Hello, it's Monday May 12th, and stamps just got more expensive again! I've decided...$0.42 is too much. It's time to stop sending letters.
In lieu of going out and buying a sheet of 100 one-cent stamps, I say we figure out how to not need them. Here's a helpful little guide to make those "forever" stamps you bought six months ago last as long as possible.
Discover the Joys of Scanning
I used to think that, every time I had to send someone an official document, it required a stamp. The truth is, that's just not so. I now invariably ask "is it OK for me to scan and email this?" Ninety percent of the time, the answer is yes. I actually have a signed and scanned W-9 that I've sent to dozens of clients. All I need to change is the date.
Scanners are cheap, and easy to come by. I actually recently gave one away of Freecycle because I couldn't find a buyer for it on Craigslist. It might take an hour or so to figure out how to use it, but once you've got the procedure, you'll save yourself time, money and paper.
Online Bill Pay
By now this probably seems like a no-brainer. But, chances are, you haven't fully switched over yet. You've got most of your bills on auto-pay, but a couple still get paid with a check in the mail. Take an hour out of your day and go completely treeless. Either sign up at the company's site, or schedule monthly transfers with your bank.
And for those bills that you might pay to companies or individuals that don't have billing systems, like my landlord, discuss the possibilities of PayPal. When I showed him how easy it was, and told him that it would significantly reduce the number of times per year my payment was late, he was totally into it!
Say I Love You in Binary
Now, I know that the Greeting Card Industry wants you to believe that caring can only be expressed through dead trees...but it's just not true. While emails are certainly too impersonal a medium for a Mother's Day card, and most online-greeting cards are seriously lame, it can be done.
Spend some time in your favorite graphics program doctoring a photograph, or visually executing an inside joke. Make it personal... and digital. In the end, the thought will be more appreciated, and the delivery will be 100% free.
Send a Video Letter
While people might say that there's nothing more personal than getting a letter in the mail, I suggest they try sending a video. It can be as public or private as you want, and as personal, detailed, or improvised as you want. My wife and I, for her brother's anniversary this year, sang them their song over youtube. Try doing THAT on paper. Thanks to Sarah-Jane for the tip on this one in the comments.
When all else fails: Post a Card
Postcards take far less energy to create and send through the post. Because they are a single sheet, they can be more easily sorted and sent, and are light enough to be mostly trivial in terms of shipping emissions. This is, in the end, why they're so much cheaper to send than letters.
Avoid Airmail at All Costs
I know this story was supposed to be about $0.42 stamps. But if you ever find yourself thinking you want to send a letter that needs to get on an airplane, think again. While most post is sent over ground, a relatively efficient way to travel, air mail is far more carbon intensive.
Any steps you take to minimize airmail will have far more environmental impact than steps you take to minimize ground mail.
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These simple steps, if fully executed, should get you down to less than one stamp per month. And while saving forty-two cents a few times per month might not seem like that big of a deal, it's just one more step on the path to ridding ourselves our reliance on physical objects and transportation. When all we need to send are electrons, the Earth, and especially its forests, will thank us.
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written by Ashb, May 12, 2008
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written by bob bobberson, May 12, 2008
HOWEVER junk mail represents a by far the biggest majority of the trash that I throw away. I don't even read the junk mail. Charge more for junk mail! I think it generates like a bag a month, when I can get by with less than a bag a month of personal garbage. (I do generate garbage by eating out and eating at work I know)
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written by Alan, May 12, 2008
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written by Sarah-Jane, May 12, 2008
It is very important to start looking at mail and the cost to transport it as unnecessary and anti-environmental.
I would like to add that video mail can also be used for a wonderfully personal touch! I did a few at Christmas time for my friends who moved to different states after college.
Like a card, it is something you put your time and sweet thoughts into and unlike Skype, it can be played over and over again.
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written by Dan, May 12, 2008
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written by Ashb, May 12, 2008
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written by Brianne, May 12, 2008
You are right that junk mail is annoying - but if daily junk mail is the price to pay for recieving a hand-colored card from my 2 year old niece every few months, I'll take it.
I agree that many paper-related tasks can be handled online or with a computer - but not all and certainly not the most personal. I treasure and save birthday cards I recieve in the mail and let e-cards go into my deleted emails after 1 view to save memory space on my hard drive.
If junk mail were not sent by postal mail, the amount of spam in our mailboxes, automatic phone calls, text to mobile advertisements, and LED billboards would increase for sure. Businesses need to reach people. It's much simpler for me to seperate myself from the junk mail in my postal mail box.
It's not proven that writing and delivering a letter is any more efficient than all of energy used and electronics waste created by digital fads and online tools - useful or otherwise.
Better to remove yourself from all mailing lists and recycle all of the junk mail that you recieve. At least then it can be given another life instead of entering the landfill.
Like everything, there's no all or nothing - there's just learning how to be as smart and environmentally considerate as you can with what you have.
I'll send you a post card when I figure it all out ;)
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written by Jozef, May 12, 2008
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written by Brianne, May 12, 2008
It could be a lot worse, I am glad that the USPS is becoming more environmentally conscious.
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written by MarkR, May 12, 2008
The problem is all the junk mail. I'd say the ratio is about 1 letter for every 10 pieces of junk mail.
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written by marvel, May 12, 2008
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written by john, May 13, 2008
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written by eatingorange, May 13, 2008
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written by Brian, May 13, 2008
Just because an industry provides thousands of jobs doesn't make it a good industry. U.S. junk mail results in the chopping down of 50 million trees per year! and for what? I've got nothing against the post office or its employees. And I recognize that the economies of scale provided by junk mail allow me to pay only $0.42 for a letter. However, I'd happily make all junk mail illegal starting today and pay $0.60 per letter.
And then tomorrow I'd work on making phone books opt-in only.
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written by Brianne, May 13, 2008
Let's focus this energy on the junk mail industry instead of the stamp sellers and mail carriers.
You and I are not sending junk mail, so us not buying stamps will not do anyone any good.
Can Eco Geek put together an article about how we might end junk mail, instead of eliminating the post office?
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written by knittinandnoodlin, May 13, 2008
I haven't sent cards through the mail in years. I very rarely even give them...mostly because I just don't see any value in buying a card with someone else's words and art on it.
I suppose that works from an environmental standpoint, too. =)
As for junk mail...they should charge at least twice as much to companies mailing junk mail as they do to us average citizens trying to mail a letter to *gasp* someone that actually might want to hear from us.
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written by Emily, May 13, 2008
But I still pay my bills online. :)
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written by Meredith, May 13, 2008
One thing that I do is sign up at catalogchoice.org and OptOutPrescreen.com in order to eliminate the catalogs, credit card offers, and insurance offers. The amount of mail I receive has really been reduced. I'm still trying to figure out how to get rid of bulk mail (the grocery store adds mostly) and then I will be happy. That would take me down to just the mail that I actually want.
Check out these two websites, they are so worth it! ;D
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written by angie, May 15, 2008
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written by Paul, May 25, 2008
www.dmachoice.org/MPS/proto1.php
This is free, or perhaps it's just $1, I can't remember which.
An added benefit to blocking credit card offers is that it can reduce your risk of identity theft. There's a link on this page for opting out of credit card offers as well.
About a year ago, I registered to not receive junk mail, to not receive credit card offers, and called to remove my name from the local supermarket mini-newspapers. Now my junk mail is virtually eliminated -- I receive perhaps one junk mail every few weeks.
The supermarket mini-newspapers used to annoy me the most. I'm not sure if the DMA registration would have covered this, since I called for this separately. You are getting postcards along with your mail, that usually has pictures of missing kids. This is actually associated with the supermarket ads. All you need to do is call the number on the postcard and ask to be removed from their mailing list.
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written by Jules, November 22, 2008
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