Please Mr. Postman, look and see...

...is there a letter, a letter for me? Oh, Mr. Po-o-o-ost man, deliver the letter, the sooner the better..."

Sorry. But how nostalgic is that song? A time where you waited for a POST MAN to bring you tidings--and not your cell phone or inbox?

Look, we know mailboxes are almost a thing of the past.You get your bills sent to you via email. Ditto invitations (what was the last invite that didn't require a witty response over Evite?). The idea of actually writing someone a letter (or waiting for a postman) is as downright quaint.

So then why, when you open your mailbox, is it always stuffed to the brim? (And now we get to our point...)

JUNK MAIL. Unfortunately not the kind that advertise pills to enhance your sex life that you can just drag with a mouse to the trash bin. No, we’re talking about REAL junk mail. That comes to your REAL mailbox. That wastes REAL resources like trees, water and energy to get to your door.

Credit card apps, coupon books, catalogues you never ordered. Chances are, you toss it all. Hopefully, you’re at least tossing it into the recycling bin.

But here’s why you might want to do more (taken from the Native Forest Network ):

• The average person gets only 1.5 personal letters each week, compared to 10.8 pieces of junk mail.
• Each person will receive almost 560 pieces of junk mail this year.
• That's 4.5 million tons of junk mail produced each year!
• 44% of all junk mail is thrown in the trash, unopened and unread.
• Approximately 40% of the solid mass that makes up our landfills is paper and paperboard waste.By the year 2010, it is predicted to make up about 48%.
• 100 million trees are ground up each year to produce junk mail.

Did you hear that last part? 100 million trees per year?

Here’s what you can do to activate your “Snail-Mail Spam Filter”:

• Take your name off junk mail lists with the Direct Marketing Association (the DMA).
• Signing up with with DMA will stop 75% of all national mailings coming to your home.
• To do this, send a postcard with your name, address and signature to: Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, P.O. Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512
• Who are we kidding? You’re not going to actually send a postcard! When was the last time you did that? On your jaunt through Europe after college? Instead…you can also download the online form and get your name off.
  

• Pick and choose what mail you DO want to get. ANOTHER great service that takes your name off lists is Direct Mail.com.
• The cool thing about Direct Mail is that it gives you the option to still receive certain items you may want (for example, if you still want to get phone offers but not mortgage offers, it’s a simple mouse click).
• Go to their website to sign up. It literally takes less than 5 minutes (we just did it ourselves).
• And if you sign up for both DMA and DirectMail, you’ll get even less junk mail.

• Sign up with OPT OUT and never receive a pesky pre-approved credit card offer again.
• To have your name removed from lists used for unsolicited credit card and insurance offers all you need to do is call 888-567-8688 or sign up online.
• Jess did this a few months back and the results have been amazing. Especially because she was always so paranoid that if she just tossed these credit apps (even in the recycling bin) that somehow identity theft criminals could rummage through, find them and use the info to steal her identity.

• Stop the catalogues from coming. U.S. catalogue companies sent out 17 billion catalogues last year - 59 for every man, woman and child in the nation.
• Shop online instead (and when you see that little checkbox—Do you want to receive our catalogues?—check NO!)
• Call the numbers on the catalogues you receive to stop them from coming…if it’s too hard to part with your Victoria’s Secret catalogue, at least cancel the ones you never look at.

• Secret tip…don’t send back the postcards!
• When you buy new appliances, they always enclose a postcard in the box and tell you to return it so your product will be covered under warranty.
• BUT you are covered under a manufacturer's warranty whether a card is returned or not! These cards are primarily used to gather names for mailing lists. So next time, don’t send it in.

• We know it might be your chance to win 10 million dollars, but if you want to remove your name from major nationwide sweepstakes mailers, contact:
• Publishers Clearinghouse, 101 Channel Drive, Port Washington, NY 11050 Phone: (800) 645-9242
• Readers Digest, Readers Digest Road, Pleasantville, NY 10570 Phone: (800) 234-9000
• American Family Publishers, PO Box 62000, Tampa, FL 33662 Phone: (800) 237-2400

Okay...so, to review....junk in the trunk: good. Junk in the mailbox: bad. Get off those lists today!