reduce usage is a recognised and generally effective practice. It's suggested occasionally for mail, and email, etc.
The down-side is that it often costs more to process than a sensible fee would be worth. That may be less the case for some services nowadays.
The postal service could probably add a small amount to stamps and pay that back to delivery addresses fairly efficiently. But that wouldn't help prevent hand-delivered junk-mail. |
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<access denied link>
//Weird, it still works for me.// |
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It's probably geo-restricted to North America. I see that occasionally. |
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