Does any one else have a problem with stuff you get in the mail-like address labels-from charities and then you're expected to pay for them? I call and ask to have my name removed from their mailing list if they have an 800#, but I don't like this practice or I send it back at their expense. Sometimes it takes persistent to get them to quit sending stuff. If it was a charity I wanted to contibute to then I wouldn't need to be bribed(manipulated) into it. Or am I just an old hum-bug?

-- Cindy (SE. IN) (atilrthehony@hotmail.com), December 18, 2001

Answers

I enjoy getting address labels in the mail...And the Post Office says that you don't have to send any money to any charity that you didn't ask for...There are some I donate to, like the Salvation Army and Veterans groups but not all of them...Go ahead and enjoy the labels...I do

-- Robert (snuffy@1st.net), December 18, 2001.

I don't have a problem with it. I just use whatever they send me! Free address labels? THANKS! Do I send them a contribution? NOPE! I have local charities that I contribute to. But if some organization wants to send me free address labels in the mail, I'll use them. However, if they think I'm going to send them a contribution for doing so, they are sadly mistaken.

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), December 18, 2001.

Neil & I send ALL advertising/charity/junk mail back marked "REFUSED"...We burn our trash and do not need a zillion pieces of extra paper to get rid of every month....I already know which charities I want to give my money to..do not need to receive unwanted mail (from anybody)....think of all the trees which would not be needed for paper if all that stupid junk mail were not around..not to mention, the supposedly overworked and ever-more-expensive postal service..yup, it's Bah and humbug from me about those things...

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), December 18, 2001.

There's a list you can get on to not get junk mail. It's free and you get the address from the post office, it's good for 5 years. It really cuts out the occupant mail but if you're name is on it, it can still get through.

-- Cindy (SE. IN) (atilrthehony@hotmail.com), December 18, 2001.

I also enjoy using the labels and do not feel obligated in the least to pay for these unsolicited solicitations.

-- mary (mlg@aol.com), December 18, 2001.

Move to Canada!:o) We have had hardly any junk mail since we moved 15 months ago. I say "hardly any" because I cannot specifically recall any, but there might have been some. For a while, though, we were receiving junk mail forwarded to us from our old address in the states!

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), December 19, 2001.

Lesley, just marking "refused" on junk mail will not get you off lists unless the piece has "address correction requested" or "return postage guaranteed" on it. If it does not say that on it, all it does is go into the postal trash (which is probably all you care about--we recycle all our mixed paper, and junk mail goes right in with it, although addresses and credit card apps are burned). If it does, the mailer is trying to clean up it's list and the "refused" will get back to them. Not to defend unsolicited junk mail, but properly targeted bulk mail, because it is uniformly addressed (any postal worker can tell you how hard it is to read some people's handwriting--a big reason for nondelivery) and a lot is going out at once (we all expect discounts for bulk buying, why is it not right for bulk mailing?), well that volume is what is helping to keep postage as low as it is.

Also, I hate to say this, but charities sell and trade lists, and if you do give to one, you can get on a master "sucker list" and that's how you get on other lists.

The telemarketers are worse, especially if they have some 3rd party do it. I got a call from a 3rd party about renewing my PBS membership once, and I complained to the station. They said they hire a 3rd party to do the calling, and I said if you've got money to hire other people, you don't need mine.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 16, 2002.