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When I was living in Portland, Oregon, in an apartment complex, we would get a weekly stack of junk mail, mostly from fast food companies in the area, compliments of a company named Adville. They are not a local company. In fact, they invade mailboxes around the country with unwanted coupons for fast food restaurants and other franchises.
Residents in my apartment complex would kindly leave their personal stack of junk mail in a pile in the mail area, but when the wind blew, the hundreds of pages every week would scatter all over the courtyard. I called the company to tell them the situation and to ask them to stop delivering to our complex. They asked me if it was OK to continue for another 6 weeks, because the request to cancel must be run through their computer system. I told them that since they were asking, it was not OK. They then explained to me that they couldn’t change it. I asked them why they asked. They confirmed that there was nothing they can do, but to wait out the 6 weeks.
I posted a notice to my neighbors to let me know if they wanted to continue receiving the mailings so that I can let Adville know to continue their 'subscription.' It turned out that NOBODY wanted to continue receiving the mailings. My neighbors were equally annoyed by the weekly intrusion.
I saved the 6 weeks worth of mailings from about 30 apartment units and then mailed it all back to the company in an enormous box to show them what just a cross section of their unwanted waste looked like. They didn’t like that, but the mailings stopped.
I am not sure if it made any changes in their general policy, but when I thought about it, the amount of paper saved in the long run will be more paper than I will ever use in my own lifetime. This one act that didn’t take much effort on my part will cancel out all of my own lifelong paper waste. Not a bad deal.
Any similar success stories?
Further Reading:
Stop Junk Mail: 7 Ways to Reduce It and Opt Out for Good
Sign the Petition to Stop Junk Mail
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