I've had. I am fit to be tied.
I would like to propose (insist upon) new federal legislation. Against JUNK MAIL. I would like to insist (propose) that all purveyors of junk mail must plant a tree for every pound of junk mail that they inflict upon our mailboxes. The worst offenders are credit card companies, cable companies & phone companies. This past month I received the same soliciting junk mail from the same phone company THREE TIMES! Each of the three pieces of mail was exactly the same. Loathing junk mail I put it aside & cull the pile about once a month. Yesterday I found the THREE duplicate SPECIAL OFFERS from the same phone company. Enclosed in a white envelope was a GLOSSY (i.e. not terribly recyclable) advert. AND!! The real kicker is that it's my phone company! I am already a customer!
Then there are the credit card companies with their special needs, i.e. shredding. As we all know, we must open up these stupid offers & shred them - which means using electricity to protect our privacy. More wasted resources. Now granted - one shredding machine doesn't use that much power. But - think about adding up all of the power used in the US to shred all of the privacy invading credit card offers.
An Amendment to my proposed Federal Legislation - 2 trees per pound for credit card companies.
Then their are the cable companies. Same deal as the phone companies. Extra mailing CONSTANTLY from my own provider. They could at least include the junk in their monthly bill. But no - they do EXTRA paper wasting mailings throughout the month.
As for the US postal service's potential howling over business lost (they love largely non-recyclable catalogs as well, I hear tell), let's face it - the USP is facing major restructuring anyway since most of us pay our bills on line & converse through email not snail mail.
And yes - while I've mentioned the catalog sending business - think about all of the dear little saplings that would be planted if THEY were required to plant one per pound. It's truly mind boggling to consider the landfill acreage that is continually expanding to try & swallow up the glossy, usually non-recyclable, catalogs of the world.
No - wait a minute - due to the problematic non-recyclable nature in most of the country of glossy catalogs - THEY have to plant THREE trees per pound.
Tress are good for the earth - this we know. Junk mail isn't.
Enough already.
I really hate the wastefulness of companies in this country. All that paper for junk. The grocery stores get on my nerves, too. Why do I have to get everything I buy triple wrapped in excessive amounts of cardboard and paper? I want a store where I can take my own containers and fill them. I'll bring my own bag for bread. I'm always looking at boxes and paper and plastic trying to figure out how to keep it out of the landfill. It would be so much easier if they would stop wrapping so much stuff around my purchase that I don't want!
ReplyDeleteThe whole container/packaging industry has a vested interest in over-packaging everything in our supermarkets.
ReplyDeleteIt takes me longer, but I buy all my cereal grains, spices, dried herbs, nuts, etc. at the local whole food store in bulk and keep them in my own glass containers.
I have a butcher in my neighborhood where I but the limited amount of meat that I use--chicken, Italian sausages, hamburger for my meatballs, etc.
I have a fish monger down the street, and I purchase all my fish/shellfish fresh on the day I use it.
On the weekends, I have the open market, called Haymarket, in Boston. It isn't a "farmers" market, it is an "open air" market, and I can buy all my fruits and veggies at amazingly low prices--but they must be used within days.
For example, I can buy 3 lbs. of green beans for $2.00. I take them home, clean, wash, blanche them in boiling water, dry them, then freeze in individual pkgs. for later use.
Strawberries are also quite cheap, but almost over the ripe date. I buy them in great quantities, take them home, wash, hull, cut them up, then make strawberry sauce and put it in a large glass jar for use during the week for my yogurt, cooked grains, or to put in homemade smoothies.
This all takes time and effort.
But why wouldn't we want to take the time and effort to use fewer over-packaged food, and more fresh fruits and veggies?
I just don't get to housework--dusting, mopping, etc., as often as I used to. Some things have to suffer.
They should 'ave to repeat Father 'opkins's poem "Binsey Poplars" a thousand bloomin' times.
ReplyDeleteVery apt poetry,Dino.
ReplyDeleteShaw - it must be so cool to live near a city like Boston where you can get all that variety.
I live in a small town and so am limited,but I have a butcher shop where I can get them to paper wrap my meat and fresh fruits and vegetables are in abundance, either from local growers or out of my garden. I especially like the "can't get to the house work" aspect you have going there since I'm not all that domestically inclined. :)
Yes, Dino, what a "Sweet especial rural scene" it would be if for every tree hacked down for mail marketing & food packaging new saplings were planted. & took root.
ReplyDeleteRocky & Shaw - I agree whole heartedly about excessive packaging. It all began, I believe, in the name of consumer safety after the 1980's Tylenol scare but enough, surely, is enough. And buying fresh produce & meat at venues other than supermarkets certainly helps, though I think so of the worst packaging offenders are for NON perishable items.
I religiously take my canvas bags to the store with me. More & more I am finding that others are doing the same. This is positive, wonderful etc. Aan I think that is why I get so angry at shameful paper/plastic waste - it's as if we with our canvas bags are on an uphill treadmill in a society determined to merely spin its metaphoric wheels ecologically.
My children are now middle aged, but I remember when they were young, they objected to things bought at farmers' markets and fruit stands -- or anything without an advertised brand name or logo in fact. TV ads and Sesame Street - they lived in a world of brand names. Whether or not it takes a village, my kids were raised by Capitalism and trained to look for the plastic. MacDonalds was always more seductive than that little Mom and Pop restaurant around the corner.
ReplyDeleteOf course they're quite different now and I'm glad. For my part, living in an agricultural area, you can't go more than a quarter mile or so without open air stands selling everything from peaches, to boiled peanuts, to tomatoes to sea food. Why people would prefer some farm raised fish from South America or China to something that came out of the local waters or local fields this morning, I don't know, but perhaps they're trained to look for the plastic too.
I try to get back at the junkie mailers by mailing back their offer- EMPTY. Yep, an empty envelope THEY have to pay for with their bulk mail permit which helps the post office. Maybe if more people did this the junk mail would stop. One could only hope.
ReplyDeleteLets call this The Revenge of Bartleby, the Scrivener. It takes Pamela's idea and raises the ante:
ReplyDeleteMost junk mail contains a business reply card or a business reply envelope with a postal permit that charges the cost of mailing to the addressee. The postal permit number is shown after the sentence that reads, "Postage will be paid by ..."
Instead of mailing a blank card or envelope to the addressee, secure it to a brick or other heavy object with tape and drop it in any mailbox. When the object arrives at the post office, a postal clerk will weigh the object and charge the computed postage to the permit holder.
A brick that weighs several pounds will cost the permit holder several dollars. Even sweeter revenge!
Octo that's brilliant! I use rocks instead of mulch for my landscaping, this could be quite fun!
ReplyDelete