Saturday, July 15, 2006
Unwanted Mail
I get a lot of stuff in the mail that I don't want. Some of it is advertising; I can dispose of that easily. Some of it is solicitation for contributions to several very worthy organizations. That I have to think about and sort through and decide just which worthy charity or candidate I will give money to this month. Some of it I throw away.
I subscribe to National Geographic magazine. Every month the organization sends me a package containing a CD I didn't order. For a while I kept the CD's, thinking I would view them some day on my TV set and CD player. Lately I have printed a bunch of labels that read "refused, return to sender." I stick one of these labels on the package and take it to the post office. The US Postal Service returns any package so labeled to the sender at no charge to me as long as the package hasn't been opened.
I also have an account with a firm that sells music CD's by mail and by internet. That firm also sends me, every month, a package containing two or more classical music CD's. That package now also gets the "refused, return to sender" treatment.
I have learned how to open the National Geographic and the music CD packages, look at the contents, and seal them up again with Elmer's glue in such a way that it looks as though the packages hadn't been opened. I even tell the postal clerk that I peeked at the contents, but he looks at the packages and sees that I have craftily sealed them to make them look unopened and takes them with no postage from me. To the USPS the important thing is that the packages look as though they haven't been opened. I told one clerk that even if I had to pay the return postage it would be a lot cheaper than keeping the contents.
I haven't yet decided what to do about calendars. It seems that any charity that I've ever given money to sends me a calendar for the year 2007. Now we can use some calendars. We have a place for one in the kitchen, two in the computer room, and one in the "office." The office is just a spare bedroom that contains a desk and several bookcases. We don't use it as an office any more. When both daughters and their families arrive for a visit, one group gets the guest room and the other group sleeps on a foam mattress on the floor in the office.
I've thought of attaching "refused" stickers to some of the calendars and taking them to the post office. On second thought, I realize that the cost of the postage that the charity will have to pay for the returned calendar is probably more that the original cost of the calendar. I could be more generous to the charity by simply throwing the calendar in the recycle barrel. Making the charity pay for the return of an unwanted calendar seems a bit chintzy.
I subscribe to National Geographic magazine. Every month the organization sends me a package containing a CD I didn't order. For a while I kept the CD's, thinking I would view them some day on my TV set and CD player. Lately I have printed a bunch of labels that read "refused, return to sender." I stick one of these labels on the package and take it to the post office. The US Postal Service returns any package so labeled to the sender at no charge to me as long as the package hasn't been opened.
I also have an account with a firm that sells music CD's by mail and by internet. That firm also sends me, every month, a package containing two or more classical music CD's. That package now also gets the "refused, return to sender" treatment.
I have learned how to open the National Geographic and the music CD packages, look at the contents, and seal them up again with Elmer's glue in such a way that it looks as though the packages hadn't been opened. I even tell the postal clerk that I peeked at the contents, but he looks at the packages and sees that I have craftily sealed them to make them look unopened and takes them with no postage from me. To the USPS the important thing is that the packages look as though they haven't been opened. I told one clerk that even if I had to pay the return postage it would be a lot cheaper than keeping the contents.
I haven't yet decided what to do about calendars. It seems that any charity that I've ever given money to sends me a calendar for the year 2007. Now we can use some calendars. We have a place for one in the kitchen, two in the computer room, and one in the "office." The office is just a spare bedroom that contains a desk and several bookcases. We don't use it as an office any more. When both daughters and their families arrive for a visit, one group gets the guest room and the other group sleeps on a foam mattress on the floor in the office.
I've thought of attaching "refused" stickers to some of the calendars and taking them to the post office. On second thought, I realize that the cost of the postage that the charity will have to pay for the returned calendar is probably more that the original cost of the calendar. I could be more generous to the charity by simply throwing the calendar in the recycle barrel. Making the charity pay for the return of an unwanted calendar seems a bit chintzy.
