Unwanted phone books: Is this the way out?
We've complained a fair amount on this blog about all the versions of the yellow pages that show up on our front porch throughout the year -- unsolicited, unwanted, and thrown immediately into the recycling bin. A reader who is sympathetic to our plight has now sent along a link to this site, which purports to offer a way out.
Have any other readers had any experience with that site? Is it legit? If you give them your information, do they really succeed in getting the wasteful flow of phone books to stop?
Comments (3)
I figure one has nothing to lose by trying. From what I saw on that site, they advocate getting local laws enacted that impose fines for non-compliance. They cite one locality which has enacted a $5 per incident fine. I would vote for that.
Posted by save the trees | May 1, 2008 1:56 PM
Could I mention the unsolicited advertising stuffed into the local news papers or the junk mail we receive daily?
Posted by David E Gilmore | May 1, 2008 1:58 PM
I don't think there's much you can do about the stuff in the local fish wrapper, but I can tell you that the regular ADVO weekly trash pile that is mailed to you can be stopped if you are determined and persistent.
First, find the blue card that has the photo and says "Have you seen me?" on one side and your address on the other--that's the card that MUST accompany the junk mail, or else the post awful is delivering stuff for free (they bill off that card). Call ADVO and tell them to take you off their mailings -- they were responsive and agreed to do so when I did it.
The trick is educating your letter carrier. I tried notes that said "No Shopper without Address Card please" and when that didn't take, I finally caught up to him one day, explained that I had stopped the mailing and should not ever have the junk in my box without the address card. He agreed, and he put a note in my box that said NO SAFEWAY (which is apparently how the letter carriers refer to it).
Now I only get one about every three months when my regular carrier is on vacation and the replacement simply drops one into every box regardless of whether there's an address card or not.
Posted by George Seldes | May 1, 2008 8:54 PM