Charity Junk Mail

If there’s one thing that annoys the hell out of me, it’s junk mail. Especially the stuff that isn’t addressed to anyone, but just gets delivered in bulk by Royal Mail.

And the most annoying kind of junk mail? The stuff from charities that includes some kind of ‘freebie’ in it. Usually it’s just a plastic pen (how many of those end up in landfill?), but this week, those lovely people at Help The Aged sent me a tea bag.

teabag.jpgYup, a tea bag.

I briefly glanced at the bumf that came with it.. something about some woman in Africa having to walk miles to make a cup of tea. Basically, a guilt trip. “We’ve sent you something, you really should give us your money now”.

No. No! I will not give money to people that try to make me feel guilty. I’ll give money to the charities I think are good causes. I won’t give you money because you send me unsolicited junk that wants me to feel guilty goes straight in the bin. Well… maybe if you sent me free chocolate, I might…

You have to wonder how much money is spent on these campaigns and how much is simply thrown away without being read.

I didn’t drink the tea. I’m convinced it’s made with ground-up old people and smells of wee.

15 thoughts on “Charity Junk Mail

  1. LoL, thats so funni, in australia.. we dont get freebies.. id love freebies 😀

    i want freebies lol what other things do you get ? oh how so very intresting. lolssss thats the funniest thing ever. i can just imagine my self sitting down going, ahh this is good tea and i didnt have to do anything to get it :).. then id think of the lady that walked miles, and the old people that need money, and the postage and packaging of the tea.. and id be like… all this for me.. ahhh :).. id enjoy it even more 😀

    btw sorry my Grammer/puchuation isnt as good as urs 😛 hope ur not one of those perfectionist people who go crazy at people like me 🙂

    if u do i wont be here :D, i might come back.. cya around

  2. Feel exactly the same way. Exactly.

    Recently I received one of these letters that took the whole barrel of biscuits – they sent 12 pennies’ worth of coins, in the hope that I would send back £1.12, or some other whole number of pounds plus the 12p.

    They sent money in the post, so that I would send them money. I could barely believe it. I sent it back.

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

    The proposed Colorado “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 Colorado “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.nomorejunkmail.org

    Signed,
    Ramsey A Fahel
    Arvada, CO

  4. 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

  5. Hey, I would pay for this teabag! As I am a collector ow such teabags, this would be great addition to my collection. 😉 I found this page by chance… Greetings from the Czech Republic! Sonia

  6. my mother is stupidly sending money to these scumbags who are asking for a regestration fee so she can have her so called prize money.she is 80 years old and try telling her that it is a scam. AAGH, i am so angry.
    Hello from Jeannie in Dundee Scotland.

  7. Totally agree,how do you stop all S*** coming through,my mother in law is receiving on average 6 letters a day.I am on a mission by hook or by crook to stop these SOB`s,sending this Junk.

  8. I can actually help on this one!

    I’ve just found out that people in the UK can opt out of unsolicited mail from charities etc. which is addressed to them (not the unaddressed bulk mail though) by registering with the ‘Mail Preference Register’ (MPS). I’ve just done it and will hopefully be rid of all that junkmail soon. There’s also a TPS for opting out of telephone calls. Anyway, the URL is here:

    http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/

  9. You might like this article. Some charities in the UK have dropped Direct Mail in favour of the internet, this one quotes 1% cost for internet fundraising versus 40% for junk mailing…

  10. I think this is rubbish try to lie people with a charity. i honestly say that is only for money fuck you everybody if you have a question only tell me im not afraid about answers(modulo-7@hotmail.com)

  11. I got a lot of those mail and I don't know how to stop those mail. I got calculator which you can get from one dollar store and pen, calender, one dollar bill in the envelope and some return address printed with my name and address.

    I used to donate to American Police, Cancer Foundation and American Veteran. Then I got a lot of those mail coming in and finally I stopped donating to those people but I still get those mail more and more. Only a piece of paper I could throw away easily but when some stuff come with that and I feel guilty.

    Allen

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