Junk Mail

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Yup.

Just like you I receive one or two dozen items of paper in my mail box for every single item of sometimes-questionable value. I say “sometimes”, because I choose still to receive a paper bill for the telephone and a paper bank statement. letters from the tax people arrive postally, as do cheques from grateful clients.

The rest is sad reading for the lonely-but-romantically-serious inclined, and a slew of flyers for stores I’d not walk into if you paid me.

Unlike you, my junk mail passes through a shredder, and thence to the vermicomposter . It’s not wasted, but that process consumes time I’d rather spend elsewhere, and the sad truth is my little home office churns out more than enough paper to keep the worms satiated and satisfied.

I am, of course, just one of about 1,800,000 households in Toronto ( http://www.canada.com/aboutus/advertising/citydots_pages/cp_toronto.html )

I got to wondering:

Suppose my mail box is average.

Suppose I’m just like everyone else, and receive two dozen items of junk mail for every item of use?

Then I wondered some more:

Suppose each one of us, for just one week, returned all the clean junk mail – no garbage please! – into the red letter boxes dotted all over the place.

Canada Post would be faced with the task of eliminating 90% of the incoming burden.

Just as are we.

Suppose, six months later, we repeated the exercise for a month, instead of a week.

What might happen?

Suppose, six months later, we decided that the exercise was so much fun, we just kept on doing it.

What then?

If Canada Post continued to treat individuals as second-class citizens, it would have to employ a zillion more postal workers (good for the economy) or install some pretty fancy machines (not quite as good for the economy).

Or quit the business of streaming wood-pulp from the forests to the landfill site in Michigan.

What do you think might happen?

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