Paper Peeve
So here's a huge pet peeve of mine- being inundated by paper advertisements that I haven't solicited. Whether they are in my mailbox at the end of the day, or hanging from my front door, I get bombarded with ads that I do not want.
Perhaps living in college housing (not dorms, but close to campus nonetheless) adds to my misery. Papering my apartment complex seems to be local advertisers' favorite method of marketing their products. Every time there's a new promotion at Dominos, I get a flyer. Whenever a new business opens and wants to get the word out, I get a flyer. And even worse, the apartment complex advertises to us constantly- 'renew your lease', 'let us upgrade your bathroom', and again, 'renew your lease' (I still have seven months left on mine and they've reminded me to resign four times now). You would think having their own channel on the complex's cable network would be enough to pass messages along, but apparently they want to be overly certain we don't forget to sign that new lease!
While Domino's doesn't have my e-mail, our management office does. As much as I hate spam, I'd rather deal with that than the worthless pieces of paper that I get on an almost daily basis. Why kill trees when I'm not going to read their ads anyway?
On to the mailbox... I've already asked the mailman to stop delivery of anything labeled "Occupant" and the glossy ad magazines that come out weekly. He referred me to the post office, saying that I can request this service, though I can't find the proper request form on-line. I never seem to find the time during the work day to call them, and, of course, the post office is closed by the time I remember. If anyone can direct me to the right link, please comment on this page or e-mail me at askandrea@yahoo.com.
While I understand and sympathize with businesses' needs and rights to market, I wish they'd stop using this particular method. When you receive a telemarketing call you don't want, you can request to be placed on their 'do not call' list. By law, they cannot continue to market to you. Most on-line advertisers give you a link to opt out of their e-mail marketing. Why don't we have the option to be on a 'do not mail' list? It would save paper and my sanity (though not necessarily in that order).
