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Published on 03/31/1999 All articles from this issue

A life complicated by junk mail

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By Clyde Noel

A Side of Clyde

Most of us look forward to going to the mailbox every day. We usually go to see if a check arrives on time, or maybe good news in a letter from a friend or relative.

That's not what I get when I open the mailbox. There isn't one real letter in the crammed-full box that I want. Instead, it's full of slick mail-order catalogs that slip out of my hand, or a request for money from an environmental group or charitable organization.

This avalanche of junk mail that comes into our homes and offices continues to be a problem. It seems that short of being a hermit, there's nothing you can do to prevent commercial scavengers from tracking you down and burdening you with their junk.

I get letters that say "LAST CHANCE TO WIN $10 MILLION." If there's one chance I can be sure of, another letter will come along next week giving me another chance.

The thing that bothers me most: If I give $50 to a school, an environmental group or a charitable group, they'll spend that on stamps and letters to send a letter and ask for a $100.

I asked the post office to hold my mail while I spent two weeks in Florida. When I returned, waiting for me were two large white post office boxes the postal clerk had a hard time lifting over the customer counter.

"Don't worry, every time we hold mail for people it's like this," he said. The postal service says they handle 150 billion pieces of mail a year and only 15 percent of that mail is from one citizen to another.

Carrying home the two boxes made me realize how this problem has grown over the last few years. I caused it myself.

My name (yours, too), address, phone number and other personal details are constantly being circulated when we do the following things:

When we make an inquiry, purchase or donation. A single purchase through a mail-order catalog can set you up for the receipt of dozens of other catalogs.

Our phone number has been circulated without our knowledge. I have taken it off my checks, yet telemarketers continue to ring for a donation.

When we fill out warranty cards and send them to the manufacturer. The warranty card is a marketing tool and a good way to get personal information of age, occupation and income brackets.

The government lets us down. The state Department of Motor Vehicles sells information telling what make and model cars we drive. When we apply for a hunting or fishing license, that information is sold.

I am going to do two things. From now on I am going to give a fake middle initial when I send any money to an organization. Then every time a letter comes addressed that way, I'll know who is ratting on me.

I will write to "Stop the Mail" P.O. Box 9008 Framingdale, N.Y., 11735-9008, and ask that my name not be sold to mailing list companies. They say that can reduce my junk mail by 75 percent.

With the cost of stamps these days, we're getting more of a licking than we need.

Clyde Noel is a longtime contributor to the Town Crier.