Used to be mail would be something you'd look forward to. Now it seems like we are drowning in unwanted (& a small fraction wanted) mail / paper.
I'm not a hoarder, but if you look at my paper pile, you'd think I'm the biggest hoarder on the freaking planet.
I've gone electronic with everything as much as I can, have opted out of every marketing thing I can, but despite this, I'm still being buried in mail / paper.
Here is just a sample of crap that came over during the holidays while I was visiting family out of town:
-Misc. insurance notices
-a smattering of letters / postcards from airlines, hotels, rental car agencies I am elite members of. (Trash / recycle)
-letters / holiday cards from realtors, "buy your house for cash now" solicitations. (trash)
-reminder notices from the Vet, eye doctor, etc... I already get this via email, why mail me this useless shit?
-notices from my cable company (promos, renew contract etc), utility companies (energy use, sell useless extra water / electrical warranties, etc).
-a bunch of cards / coupons from retailers I may have ordered from once or twice in my life (JoS A Bank, Dell, any other mail order catalog service you can think of).
-the local area coupon mailers, stack of local grocery newspaper type ads (Sprouts, local grocery stores)
-various newletters from kids' school, local dentists, etc.
-various bank / credit card notices
-college alumni magazines, letters of solicitation to donate, newsletters
-CostCo magazine, AAA magazine (I pay for no magazine explicitly because I hate having it sit for months before being tossed)
-various tax notices for property, etc.
-oh get this - a hand written letter from a Jehova Witness encouraging me to study the bible...WTF
-a bunch of other crap I probably forgot to list and mention that we all get no matter what.
I hate the fact that I can block junk mail to my email, but I am powerless to block junk mail to my mailbox. It's flooded with the usual crap that everyone gets, but is powerless to do anything about.
Where else in life can people just send you crap and FORCE you to deal with this crap, whether you are home or not?? And the volume is ever increasing. In a world where people fight to inundate you with their junk, electronically, now they inundate your mailbox (and house) with this crap. And you can't ignore it, in fear of missing something important in the mail (needle in the haystack).
Postal mail is as outdated and ancient as the fax machine, horse & buggy, and voicemail. I hope this thing dies in the future as the younger generations get wise to how efficient electronic delivery is, and how you're not tied down to a physical location.
The pure waste of resources (trees to cut paper, ink to print this junk, energy to deliver this stuff, your valuable time to go through this crap) is astonishing. I'm seething in anger at this crap, even as I try to simplify my life and devote less time and energy to this stuff that detracts from your life / focus / attention.
It should be a CRIME to send people physical junk and unwanted crap!!! It seems like we as society just suffer in silence with this junk...one of those annoying life pains you just deal with on a day to day basis. It shouldn't be this way.