My apartment building just recently replaced the square kitchen plastic garbage bin in the entry way to a are deco looking round tall skinny can.  It sucks, non of my mail fits in it.  I have my arms full of groceries or whatever and I have to mush it down with my hand.  Square mail no fit in round hole.  I tell you, this is the first building I've lived in where they put a garbage can out by the mail boxes and it's pretty nice.

Anyways, I've been thinking of that story about 8 months ago of the postal carrier that burned his mail in his firepit.  I just find it interesting that he got away with it for so long and that the post office made a small stink but certainly didn't want to make a big stink out of it.  (Hmmm, there wasn't enough important stuff in 3 months worth of mail to send off any warning signals.)

Can you just opt out of mail?  My bills are the only thing I need. Or maybe we could raise the price of stamps to $2 a piece.  I think that'd be great.  The only mail I'd get is the the really important stuff.  If you get a $2.00 letter from the RNC, they are probably asking you to run.

Do you think Fed Ex or UPS could make money doing letters?  Right now we pay about 7 for an overnight accross the country.  I assure you, the stuff we send is definely 17 times more important (7.00/.42) than the stuff I get in the mail.  The infrastructure is there, we just pass a law that says you can put UPS's in a mail box.  (I don't think they actually own your box, you just aren't allowed to put non-US mail in there if you have it marked US Mail.)

Always somebody tryin' to rock the boat...

Pay your bills online and opt out of the paper bill. I imagine theres some inane law or code that each residence must have a mail box, but you don't have to have anything sent to it.

Botros, Botros, Gally

Diabeetus'll gitcha.

I live in the country, if I didn't buy and install a box, I'd not get any mail.

Since the sender is the one who is paying, I don't think you can opt out of being the recipient.

THIS!

Stuffing catalog after catalog after catalog into your mailbox is revenue...I don' think they are going to change this.

I'm pretty sure nobody can MAKE you take mail.  But I don't think there is an option to opt out.

This will keep the credit card offers away. Cant do much about the rest of the junk mail besides calling them and requesting to opt out of their mail marketing.

Opt Out
ETA: spelling

I've tried to ask my mailman nicely to STOP putting advertisements into my box...but no-go, I still get them.

I'm about to go to the post office and officially demand that I receive nothing but actual envelopes with my name on them.

What is the worst that could happen if you paid all your bills online and never checked your mailbox?

You don't own a sawzall?

I went to the post office and told them that I wanted the delivery of all junk mail to my house stopped immediately and permanently.  They looked at me like I was crazy and told me that that was impossible.

Some clown would steal your mail, and some idiot company would send a piece of mail with lots of personal information.  Identity: stolen.

They might be able to, but we'll never know because (in addition to the mailbox issue you raise) it's illegal to send non-urgent mail by any carrier other than USPS. This means that other carriers (e.g., Fedex) cannot enter the market if they want to, even if they don't use existing mailboxes. It also means that it's illegal for private citizens or companies to send non-urgent mail by Fedex or UPS. It's rare, but yes, the government has fined companies for this.

Here is an excerpt from the article linked above:

I didn't have a maibox at my place for a while.  I was using a po box at first.  I'm sure I could pay most bills online, but I do get paper copies of my bank statement monthly.  Use that junk mail to start a scrap book of your apartment living days.  

I don't believe that UPS/ FedEx are allowed by law to deliver common mail.

I would advise ou to find a way to screen your junk mail and  get some of  that mail up to your apartment where you can dispose of the various credit card offers/ etc. There isn't a week that goes by where I'm not taking an ID theft report. I shred every bit of junk mail that comes into my mail box that involves credit offers. By you just tossing it in a trash can, you are inviting someone to rip you off at some point in the future.

My mail lady told me there is a form to fill out at the PO. I filled it out and voila', no more junk mail.

Apparently it doesn't last forever though. I started to get junk again after a while.





 

My house has no mail receptacle, so I have a PO Box.  I could opt out pretty easily - all I have to do is not pay for the PO Box.



I could have any internet orders, etc. shipped to my work.



I pay almost all of my bills online, and am on the paperless statement option with most.



I guess maybe the local water utility wouldn't like it much.