As a kid I had a brief stint as a junk mailer. I used to wish more people would stick no junk mail stickers on their boxes so I could cruise past without interupting my walk. But people can be so apathetic that even if they don't particularly like junk mail, they can't be bothered to get a no junk mail sticker.

(side note: has anyone noticed how difficult it is to buy these stickers from mainstream stores... probably because these store are also the worst offenders when it comes to junk mailing... even the post office doesn't sell them!).

Anywho, I figure if you're a junk mailer, you'd be wise to invest in a few hundred stickers, and stick 'em on every box on your route.

Of course there are a few people who actually like junk mail and would peel the sticker off, but these houses could be easily remembered.

End result: the junk mailer has a nice stroll around the suburb and no-one gets junk mail unless they really want it.
-- xaviergisz, Oct 29 2004

Inquisition mail sorter Inquisition_20mail_20Sorter
Cuts down on junk mail for US recipients. [ye_river_xiv, Jul 31 2006]

Is there a postal regulation that defines "junk mail" , and i doubt a sticker would have any effect on the mail delivery. on What country/planet does this work?
-- dentworth, Oct 29 2004


Junk mail comes through the mail, so even if you had a sticker you'd still get it. The postal carrier is not going to sort through your mail and keep the junk and how does he know what is junk and what is not?
-- bspollard, Oct 29 2004


This varies regionally, obviously.

In some places, most of the junk mail is not addressed. The postman or -woman simply picks up a big pile of catalogs and inserts one per mailbox. In that case, it's easy to tell. In other places, commercial mailings might receive a special discount; in yet others, much of junk mail is brought by independent carriers like our poster, who could be fined if they ignore stickers.

Some instances of sticker use:

I've read that in Canada, the postal service has begun to respect "No junk mail" stickers in 1997, and not deliver unaddressed mail to those households.

In Australia, there's a federal law against delivering various kinds of mail to mailboxes marked in various ways; if people ignore it, they can be fined.
-- jutta, Oct 29 2004


so then, this is widely know to exist.
-- dentworth, Oct 29 2004


No, the idea is not for the sticker; the idea is (jokingly) for a delivery person to blanket their area in stickers to reduce their workload. Which makes sense only if the delivery person is paid by their time or by geographical area covered, not (as I'm used to) by number of pamphlets delivered.
-- jutta, Oct 29 2004


I like it. Junk mail should be something you have to opt for rather than something thats tricky to opt out of.
-- RobertKidney, Oct 29 2004


I can empathize with the idea but just think how expensive our regular mail would be if the junk mailers didn't help subsidize the cost of the USPS go from box to box. However, it would save some trees.
-- shoesuntied, Oct 30 2004


[jutta]'s right, "no junk mail" stickers work here in Canada. But I don't think this counts as an original idea, more of an advocacy? All junk mailers should do this?
-- lintkeeper2, Oct 30 2004


A similar thought occured to me not that long ago.. All it would take is for a thoughtful company to dispatch sponsored 'no junk mail' stickers (I'm thinking an anti-spam software company might like to do this) via junk mail, and surely, if people had such a sticker in their hands, they'd stick it on their mail box.

As [Jutta] said, in Australia this system is in place and works curiously well.
-- neilp, Nov 02 2004


I think the prime reason the "no junk mail" stickers work in Australia is that stores recognise that posting to such a box is only going to antagonise the recipient. An understanding that would probably cross regional boundaries. Bun for your ingenuity. +
-- Nontaigne, Nov 02 2004


[Nontaigne] I really don't think that'll work in the US and I am very surprised that it works anywhere. Email spam does nothing but antagonize 99.99% of it's recipients, but the .0001% that respond still makes it worthwhile to keep up.
[xaviergisz] most likely if this happened, and the junk mailer came back saying that all the mailboxes had no junk mail stickers, the boss would just pay someone else who would disregard the stickers.
Unless there is some system of discouragement I don't think that no junk mail stickers will work.
-- brodie, Nov 02 2004


[brodie] What can I say... when people put 'no junk mail' stickers on their mailboxes here it works. I take your point on the US though.
-- Nontaigne, Nov 02 2004


Bun for anything to limit junk mail. Here in the US, it is the bread and butter of the postal system. Perhaps I'll have to bake something for use here.

Until then, perhaps you could smuggle some stickers across the border, just so we can state our feelings.
-- ye_river_xiv, Jul 31 2006


You should have been more enterprising and offered them (donations accepted) to those who didn't have them
-- Dub, Jul 31 2006


Commercially produced stickers? Just write "No junk mail, please" with a marker pen on your letterbox. Works a treat, I've found.
-- Texticle, Jul 31 2006


I've finished halfbaking the "Inquisition Mail Sorter," This won't actually stop junk mail from being recieved (an illegal effort anyway in the US) but the recipient would no longer need to look at it. A bit extreme for other places perhaps, but that's the price we pay for our peculiar "democracy."
-- ye_river_xiv, Jul 31 2006


[Texticle] I reckon less people respond to a hand written sign, than to an official-looking manufactured one - That's the USP - In the UK you often get blue-placard //POLITE NOTICE - No Parking// ones that everyone mistakes for saying //POLICE NOTICE...//
-- Dub, Aug 01 2006


//POLITE NOTICE - No Parking//

Strictly speaking, that's 'POLITE NOTICE - No Parking <very small text> please </very small text>'
-- pertinax, Aug 01 2006



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