{"id":3204,"date":"2008-07-23T13:12:11","date_gmt":"2008-07-23T19:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=3204"},"modified":"2008-07-23T13:12:11","modified_gmt":"2008-07-23T19:12:11","slug":"sos-save-our-shredders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/sos-save-our-shredders\/","title":{"rendered":"S.O.S. (Save Our Shredders): the Junk Mail Deluge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"business<\/a>Birgitte Rasine is the chief evolution officer of LUCIT\u00c0<\/a>, a firm believer in abolishing junk mail.<\/em><\/p>\n

Help.\u00a0 My hands are sweaty, my heart\u2019s racing, my vision\u2019s blurred and I can\u2019t breathe. <\/strong> I\u2019ve been shredding since last Monday and my office is nearly filled to the ceiling with little multicolored bits of paper that resemble viruses magnified under a microscope.\u00a0 I feel myself sinking down through this swamp of cellulose dust, flailing about in vain to find a chair or cabinet to hang on to, grasping for one last breath of clean air\u2026 then darkness.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s my nightmarish vision of what it would feel like if I took all the direct mail that I ever received and shredded it all in one go.\u00a0 I\u2019d probably pass out, either from exhaustion or breathing pulverized paper pulp.<\/p>\n

Let me be blunt: I hate junk mail.<\/strong> Whoever invented it, I want to dunk them into an Olympic-size pool filled to the brim with mailers, postcards and superficially impersonal letters.\u00a0 I want to pour all the ink that\u2019s ever been wasted into their bath tub and make them sit in it.\u00a0 I want them to lick every single postage stamp ever used for direct mail.\u00a0 I want them to look in the eyes of every one of their victims\u2014once vibrant, dynamic people who are now spending their lives trying to organize, shred, get rid of junk mail they never asked for.\u00a0 Their names are sold without their knowledge, their identities traded like junk bonds in darkened, dusty corners of cyberspace. Do-not-call and do-not-mail lists are riddled with loopholes. Few of us have the time or the resources to mount legal campaigns to protect the rights that should naturally be ours to begin with.\u00a0 Do we need martial law to protect ourselves from the insistent march of these malicious mailers?<\/p>\n

In real life, I\u2019m somewhat more diplomatic.\u00a0 In principle, I get why direct mail exists. There are legitimate reasons used by legitimate organizations with legitimate desires to inform their audiences about the work they do, their products and services. The problem is, it\u2019s purely financial.\u00a0 There\u2019s not a single piece of direct mail that I have ever received that was sent for any other reason than acquiring donations, selling products or services, or other monetary gains.<\/p>\n

Time is precious\u2014now more than ever. <\/strong> We all work more hours, sleep less, eat worse, spend less time with our loved ones.\u00a0 It must be some cosmic joke that instead of easing our lives as they claim, direct mail marketers are only driving the nail deeper.\u00a0 If you spend just one hour per week tearing up, shredding, or reading unwanted mail, assuming a 40-year professional lifespan, you\u2019ll spend nearly 87 days\u2014almost 3 months\u2014of your life, consumed. Ironic, isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 Aren\u2019t you supposed to be the consumer?<\/p>\n

And this is nothing compared to the entire lifetimes of time spent by the copywriters, designers, layout\u00a0 artists, account executives, marketers, salespeople, printers, post office workers and other professionals in this exercise.\u00a0 All because the money people in the corner offices feel a return of less than one tenth of one percent makes it all worthwhile.\u00a0 Perhaps when they have less than one tenth of one percent of forest cover remaining on the planet, they\u2019ll redo their formulas.<\/p>\n

Today, in an ever greener business climate where we talk about the triple bottom line as a given, the raison d\u2019\u00eatre<\/em> of direct mail is no more.\u00a0 It\u2019s a dinosaur of the Industrial Era, a fossil of the marketing industry.\u00a0 Digital communications technologies can communicate the same message\u2014as they do\u2014without the physical resources required to produce the materials and the physical labor required to dispose of them. Yet somehow, the dinosaur lives on, fiercely convinced it still has a legitimate place in today\u2019s forward-looking socioeconomic environments.<\/p>\n

All of the direct mail I receive goes right into the recycling bin.<\/strong> As often as I can, I actually take the time out of my busy day to call or email the source and tell them that while we support their cause (if it\u2019s a non profit we believe in), we do not support wasting precious natural resources.\u00a0 And you know what?\u00a0 They always reply as if they\u2019re relieved.\u00a0 Relieved they can take one more name off their list and spend less money.\u00a0 I wish that were the case with the credit card companies and the catalogues.\u00a0 Perhaps I can tell them all here:<\/p>\n

Kill the direct mail.\u00a0 And if you really must mail, then keep it short and keep it recyclable\u2014or better yet, biodegradable.\u00a0 Don\u2019t send the fake credit cards, the gimmicky pens, the self-adhesive stickers.\u00a0 Print on recycled paper with biodegradable inks.<\/p>\n

And for those who love economic formulas and revenue-planning models, take the time to figure out which of your company\u2019s recipients actually respond, and take everyone else off the list.\u00a0 See how efficient your numbers will be then.<\/p>\n

Then maybe we can all dream about frolicking in the fields with our children instead of drowning in seas of unwanted mail.\u00a0 And I can stop having nightmares about paper dust.<\/p>\n

Read More about Junk Mail:<\/h3>\n