As I’m sure you all know, the Post Office is being tampered with in order to delay absentee ballots from being sent out/received. One way to help out is to reduce the amount of mail being sent, so that the items which are important don’t have to be delayed for so long. If everyone who visits this site follows even some of the steps below, it would go a long way towards reducing unnecessary mail and allowing the Post Office to focus on their more important items.
Ways to help prevent a backlog of mail:
1. Do not send anything unless it’s absolutely necessary. Are you still paying bills by mail? Change it to online only, most bills/utilities/services have this option. Take it. Do you want to send a nice card to celebrate something? Send an email instead. Everyone just throws those cards away anyway.
2. Do not buy anything online unless absolutely necessary. If you must buy something, get it shipped by UPS or FedEx. Looking through my orders for the past few months, few things have been essential. For stuff that’s wanted, but not needed, we can wait until after the election.
3. Opt out of unsolicited credit card and insurance offers. Go to https://www.optoutprescreen.com/, scroll to the bottom, then click the Opt-In or Opt-Out button. There will be three choices (Opt-In, Opt-Out Electronically for 5 years, and Permanent Opt-Out by mail). Chose Opt-Out Electronically, then click continue. It will ask for your information (Name, Address, etc.). It will also ask for your SSN and Date of Birth, BUT THEY ARE NOT REQUIRED, so don’t be scared off. Click Confirm when you are done filling it out. If you’re worried about the validity of a site asking for your social security number, see: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0148-prescreened-credit-and-insurance-offers to allay any fears you may have.
4. Opt out of coupons. Valpak can be opted out of by going here: https://www.valpak.com/coupons/show/mailinglistsuppression. Just enter your address and click send. If you are one of those people who love coupons, know that you can easily opt back in if you want, just please wait until after the election.
5. Opt out of more coupons. Go to https://www.retailmenot.com/everyday/unsubscribe, fill out the form, then click on Submit. Easy.
6. Opt out of even more coupons. Money Mailer doesn’t allow you to opt out through their site, but if you email ListManagerContact@moneymailer.com with your name and address, along with the message: “Add me to your DO NOT MAIL list for physical mail. Do not rent, sell, or trade my name or address.” they should stop sending you junk.
7. Opt out of direct marketing. Unfortunately, this requires you to make an account and costs $2, but you can afford it to help save democracy. Go to https://dmachoice.thedma.org/register.php. Fill out your name and address info, then pick a password and go to Payment. Use paypal or enter your Credit Card info to pay the $2 fee. You should then be taken to a screen that lets you manage your mail. By default, Catalogs, Magazine Offers, and Other Mail Offers should be stopped, but click on the Review Current Choices link to be sure. This will take effect for 10 years.
8. Don’t want to pay anything? Try https://www.catalogchoice.org/. You have to make an account, but using it is free (though a donation is suggested and is tax-deductible). The only downside? You have to cancel the catalogs one at a time. So if you have several specific catalogs that you keep getting and then throwing away, try this. Just log in after you’ve made an account, click on Cancel A Catalog, search for the catalog you want to cancel, click on Opt-Out of this Catalog, fill out the necessary info (name/address), then click on Confirm.
9. Another option to cut down junk mail that I haven’t tried is www.paperkarma.com. It’s an app that allows you to take a picture of the junk mail’s logo, enter a name and address, and it will opt you out of that mail from then on. But it does cost $1.99 a month after a free trial period.
Most of the options above take time to take effect, anywhere from 2 weeks to 90 days. So don’t wait, act as soon as you can. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to stop a large percentage of your junk mail. If enough people do this, and the volume of mail is reduced in the lead up to election day, it means that absentee ballots will have shorter delivery times and a better chance of getting where they need to go.
If you have to vote absentee, request a ballot as soon as you can, fill it out as soon as you get it, then drop it off in person. Every vote must count if we are to have a chance of winning in 2020, and the fewer votes that the USPS is handling, the more that will get through on time.
In the meantime, the USPS needs funding. Please call your Senators and ask that they approve a stimulus package. This doesn’t take much time, and if we can put enough pressure on the Senate, something might happen. If no one is calling, nothing will happen.
Before now, I always took the USPS for granted. I won’t be doing that anymore. They are necessary for democracy, and right now we have to do our part to make sure they aren’t overwhelmed in November.
If you are worried about the Post Office’s revenue being hurt by this, then one way to make up for it is to drive to the Post Office, buy some stamps, envelopes, post cards, etc., and wait until after the election to use them. Also, it’s rather easy to opt back in to any junk mailing list if that is your wish. Believe me, plenty of companies would love to send you stuff if you give them your name and address. Just wait until after the election.
Please share this with anyone you think might listen. The more people who act, the more the mail volume is reduced.
