How do I stop receiving garbage bags of coupons and advertisements that I did not request, in my mailbox every single day?
Most websites asked for an address only. Some asked for a little more information, but to my surprise, it worked. I haven't received that ream of coupons in years, and in the off-chance that something new appears (usually something credit related), I've been able to opt-out just fine.
At first I balked but then I realized somebody would probably enter every single person’s name and address in the country if they didn’t have some kind of cost associated with it.
Still stinks to pay someone not to harass you. But I guess that’s been common throughout history.
After that unsubscribe, I've had to reach out to USPS several times when they still deliver the coupons to me and those coupons have someone else's address on them. I'm unsubscribed but USPS doesn't care and delivers anyway.
There is also a USPS service called Every Door Delivery Mail (EDDM) where USPS guarantees delivery to every address in a certain area. There is no way to opt out of EDDM.
What happens is that the DMA maintains an opt-out list which the mailers are supposed to check. Then they add your address to a cover sheet called a facing slip which they pass to the local USPS when they hand off the ads. The USPS is then supposed to give those addresses to the mail carrier and the mail carrier is supposed to check it when delivering the ads.
In reality, since EDDM is intended for blanket coverage of local ads, practically no local advertisers bother or are even aware of the opt-out list, and even if they did the mail carrier will probably ignore the list, so signing up has little effect.
The best way to "opt out" is to be a dick to your mail carrier. Put a sign on your mailbox that says "NO EDDM: unaddressed mail will be refused" and then follow through on your threat by forcing your carrier to take back all EDDM ads the next day. My mail carrier quickly realized that there was no point delivering EDDM ads to my house.
Entirely nonsense that there's costs and whatnot associated with it. I am sure it's a PII goldmine for some script kiddie who gets lucky.
Some Charities do not respect the list and send me all manner of things. (Gloves was the most egregious from a charity I haven't given too.)
For better or worse it's almost 2020, not 1820. Let's start acting like it.
The private sector may be more efficient than the government, but that's because of bureaucracy imposed by the politicians themselves.
Tell me, how long does it take UPS or FedEx to ship a package across the US? At least 5 business days for the cheapest. USPS gets it there in 3.
Here's some more facts you may not know (that show why the USPS is good):
* The USPS, unlike UPS and FedEx, have a legal mandate to attempt to deliver every letter and parcel if it's in the US.
* Your mail sent through USPS is protected from searches without a warrant by law. You can't say the same about UPS and FedEx.
* I can send a small letter through USPS for $.55. How much does a private courier charge?
[0]: https://twitter.com/markiplier/status/1193015864364126208
Fedex and UPS are common carriers and also cannot refuse a package without good grounds.
USPS can also refuse a package on good grounds, for example if you try to mail prohibited substances.
When some people don't get their UPS/FedEx/etc, if you call up to complain, the answer is "Oh yeah, we don't service your address. Have a nice day."
Functioning governments really really need a way to physically deliver items to a person in a way that cannot be replaced by private carriers or email systems. This isn't about you getting your Amazon packages or your power bill. This is about the operational stability of basic government services.
There are places in the US where UPS and FedEx do not deliver, and people live there -- people who the US government is legally required to correspond with. They cannot fulfill those obligations without the USPS.
>When some people don't get their UPS/FedEx/etc, if you call up to complain, the answer is "Oh yeah, we don't service your address. Have a nice day."
And if you call USPS, they're just going to jump straight to "it's lost. have a nice day." I don't see how that is better.
Anyway, USPS absolutely does not deliver to every address. This is a myth that won't die for some reason.
>Functioning governments really really need a way to physically deliver items to a person in a way that cannot be replaced by private carriers or email systems.
Can you source this claim? What does my government need to mail me that can't be done by email?
>This isn't about you getting your Amazon packages or your power bill.
I don't use Amazon or get my power bill by snail mail. Not sure why you're bringing these up. They're irrelevant.
>This is about the operational stability of basic government services.
We might need a reliable parcel deliverer (ie, something other that USPS).
>There are places in the US where UPS and FedEx do not deliver, and people live there
And there are places where USPS doesn't deliver. At my house, on a regular basis for example, they don't deliver important parcels.
Also many communities around the country and outside of the country. Email fixes basically all of this.
>-- people who the US government is legally required to correspond with.
Who they should be able to correspond with by email in most cases. In other cases they could contract with a more reliable carrier or have a pared down service for those remote area.
In still more cases, the USPS doesn't service certain areas at all.
>They cannot fulfill those obligations without the USPS.
Nor can they fulfill them solely with USPS. We need to acknowledge that email is a faster, safer and more reliable source of communicating with most people. Its almost 2020.
Yes, the reasons that the USPS is important are mainly legal reasons. Your personal frustrations with what I presume is commercial mail is not one of those reasons. You have alternatives for your commercial needs, and you are free to use them.
The USPS exists because the government has needs that commercial carriers simply cannot fulfill; here's the first 3 examples I could think of:
1. A guarantee of service via direct control. The federal government directly controls the USPS board. Commercial services have no obligation to fulfill any of the government's needs, and could even be legally obligated by their fiduciary duty to deny those needs, even if they wanted to do otherwise. The needs of the government are not always profitable, often they're not.
2. Proper chain of custody. Email simply doesn't address this, and is notoriously awful at it. Commercial delivery services do this better than email, but do so voluntarily, and to their own liking (see #1). On the other hand, some USPS services like Registered Mail can be used for some types of classified documents.
3. Longstanding (and strong) legal precedent regarding its use. Mail has a ton of privilege over electronic communications. It also has privilege over commercial deliveries.
As for the ability of email to reach everyone -- I think your views might be biased a bit by your experiences. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/22/some-americ...
For a middle ground, I would like USPS to offer a service where they scan and send you the docs and you agree to some terms. They already scan the addresses and show you the informed mail digest. I don't care if they open it and scan it. It's all junk anyway.
If the official channel was email and I said "let's switch to snail mail" you would all rightfully call me an idiot. You/we are all wedded to a really bad paradigm.
There's nothing stopping the government from letting you opt into an official email box.
If the government controlled the entire email system, like they do the USPS, it wouldn’t be email as you know it today.
But as email stands today, it relies on the voluntary cooperation of third-parties who operate on a best-effort basis. It has no governance.
That’s a show stopper, not only for the US government, but for most governments around the world. I’m not aware of any country that has found it reasonable to do as you’re suggesting. Even Estonia, which has online elections, still finds it prudent to have a national mail service.
The free market has nothing to do with this.
As are mail boxes unless you own house outright or have a mom and pop landlord (which is really not much better).
>The private sector may be more efficient than the government, but that's because of bureaucracy imposed by the politicians themselves.
Wait what? No it's the opposite. There are ridiculous laws that attempt to protect the USPS monopoly. For example, only they can deliver to your mailbox.
Only USPS is allowed to deliver letters. USPS does not pay state or federal taxes, etc. There is all kinda of bureaucracy in place to protect USPS and still the private carriers are better.
>Tell me, how long does it take UPS or FedEx to ship a package across the US? At least 5 business days for the cheapest. USPS gets it there in 3.
Yes it's easy to be cheaper when you don't pay any taxes. Except they're not actually cheaper except for most packages between 2 and 5 pounds.
>* The USPS, unlike UPS and FedEx, have a legal mandate to attempt to deliver every letter and parcel if it's in the US.
And yet they fail stunningly at delivering things.
>* Your mail sent through USPS is protected from searches without a warrant by law. You can't say the same about UPS and FedEx.
I agree it's absurd that the law grants these special powers to USPS. All carriers' customers should get this protection.
>* I can send a small letter through USPS for $.55. How much does a private courier charge?
Wait what? It's illegal for anyone else to deliver letters. You're making my case for me.
Anyway, we need to stop sending letters. It's almost 2020.
What? How? No one is legally allowed to open a mailbox that isn’t theirs. If someone is opening your mailbox that isn’t a postman, report it; it’s a federal crime.
If you are worried about Google kicking you off of the platform you should be terrified about what your landlord can to.
Many people are housing insecure, disabled, homeless, etc. You're basically removing all of these people from the system.
The mailbox isn’t yours.
Tell that to FedEx[0].
https://parcelindustry.com/article-4888-The-Mailbox-Monopoly...
This is the problem with using personal anecdotes. They're not applicable to the wider world.
God I hate spam.
Even today, not everyone has an email address. And those that do, they’re at the whims of the corporation. In my original comment, I mentioned google banning people’s entire accounts because they did what the streamer wanted. Would you like your email account to be inaccessible when you decide to protest that corporation?
"I personally use and like a service" is a different statement than "it's in our national interest to continue gifting that service $10b per year in subsidies and benefits".
The other is a policy position that apparently a lot of people want to discuss.
We need to update laws for the fact that we now live in 2020 and not 1820.
I understand that for most healthy, housed, able-bodied, privileged people, mail is a decent way to get in touch with people. For the rest of us email/web is safer, faster, more secure, less burdensome, easier to verify, better for the environment, easier to store, etc.
There are also DMAchoice and CatalogChoice to take you off, but I'm never quite sure if it's working because I still get plenty.
There is also the fun prank one guy did where he would mail back a bunch of pennies to anyone who send him an unsolicited pre-paid envelope. The postage is calculated by weight, so it's just a nice little middle finger.