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No, no, I don't want your junk mail. 2007

Write "refused" on any junk mail you can't return to the sender and drop it in the nearest postal mail box (rather than making your carrier carry it back again, which is slightly cruel since they don't like the crap any more than you do).

As far as I can tell this is perfectly legal. [See for example D042 Conditions of Delivery]

Posted on March 17, 2007 at 03:08 PM in Discardia | Permalink

Comments

US Postal Service won’t let you refuse mail.

If the US Postal Service would abide by its own rule, each homeowner could easily stop junk mail from getting into their mailbox by putting a written notice on their mailbox expressing their preference.

The US Postal Services practices are supposed to be according to the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM). The DMM contains provision 508.1.1.2 that says, “Refusal at Delivery: The addressee may refuse to accept a mailpiece when it is offered for delivery.” I interpret this rule to mean that if a homeowner wants to refuse an unwanted mailpiece (i.e. junk mail), the homeowner can do so when the mailpiece is offered for delivery. More to the point – refuse it before it is put into the mailbox!

In practical application, since the postal carrier comes to homes at different times each day, the homeowner cannot be waiting at the mailbox to dialogue with the mail carrier about each mailpiece. The only realistic way to interpret 508.1.1.2 therefore is that the homeowner should post a notice on the mailbox telling the postal carrier about the homeowner’s preference. The notice to the postal service must be specific and unambiguous. For instance, a homeowner should certainly be able to write, “No mail that is not addressed to the Jones” because that does not require the postal carrier to make a subjective judgment. On the other hand, it would not be acceptable to write “no junk mail” because the definition of “junk mail” is subjective and the mail carrier cannot decide.

Unfortunately, the US Postal Service has written to me that they will NOT honor a notice refusing mail, not matter how specifically it is worded, because the postal carrier does not have time to sort through the mail at my mailbox to pick out the pieces that are not addressed to me. Therefore, the US Postal Service is passing their sorting and disposing task onto me by putting all the mail they want into my mailbox, even though this seemingly violates 508.1.1.2.

Since the U.S. Postal Service will not abide by 508.1.1.2, homeowners need to stop unwanted mail at the source (i.e. by blocking the sender from sending it). We need a nationwide “Do Not Mail” law to create a one-stop, convenient place for homeowners to give senders notice that we do not want certain kinds of mail sent to our homes.

http://www.newdream.org/emails/ta19.html

Signed,

Ramsey A Fahel

Posted by: Ramsey Fahel at Mar 19, 2007 1:29:19 AM

Do Not Mail Opt-Out Law would be fair to everyone.

The proposed recent "Do not mail" is an Opt-Out law. Only those not desiring advertising mail need opt-out. Anyone desiring advertising mail can do nothing - and continue to receive it. Why deny those wishing to avoid advertising mail the power to do so?

I do not consider handling unwanted advertising placed against my will on my personal property to be a civic obligation!

The US Supreme Court said in the Rowan case in 1970, ““In today's [1970] complex society we are inescapably captive audiences for many purposes, but a sufficient measure of individual autonomy must survive to permit every householder to exercise control over unwanted mail. To make the householder the exclusive and final judge of what will cross his threshold undoubtedly has the effect of impeding the flow of ideas, information, and arguments that, ideally, he should receive and consider. Today's merchandising methods, the plethora of mass mailings subsidized by low postal rates, and the growth of the sale of large mailing lists as an industry in itself have changed the mailman from a carrier of primarily private communications, as he was in a more leisurely day, and have made him an adjunct of the mass mailer who sends unsolicited and often unwanted mail into every home. It places no strain on the doctrine of judicial notice to observe that whether measured by pieces or pounds, Everyman's mail today is made up overwhelmingly of material he did not seek from persons he does not know. And all too often it is matter he finds offensive.”

Furthermore, the Supreme Court said, “the mailer's right to communicate is circumscribed only by an affirmative act of the addressee giving notice that he wishes no further mailings from that mailer.

To hold less would tend to license a form of trespass and would make hardly more sense than to say that a radio or television viewer may not twist the dial to cut off an offensive or boring communication and thus bar its entering his home. Nothing in the Constitution compels us to listen to or view any unwanted communication, whatever its merit; we see no basis for according the printed word or pictures a different or more preferred status because they are sent by mail.”

We need a nationwide “Do Not Mail” law to create a one-stop, convenient place for homeowners to give senders the aforementioned affirmative notice that we do not want certain kinds of mail sent to our homes.

http://www.newdream.org/emails/ta19.html

Signed,
Ramsey A Fahel

Posted by: Ramsey Fahel at Mar 19, 2007 1:30:13 AM

Hi,

I live in an apartment complex, but have my mail delivered to a POBox at the post office. No mail is delivered to the mailbox at the apartment, except for the junk mail that is put in there. Every so often I get a note on my door saying that the mailbox is full. I ignore the notes. My feeling is that the mail deliverer put the junk mail in the box, so they should clear it out if they want to put more in there....or stop bringing it.

To your knowledge, is there any federal regulation that says that I have to remove junk mail from the mailbox?

Thanks

Posted by: Jazzine at Apr 18, 2007 10:35:19 AM

Yes, you absolutely can refuse mail after it's delivered. I do this all the time. While a sign on your mailbox doesn't work, writing "Refused" on it and putting it back works just fine.

Your link, though, is to an archived old version of the DMM, the current location is at http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/508.htm

I have more information on refusing mail at http://www.refuseyourmail.info/

Posted by: pcooper at Jun 14, 2007 1:16:45 PM

Sounds like a great idea until you realize thousands upon thousands of postal workers would loose their jobs and it would cost the US economy billions and stamps would be a dollar. Is it so bad that you just can't pitch it? Pitch it and save the guy bringing it a job. Worried about privacy...get a shredder.

Posted by: Richard at Mar 8, 2008 6:44:08 PM

I highly doubt that the U.S. economy is really that dependent on physical advertising mail. Could you provide some references & documented numbers to back up these assertions, Richard?

"Pitch it" as an overall philosophy is not a viable environmental approach either.

What are the cost SAVINGS to the economy of eliminating this excess production for non-use and waste management of this stuff when pitched?

What else could these productive resources be directed to which would provide benefit to citizens and the economy? Remember: production is not inherently good economically; it needs to act as a catalyst to further (positive) activity.

Posted by: Dinah at Mar 9, 2008 10:19:53 AM

If the "refused" mail were returned to the sender and he were forced to pay the costs to return it, we would soon have less unwanted mail cluttering our mail boxes and the trash terminal

Posted by: frank twichell at Jun 15, 2008 7:57:56 PM

Thanks for the post.

You can also sign do not mail petition ( like Do Not Call National Petition)

I did some search online and this is the best resource so far available online ( correct me if I am wrong). I have done this 5 months ago and my mailbox is literally empty ( I have paperless billing and also opted out from various mail lists) I check my mail twice a month now. It is beautiful. ( What a freedom).

I even took the letter from samples provided and wrote it to a local Chinese restaurant that keeps putting fliers in my door. They stopped too in the whole subdivision.

Save the time for yourself.

http://awakening.weebly.com/stop-junk-mail.html

I even opted out from the yellow book. What do I need it for, since the internet is right here.

Posted by: Max at Nov 7, 2008 8:49:53 PM

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