Thursday, November 17, 2005

Junk mail

The Lakeland, Florida Ledger reports that seven long-time St. Petersburg mail carriers thought they were doing their customers a favor when people along their route asked that they not deliver bulk-mail catalogs and advertising letters.

Instead the carriers got fired.

The U.S. Postal Service says that bulk mailers paid to have their mail delivered to every address. Failure to deliver it is grounds for termination.

About a third of USPS revenues come from bulk mailers. Bulk mail also accounts for more than three-quarters of the mail delivered, and can quickly fill mailboxes and engulf first-class mail.

A survey released last week by StopTheJunkMail.com found that 82 percent of those surveyed said they receive too much junk mail. Nearly half of them threw it out immediately. A third of them wanted only one or two catalogs a year, with updates sent by e-mail.

The postal union is appealing the firings.

To read the entire article, click here.
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posted by Don Schilling at 12:01 AM