CAN’T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE JUNK MAIL

I no longer receive many personal items in the mail. I still send out cards and letters myself, despite knowing I’m in a slim majority. I send photos, fun pop-up cards, and feel-good notes of encouragement. Soon, I will be an anachronism. Recently, I had to buy stamps on a Sunday and couldn’t wait for the post office to open or for stamps to be mailed to me. So, I went to two different places and asked about stamps. I received blank stares from behind the counter. At the last place I tried—an office supply store—the manager overheard as I was explaining what a postage stamp was. He quietly directed the young employee to a drawer where rolls of stamps were kept. The kid shrugged and told me he had no idea such a thing even existed. Sigh. Perhaps I am already an anachronism.

I use the USPS to send things of meaning in small envelopes. And in return, my mailbox is stuffed full of junk mail. I find it most annoying that the majority comes from organizations devoted to helping humanity and the environment. Many of them, I send donations to help them with their efforts. And almost immediately in response, I receive junk mail requesting more money.

Three months ago, I decided to stockpile the junk mail, and the result shocked me. I had to take action before the envelopes filled with multiple sheets of paper and “gifts” required a move from my office space.

I organized the ungainly pile and wrote individual messages via websites or emails—not letters—to each of the most offensive nonprofits to protest and to request they no longer send me anything in snail mail.

Eight of the fifteen organizations that I contacted responded via email. Only one addressed the issue of conservation. The rest said I had been removed from their mailing lists but warned it could take up to two months for the snail mail to stop with no mention of my concerns about the environment.

The Sierra Club, one of the junk mail offenders, published an article in 2019 with the following information on junk mail.

“According to the Center for Development of Recycling at San Jose State University, an American adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail a year. To produce this much paper requires cutting down somewhere between 80 million and 100 million trees annually. If left standing, these trees would absorb 1.7 million tons of CO2 a year. 

 

The World Wildlife Fund reports that over 40 percent of all industrial wood is turned into a paper product, making paper production the second-largest use of logged wood after building materials.”

Click here to see article in its entirety.

After making my donation to the Sierra Club for 2025, I received six pieces of junk mail from February to May. Their response said they didn’t respond to individual emails, so I would have to create an account and then make my request that way. I did so but have received nothing in response.

The World Wildlife Fund did respond.

“Thank you for your feedback regarding our mailings and we apologize for any inconvenience they may have caused. We are always happy to edit any donor’s mailing preferences at any time, and we have various options to suit different needs. We receive a great number of donations via mail in response to our mailings which reach a broad demographic of donors who we may not be able to reach otherwise. While physical mailings may not be the best option for everyone, they have proven to be very effective tools for our fundraising efforts. The cost of the mailings is very low relative to the dramatic benefits of using them to get WWF’s message across to a larger portion of the population. Rest assured that we take our environmental stewardship seriously, and that all of our mailings are printed on 30% or greater post-consumer recycled and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper.”

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I will still send my personal mail, but I know I risk the possibility that when I open my mailbox, it will be empty. I can only hope. And maybe when I do receive the infrequent card or note, it won’t get lost amongst the junk.