Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!abvax!iccgcc!herrickd From: herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Idea to help curb unwanted junk mail Message-ID: <4643.28390fcb@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> Date: 21 May 91 17:17:14 GMT References: <1991May05.025110.8941@ddsw1.MCS.COM> <4534.28292e48@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> <1991May14.015238.27707@ddsw1.MCS.COM> Lines: 43 In article <1991May14.015238.27707@ddsw1.MCS.COM>, zane@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Sameer Parekh) writes: > In article <4534.28292e48@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com writes: >>In article <1991May05.025110.8941@ddsw1.MCS.COM>, zane@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Sameer Parekh) writes: >>> The US Post Office should provide a service to people who don't want >>> junk mail. These people will sign up and the post office will not deliver >>> mail which does not have their name on it. >> >>Those informational mailings from your congresscritter that arrive >>during the months before elections are addressed to "Postal Patron". >> > > I know this. I want a NEW item. (I don't care to read what my > congressperson says anyway, even the replies to my letters with my address > and name on them are form letters.) > But you are seeking to have congress (they run the Postal Service, through intermediaries) provide you a way to opt out of their communication systems. They use those communication systems to arrange for re-election. In other words, fat chance. I find it hard to believe that the people who are railing against "junk mail" here ignore all third class mail that comes to their addresses. There are two organizations around my residence that mail out envelopes full of coupons from local merchants. This is "to the person living at" mail that is eagerly opened by many of my neighbors. I don't, because my wife takes care of the parts of our lives that involve local merchants. Though she tries to get me to use haircut coupons that come in those packages. Direct mail is an important communication medium. It keeps coming because people respond to it. It seems arrogant to agitate so strongly to take direct mail away from the people who depend on it. Remember that people at both ends of the channel depend on it. dan herrick herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com PS. I know I'm interjecting a change of subject into a thread in which Sameer advocated providing a mechanism to opt out, not abolishing direct mail. However, Sameer's proposal is one of the gentle ones. I'm puzzled by the wider trend of postings on the network.