I know – it seems a little strange — but I actually love to get junk mail. I like opening my mailbox and finding it stuffed full of colorful images of smiling people or new furniture or new clothes or even a new car. I even like the junk mail from credit card companies and insurance companies! I like the postcards, the letters, the flyers and the catalogues. I like the quasi-personal notes from people I don’t even know and the invitations to events I will never attend.
I’m sure any normal person would tell you that if they had a choice between a box full of junk mail and one with even one bill in it — they would take the junk mail! The junk mail is personal without being to familiar. It doesn’t demand, it doesn’t insult and it sometimes even makes you laugh.
I think I have started to enjoy junk mail more because people don’t send letters or cards to friends any more. You never receive a card in the mail from a friend just because they were thinking of you. Birthday wishes are now sent via Facebook or an e-card in your e-mail box. Letters with pictures of the new grandkids and a recent wedding have been replaced by an e-mail with attachments or an invitation to view the pictures on ShutterFly.
It seems like the only time of year that people revert back to sending cards through the regular mail is at Christmas – which is when I’m at my happiest — I have real mail and lots of catalogues! Pure heaven!
I miss the days of waiting for a letter from my penpals or a card from my sisters with new pictures. I miss the days of opening the mailbox and finding a surprise letter from a long-lost friend. I miss the days when the mail box held more than just advertisements.
I’ll keep reading my junk mail — I don’t mind that it seems like a waste of paper — I can recycle all of it. I look forward to the seed catalogues in the spring, the outdoor living catalogues in the summer and of course, the Christmas catalogues starting in September! I look forward to the weekly ads from local merchants and the national chains of restaurants.
I love my junk mail — and am looking forward to tomorrow’s fresh batch!
(This was first published in March 2011 and was Freshly Pressed at that time. I have so many new readers that I wanted to share it again.)
Pages from my Crazy Life 
katie, you are a funny lady, but lovely with it. Fancy enjoying junk mail.. all I would use it for is lighting the fire.
It’s ok receiving it and reading it just as long as you are sensible and don’t go for one of these scams. So many people (I know they are older people) give out their bank account details to some obscure person believing that they will gain something from it. Or, they pay out money for some stupid illogical reason.
I am sure that you are not one of those, so carry on wit your very strange pastime
Have a happy day
LOL most of these comments could be filed under junk mail, as most of the poeple who post on “Freshly pressed” pages are doing it to get hits based on their comments. I see the same ten people at the top of every “Freshly pressed”, and I have decided to join the party. In fact, I may even write a little piece about it.
Well as far as junk mail goes i would have to say the people that tend to like junk-in-the-box, are your typical consumer and are likely to get a whole lot more of it, by participating in the scheme’s of the week. I personally, resign to only buying what I know I need at any given time, and I try to limit the amout of outside mind controling influnce the ad agencies shower me with…. still, nice post, later..
I don’t love junk mail, but I can appreciate the marketing and advertising theory behind it. And I pride myself on not succumbing to it … until …
I received a piece of mail about a month ago that looked exactly like a W-2. I opened it eagerly…only to feel totally duped. And proud of them for duping me!
Junk mail: Hate to receive it, hate it more when I fall prey. 😉
I have been sending a card in the mail to my friend every week since August, when her Mom became ill. Her Mom has since died, and the cards I send are ways to lift my friend’s spirit, while she is dealing with the loss of her Mom. Junk mail is fun, but walking down the card aisle and finding the perfect greeting to send to a friend – spontaneously – is even better!
What a beautiful friend you are! I know your friend has been helped through her time of loss by your weekly remembrances of her. God bless you.
That is a thoughtful way to show your friend you care. You are good.
That’s so nice! You are truly a wonderful person. 🙂
That’s encouraging. (My company designs direct mail and other collateral for some of the companies that send them out.) 🙂
I like your attitude 🙂
I don’t get cards because noone really stores them. They get thrown away. I like junk mail when I have finished reading everything in the house.
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!!
I will be happy to forward my junk mail to you…
spread the humor: charlywalker.wordpress.com
I am still a letter sender. I love stationary and the excitement from a friend when they receive a random card in the mail as opposed to an e-card 🙂
Junk mail is the most amazing thing that ever happened! I love it! I work in my college library and the libraian always gives me the junk mail that comes with the monthly magazines. I understand entirely where you’re coming from. I miss getting cards and letters from my friends, I still send them out from time to time in an attempt to inspire my dear friend to write back…..they never do.
I’m glad someone likes junkmail lol I despise it!
I love personalised junk mail with my name on it, it makes me smile. Like a corporate out reach to me, just me! It makes me feel special. I also love the catalogues selling random “tools” for your home like toe stretchers and barking door bells. They make me laugh. I even like leaflets from the supermarket that I can sit and leaf through and imagine what I might eat if I weren’t on a diet. I’ve never thought about it but now I realise, I love junk mail too!
I also look forward to junk mail. It can be entertaining. I don’t like getting the same one several times a week. I especially look forward to the supermarket ads. If you look at what is on sale, you will have a pretty good guess about what we may be eating that week. My teenage daughter once stated how weird it was that I wait anxious for them, and then get so excited when they arrived.
Pingback: I Love Junk Mail (via Pages from my Crazy Life) « A Bit of Everything
Intresting it is 🙂
The only mail I do like is junk mail. If I can just look at the pretty pictures and then trash it, that’s ok. If it’s mail that requires action, bleh hate it.
great post!! congratulations on being featured on freshly pressed!! 🙂
You are not alone. Junk mail can be fun. I use to get a lot of catalogs from places like ‘Oriental Trading Co.’ and ‘Domestications’. I miss them. I should get myself back on their mailing lists. Your post has inspired me to go out and buy a box of mixed greeting cards and a book of stamps. I bet my friends would be shocked to find a ‘just because’ card in their mail box. I hope it catches on and more people decide to return to snail mail if for no other reason than to put a smile on the faces of their friends.
i’m guessing you aren’t the one who takes out the trash in your home eh? i like catalogs sometimes as well though:)
Girl you are crazy! I am one person that hates junk mail. All I think about it what a waste of nice paper that I don’t want to look at. I sort out the important mail and the junk mail which goes straight to recycle. But what I do love is magazines. I only get a couple but that is my fix for bright colors, fashion, articles etc.
ha! I like receiving personalized mail – whether email or actual mail. But never junk mail, too much of junk for me to sort it out, which I know I will never use anyway. But yeah – I agree with you on that note, that we never receive mails by anyone these days, except bills or anything else. I was also reading another article posted in nytimes yesterday, that gone are the days of the phone as well, b’day wishes, invitations, messages are all sent via Facebook, IM or emails these days! Congrats on FP 🙂
Not all of it has “pretty pictures” Try telling that to a postman and watch their reaction when you say to them you “love junkmail”. Trust me, you won’t like the comments you may receive and you won’t love it if you were my b’f. He is a postman and he has to deliver this stuff everyday. It can vary from 3 – 6 items per week! Add this to the “normal” junkmail that is delivered six days aweek every week, every month, every year!
For those of you in the UK… junk mail is marked with an “m” in the top right hand corner if it is Royal Mail, (call it “3rd class mail” but as he also has to “do the last mile” for all the other carriers.. ie TnT, Deutcheposte, UKMail etc etc (they have their own postal markings). Not that it would mean anything to you, but that Royal Mail call that “downstream access” and most of it is junkmail too, and you can see that it is a huge amount.
He has worked out that out of 6-7 bags of mail he delivers each day, at least 1-2 of these are junk mail. Each bag can weigh between 10-16kgs each!
20-32 kgs per day, a minimum of 100kgs per week! of junk mail delivered to households on his delivery alone (approx 500 households!) Thats a lot of trees being “killed” all for the sake of “commercial free enterprise”. This amount is also being delivered, from his delivery office, by another 90-100 postmen each and everyday! Not exactly green is it? As he said about 75-80% of this is binned each and every day by people who neither want it or even asked for it!
Think on this as you continue to “love junk mail” then. Where we live, our town has a population of around 80,000 people. My b/f delivers to an area that is covered by 4 postmen, and they deliver to approx. 2000 households between them so going on what he delivers that is 64kgs of junkmail EACH day sent through the post to one area of our town, and about 75-80% is not wanted.. or even asked for.
Your name is taken off the voting register and other listings that companies use to target “potential customers.” Some of this “junkmail” is even sent out each and every month, and I don’t mean subscription items either. Times that by around 500 households on his delivery, that is a huge amount of junkmail to be delivered.. and RM class this as firstclass mail too as they get paid to deliver it on the “last mile” for other carriers. About 80% of people on his delivery hate it and do not even want it. That on top of all the junk mail that gets sent direct to customers through the post as well (addressed items). Also add on top of that people doing door-todoor items for pizza companies, takeaways etc etc each and everyday. No wonder people have signs on their houses saying “NO JUNK MAIL OR FREE NEWSPAPERS.”
A massive amount of ” junk-mail” is binned each day as postmen see it in recycle bins when they are put out for collection each week, as they pass them on the street as the binmen cover the same route as them once a week.
And we wonder why there is all this massive deforestation going on around the world. Each day an area the size of Wales is lost as trees are cut down to satisfy the modern worlds “need” for paper!
You can love junk mail all you want.. just don’t be the postman who has to deliver it each and every day, only for it to be put in the bin the same day as it is delivered.. pretty pictures on it or not!
I think you’re disproportionately attacking the author when all she’s trying to do is look at a common irritant positively. She mentions that it’s recyclable. Your boyfriend may break his back carrying extra junk mail, but that very junkmail makes more postmen a requirement.
Not so.
I’m not attacking her, or anyone at all… I’m just stating a fact. If she likes “junk-mail” then fine. I posted a blog on my wordpress page about this too, as it was about this very blog.
It has to be delivered, under their new work agreement, and also that it keeps them in work as well but it is the very amount they have to deliver on top of their daily deliveries.
Postmen, here in the UK, are being laid off too as their deliveries are being cut due to their new work schedules, which does loads more work on to them, due to rounds that have been cut being split and added to other rounds. Royal Mail want more work out of them for less pay, no payrise for the past 2-3yrs (including a pay freeze!) and they want the mail delivered in a tighter timespan.. ie a 4hr delivery which is impossible to complete when they could just about complete their delivery prior to the new work system. Adding more items onto their delivery increases their workload.. ie my b/f usedto take out 4-5 bags of mail per day.. that has now risen to 7-8 bags per day.. literally double the amount and they want it delivered in the same time span and it cannot be done. Adding things into the delivery, like “junk-mail” that has to be delivered to every house on the delivery, extends the time they are out as well. Royal Mail class this “junk-mail” as first class mail too and yet they, the people who get it, throw it all in the bin when they get it with their mail.
So tell me, is stating a fact wrong? The bulk of this stuff is totally disproportionate to the areas it is delivered to as well. So much for the people who do the marketing for these areas! Why deliver it when it is not wanted? You tell me and try to deliver what can amount to an extra 4-5kgs of “junk-mail” a day, added to their mail, and work at a required rate of time/speed and see how you like it as RM want the posties to walk at 4mph on delivery. You try to keep up that rate and speed.. it cannot be done 5 days a week, week in week out. Want to see what actual postmen in the UK think of this?
Use this link to see for yourselves.
http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/home.php
Then tell me you think it’s a good deal.
So true, i missed those days too, waiting for a letter from penpals and long lost friends, receive handmade greetings card, and pictures… Now you can see everythings on Facebook. No intimacy of friendship anymore… but this is life the internet era… people lost their ‘old human habit’ instead being unsocialized stared at computer screen almost all the time… (Blackberry and Iphone are computers..) But i almost never open junkmail ^_^
Who would have thought so many people loved junk mail? I wonder if you’d said ‘I love bunions’ you’d have had hundreds of comments from fellow bunion-lovers… Odd thing this ‘Internet’…
real funny idea – unfortunately not for me 😀 everytime these LOADS of paper 🙂
Wow, you’re silly-funny. (It’s a good thing). I do agree that you make some good points about the impersonal Facebook birthday wishes and wedding invitations, etc, etc.
I can understand what you may feel when you say that you “enjoy” junk mail. In a way, it’s artistic, expressive, and definitely creative! All enjoyable pleasures… I, myself, LOVE photography! So anything with beautiful pictures always gets me and when I was younger (okay, fine, about 3 or 4 years ago before college and work — aka when I had more time and less bills LOL), I used to LOVE getting junk mail. Feeling like I was important. Loved catalogues, flyers, postcards, etc. And I loved the pretend/sample credit cards they send you with “Your Name Here” on it! Because, to me, it helped feed my imagination and pretend life that I fancied… having a credit card, shopping for this and that, and traveling…
But today, it has gotten out of hand. Online AND Offline. Sadly, Online and offline are related/connected. I get so much SPAM now in real life that I literally scoop up my mail and dump them on the floor on my way out to work… sometimes, I’d get 6 or 7 junk mail in one day… And I worry about just trashing them without shredding them as identity thieves STEAL trash! And did you know that ID thieves can predict your SSN based on three data: your zip code, gender, and DOB! Read about it for yourself:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218400854
– eSophieThinks.wordpress.com
Forwarding all my junk mail to you as we speak. Just out of curiosity, do you like spam in your in box too??
Congrats on Being Freshly Pressed.
Blessings,
Ava
xox
Actually I do read the spam in my email! Never know what yoy might find!
“The junk mail is personal without being to familiar.”
So true.. 🙂
If you like junk mail, you would be very happy with my mailbox. I can’t tell you the last time I actually received something of substance in my mailbox, but I do have a menu from every pizza and Chinese restaurant within five miles.
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed
I flipped when I read your “About Me” and you said you’d always dreamed of writing a column like Erma Bombeck because that’s what I told my husband when I decided to start my blog here! lol I’ve always thought that my style of writing was a little Erma Bombeck-esque, a la “The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank”, etc. Glad to know there are other Erma fans here on WordPress…;-)
I have a love/hate relationship with junk mail, I think. I hate it for the reasons most people do, but I sort of secretly love it because some days it’s the only friendly mail I get that doesn’t have an outstretched palm behind it. Well, not overtly demanding money from me anyway. Congratulations on your Freshly Pressed status!
I hate junkmail, but after reading your post, I can see your point. I would take a trunk full of junkmail over a bill anyday. And, I do put the catalogs to good use in my “office”.
http://www.dontmakethatface.com
I really don’t care for junk mail. Recently had a bad virus come into my computer due to junk mail. Yes I can see your point but it seems like it takes a lot of work to keep out the bad in order to preserve the good. Good Luck!
Humorous take on junk mail. Can I send you mine? Just kidding. I don’t mind junk mail but would rather get letters from family or friends. You are right that most letters from family are sent via email/facebook except during Christmas.
Pingback: Junkmail… love it or hate it? « RorrimSL
As much as I love e-mail, I prefer physical cards for birthdays and Christmas. As for junk mail, my only fond memories of it are the things my sister and I used to make from it to stay busy. We’d draw on the plain side of any paper and sometimes even cut the models out of catalogs as a sort of paper doll just for something different.
That’s actually pretty cool.. love how you creatively salvaged something useless (or, I’ll tone it down, RATHER useless).
Aun Aqui
interesting, I guess it makes for good reading and besides you never know when a great email would read: “You Are Special” thanks for sharing.
Heh, I like junk mail too. I wouldn’t say I LOVE it, but it definitely does beat opening bills. Sometimes unsolicited mail or newsletters can inform me of things I would never have known about otherwise. The only big downside of junk mail is that there’s SO much of it! I never have time to go through it all.
I feel you, totally miss the actual mail showing up. The birthday wishes most…. it’s more personal.
I never really thought long and hard about my mail but you’ve definitely made me realize that although I’m not ecstatic about most of the junk mail I do absolutely love when a new catalog comes and I certainly miss getting letters in the mail 😦 My kids get cards from my parents, siblings and friends for birthdays and fun holidays like Valentine’s Day. I think I get just as excited as they do when I see them in the mailbox.
It is somewhat sad to get most well wishes via email, facebook and text as an adult. This has given me an idea to mail out some “thinking of you” or funny cards at random to those close in my life. Just for a bit a nostalgia and to put something personal in their mailbox.
Love the post!
Lol, nice post! I send you mine!
You have to send mail to receive mail! If you’d like, I can send you some “real” mail! Just contact me throught my mail project blog! http://100daysofsnailmail.wordpress.com/
thanks!
There are things I look forward to in my mail. The catalog with the 30% off and my favorite skirt is $5 less. The seed catalogs. The advertisement for Better Homes and Gardens. I might hate the ads and the begging letters but I do like looking t them for a moment.
Wow… now this is something you don’t hear everyday. But you are right… it is nice to get something colorful in the mail. I bet that if the bills came in colorful envelopes and snazzy inserts we’d be happier when opening them….
haha. I enjoy not receiving junk mail because even if I can recycle it, there has still been a tonne of energy and consumption that has gone into making that initial flier, and the whole process will just be repeated when you recycle that paper.
I also am very conscious of my time I spend in the day, and really don’t have time to browse through the latest coupon package that has come to me that will ensure that I get my 20% savings on steam cleaning my carpets…
But, to each their own! I hope tomorrow you have a box full of flyers from delicious pizza places and appealing eye glasses!
I do love Crabtree and Evelyn ‘junk mail’…..I used the pretty promotional cards as bookmarks 🙂 I love looking at Ikea flyers too
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!!!
I despise junk mail. It is nothing more than garbage being delivered directly into my mail box. If I could find a way to avoid getting it, I would do it in a heart beat.
People DO still send mail. I’m one of them. We’re like a little cult, fiercely hanging on to such retro items as pens and paper, crafting mail art and buying fancy stamps. Sure beats the heck out of junk mail.
It is a shame that letter writing is a dying art. I try to exchange letters (on cool stationary!) with a friend of mine as often as possible. Sure, we only get around to doing it once every couple of months, but we both feel it keeps the art alive. It’s our little act of revolution 🙂
Wow, met someone who likes junk mail! Not me…I return it and ask to be taken off their mailing list. Heehee, they probably consider my requests “junk mail.”
this was sure fun to read! I do have to say I am not a fan of junk mail, although you do have a point about people not getting actual letters and gifts anymore. technology is just gobbling it all up! This was fun reading though and I have to say the upsides of junk mail can be the fact that you discover something you never heard about that may actually be of interest to you!
Agreed! From time to time, something good comes out of it. And if not, I just recycle it, too.
I wish I was as enthusiastic as you with junk mail. I hate junk mail. I dread opening the mail, not because of bills (because those have been sent electronically), but because of junk mail. To me, it’s just a waste of paper. It goes into the recycling bin, never to be looked at again.
Can I send you mine? I can’t stand it.
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
You make good observations. I don’t love junk mail but I don’t feel irritated by it either. I guess I nothing it– indifference I believe it’s called. But a personal, familiar card or heart-warming letter in the mail? That’s heaven. Cool post! K
I love love love to get junk mail.
Send me yours.
Everyone who hates theirs send all of it to me.
I never have enough to line my rabbit cages,
Put sheets under Cujo’s water and food bowls (he especially likes the ones regarding funeral expense insurance with the smiling old lady on the phone saying,”Yes Blanche, Dad finally kicked the bucket. Thank goodness he had the Final Expense Plan cause I’ll be damned if I was going to pay out one more dollar….” It’s a long ad.
I also use it to clean the windows and make collages in group therapy……….
I can’t stand junk mail. Especially college mail – I wrote a whole post on that particular aggravating subspecies. But enjoy it, by all means. You probably have lower blood pressure than the rest of us.
I used to think that junk mail was ‘nature’s’ way of letting us know we were alive and being noticed by the world; “the mail box is full…gee I must still be breathing.” Then I realized that I am still receiving junk mail for someone who is deceased, two kids who have moved away, and my Ex. Which tells me that my address is more important than the humans that live here.
i like it too…
Junk mail makes me crazy! Too much to open. I don’t even open the mail I’m supposed to open!
Junk mail makes me laugh at all the random things people make.
Love your post!
Since I moved to another country half way around the world, I started writing letters again. I love writing letters because it takes more effort and people really appriciate and enjoy recieving them.
Everyone likes recieving real mail, here’s a cool idea AND you’ll get mail:
http://www.postcrossing.com/
It’s an online comunity which helps you to recieve and send postcards all over the world.
I have postcards from so many countries already! Unfortunately the Chinese mailman has difficulty finding my house (except for junk and bills…)
Maybe this will give a change to the junkmail (which I secretely enjoy as well)
Thanks for your post!
lizaroos.wordpress.com
Wow! Yours might be the first admission I’ve ever witnessed to the love of junk mail.
I can’t say that I am in the same camp. There’s just too much of it. We still get catalogs in triplicate (my maiden name, my name, my husband). It fills my recycling bin way too quickly.
However, I do lament the lost art of letter-writing, and cards. I love getting Christmas cards in the mail, with up-to-date pictures of long lost cousins and friends. And, I admit, I always feel a bit guilty in January when it’s time to discard these little treasures.
Great post! Congrats on Freshly Pressed!
I sort of miss that as well! I like to have to open the letter and see what is in side. Instead of staring at a computer screen. Although, I really don’t do that as much since I am a teen, but I still think that it is fun to get a letter from someone. You never completely know what’s inside until you open it!
Nothing makes me happier than some good ol’ fashioned snail mail! I’m a little less enthusiastic about the junk mail than you (i.e. waste-o-trees/ink/resources) but nothing beats a handwritten card or letter.
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
I am going to send all of mine to you tomorrow. 🙂
I would like to have a choice in the matter of receiving or nor receiving junk mail… I am always trying to call the credit card companies and take myself of the list. I shout at them and tell them that I hope this conversation is recorded for training purpose! After that,I always tell the nice-sounding lady from India that I have absolutely nothing against her and I understand that this is the company policy, we even joke around for a bit. Then she assures me that my info is removed from the list, unless…I am randomly selected…sigh…Last time I did that, I told them that the only thing they are welcome to send me is money. She thought it was hilarious and started laughing uncontrollably – makes me think it was genuine.
You are right to have the attitude you have – it is better to focus on pretty pictures 🙂 Maybe you can make cards out of them (I sometimes cut pretty images out and glue them to the nice piece of paper) and send to your friends and family. Very nice read, thanks!
I see the bright side of opening your mailbox and being showered with junk mail 😉 But I really hate it, when they mix important mail within the pages of discount books
I actually have similar feelings, it can be a little disappointing when I discover there isn’t a massive cheque inside but getting post is a bit of a buzzy thing. Then there is the added bonus of feeling smug when you chuck it in the recycling bin x
I love getting junk mail. It helps me pass time.. usually Sunday afternoons, when I have nothing better to do. I just look through piles of junk mail… it’s actually relaxing. HAHA.
Is that weird? ..
Wow… now this is something you don’t hear everyday. But you are right… it is nice to get something colorful in the mail.
http://www.freeflashgames.asia/
junk mail forever! and who can forget the still-popular (and possibly mandatory?) 5,000 pieces of mail from EACH political candidate in your area every election year! xD
You were such a very thoughtful friend. I also loved junk mail. I prefer to received birthday cards than sending an e-card just on the net. You can’t really feel if that person is sincere or not. And you were right that it feels happy and excited when someone send you an cards and letters from a long distance. I really writings. I loved to write anything.
I love junk mail too. For me it arrives every Tuesday. When I was living with my sister, she would bring it in and through the pile at me going “Here’s your porn”, just because I got so excited over it!
It was fun for me to sit on the couch, chilled out and sift through all the bargains I’ll never buy!
Nice post!
hahahaha .. but i don’t like so much
you are funny girl ^^
Can I make you delirious then, and send you all of mine? It would not only make you happy to get more, it would make me happy to be rid of it! 🙂
I must say that I don’t exactly love junk mail, but I do love receiving my magazines by mail and find those to be extra fun to get in the mail. I really liked when I got cards in the mail and stuff, that was the good ol’ days!
Funny, but you really have to get a better class of friends – ones who will actually write to you. Seems like you’re a person who’s actually worth knowing. 🙂
Be well,
J.
Hi Katie,
That was really catching up my mind about your topic. It sounds ‘crazy’. But yes…there you are. But, I had some goofy experienced regarding the junk mail. It took 6 years ago when the mail was popped up on my mailbox. I got $200.000 cash if I sent my bank account to him. I just figured out that how come this man so easily gave me the money. Hey….it was a new crime in the Internet era that time.
Junk mail is really bothering me all the time. The stupid viagra things came to my mailbox….But you’re so nice to handle that situation…^-^
Pingback: I Love Junk Mail (via Pages from my Crazy Life) « The Moving Character
Oh Katie, how I wish I could transfer all my junk mail and junk emails to you 😀
Cool post!
You are my junk-mail soul-mate! My dad used to go nuts because i would just keep all of this useless junk-mail – it simply made me happy! There IS something about having all of those papers, random information, interesting forms which you fill out for fun and so much more.
Wow, girlfriend! Didn’t realize until I logged out that your post made Freshly Pressed. Congrats! I am linked to your blog through mine, and didn’t make a comment because I detest junk mail.
I love to go through my own mail quickly, and everything I suspect is “junk” goes into a pile, gets opened, and if I’m right is discarded in seconds. It’s so quick and I feel very satisfied if I can get through all my mail by “filing” most of it this way, because as you point out, one rarely gets real mail from people one knows any more. If it’s junk mail with my name/address, anything personal, it get shredded.
Are you kidding me? Who has time for the junk mail? I sure don’t. What ever isn’t in an envelope, goes straight to the recycle bin. Stack of envelopes only get few minutes of my time and that’s it.
I remember the old days when I was able to sit there and go through the pile of mail. I sure was a curious teenager. Now life is diffrent.
Junk mail is an amazing resource for mixed media arts, if you’re so inclined. I am a Mark Montano junkie (he wrote “Big Ass Book of Crafts”) and he has a few ideas in his books for uses of junk mail. Maybe you can even use your junk mail to make personal mail for your friends 🙂 http://markmontano.typepad.com/mark-montano/2010/05/being-noteworthy.html
Since I do 99% of all my budgeting and bill-paying online, I really have no use for a mailbox. I do get something important once in a while but for the most part, my mailbox is a dumping ground for junk mail. I try to use private mailing companies (UPS/FedEx) whenever possible. Where are all the “tree-huggers” when you need them? Why aren’t they whining about all this wasted paper that just goes straight to the trash instead of crying about what kind of car I drive? Plus, have you ever been to the Post Office lately? Where am I at, the DMV? I’m waiting in line for 30 minutes to send an overnight letter and on top of that, deal with some snobby government employee who thinks I’ve got all the time in the world. Save us taxpayers some money and close the U.S. Postal Service. And put my name on the “Do Not Send Junk Mail List!”
i like junk mail too, but i get it rarely at my boarding but when i do, it brightens my day for a few moments
http://www.regularteenageworld.wordpress.com
Rather you than me, such a waste of paper! Do agree with you though on missing the “physicality” of real cards and fotos 😦
yeah it gives us that anxious feeling before opening it if its a picture or a foreign mail.
I don’t get junk mail at all because I ave a sticker on my mailbox that says I don’t want it. To me it is such a waste of paper -.- So there I have to agree with the person above me.
I do try and send letters or cards to people that are important to me every once in a while. And it’s nice to get some positive feedback. Because the advantage of no-one doing it anymore is that when someone gets a letter they are usually quite happy about it. 🙂
Haha, I really like this post! I thought about the same thing some time ago and came to the conclusion that I really miss those hand-written letters from friends!
Great post! My daughter has penpals, friends, and exchanges letters(snail mail) regularly – she uses her wax stamp and wax to seal each one that goes out the door! Isn’t that a treat? And I had made a Lenten-promise to send a card for 40 days…nothing beats getting something in the mail with your name on it with even a short note inside! Its the extra time and effort that you appreciate…people are consumed by their own lists and duties and don’t consider a few minutes, even, for others like generations past had…
Haha, you are perfectly insane! Take that as a complement… 🙂 When I was slightly younger I used to love junk mail… I’d flip through every single one! But now… It’s straight to the trashcan. Oh well. Congratz on being FP!
i love junk mail too…. especially the random travel brochures!!
i hate junk mail!!! esp if it comes as spam in email…so annoying anyway great post and congrats on fp
I like junk mail. Because it’s not a bill. And I get great joy in putting it in the recycling container. All that money that was spent on making those advertisements and the postage paid….recession? What recession? Someone is making a lot of money somewhere.
I love blogging and junk mail!
Pingback: Ordinary Everyday Delights « Fish Stories
Well said! My mother is a mail carrier and may be out of a job without junk mail.
“I miss the days when the mail box held more than just advertisements.”
Ditto.
I’m still waiting on and hoping (futile though it may be) for a letter from a long-lost friend myself..
Even though I have no reason for this delightful expectation, I always, always ALWAYS check the mail with a sense of excitement and anticipation.. always hoping for something really personal, thoughtful and heart warming.
Maybe computers will crash someday and we’ll revert back to barbarian kindness and courtesy.
Aun Aqui
Yeah its fun to read but trying to figure which ones importants the hard part lol great post!
I’m not a fan of junk mail, but I do appreciate the reasons why you like it (i.e. no one sends letters or cards anymore). Perhaps I’ll start looking at my junk mail in a different light…nah, probably not. 😉
Loved your post and congratulations on being Freshly Pressed!
lol Junk mail is nice – only because it isn’t a bill. It’s like a holiday.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! WELL DONE KATIE
I love getting ‘random’ junk mail for stuff that couldn’t possibly be relevant to me. “Women’s things”, etc etc….. I always laugh when we get a pack on junk mail. In Holland we get it in bulk – a huge pile wrapped in cellophane and ready in one go. It takes quite a while to sift through the stuff. I can’t get enough of it.
Ah, catalogues… I love catalogues! I don;t ever order anything…lol… but I always enjoy looking for what sort of gadgets they have…lol. Everytime if I’m in the store I will pick up a catalogue as well…
I wish I could give you my junk mail. I think its annoying, it just piles up then I have to spend half the day going through it. My husband is tired of looking at my little piles of mail all over the house.
nice post!! enjoy your mail 🙂
Absolutely right on, Katie! I miss those heartfelt cards and letters, too. It seems, sadly, that people do not want to stay in touch via the USPS anymore. It takes a bit of effort to pick out a greeting card, actually write a personal note on it and sign your name, get a stamp and heavens above, literally put it in the mailbox at the foot of your driveway, or bring it to the post office.
All that work! It’s easier, quicker and more cost effective to email, twitter, or tweet. A few keystrokes and a click or two and you’re done!
It’s no surprise. People do not want to stay in touch via the telephone either. Imagine actually talking person to person! Texting isn’t all warm and friendly like that.
So, gimme a batch of daily junk mail!! At least someone took the time to contact me with a tangible piece of news; even if it’s only to advise me of the biggest, best sale of the universe and remind me it’s not going to last long. Neither am I.
I love mail! Junk mail, personal mail, whatever… I just like getting something. That’s one of the things I miss the most about being so far from home these days- I get no mail. I still write and send letters/cards, but it’s rare and then some for anyone to write back. Sigh. I do love the catalogs that come in the junk mail. It’s like window shopping without ever leaving the house. Nice!
Me too! I totally love junk mail, esp. ads and catalogues with lots of pictures of stuff on sale. It’s like window shopping from the comfort of your sofa ^_^
True. Right now even the bank statement are all electronic.
Without junk mail, I believe I will have nobody mail to me any more…
I really need to appreciate the junk mail
Can I forward all mine to you?
I have to say, I do know where you are coming from…I do miss the day of nice mail, like my Birthday, Christmas, etc. and the anticipation of waiting for letters that I did receive when I was younger. Thank goodness my family and friends still sends Birthday cards. I guess you could start sending friend cards and perhaps people would send them in return…all of this STILL would not make me like junk mail. But if it turns you on, have at it! I hate the waste of my time having to go through it, and having to recycle it. And don’t even get me started on the fake checks that can start a whole problem with your bank account if you are stupid enough to accept them and put them in your bank…
Not only is “junk mail” welcomed in a lot of homes, it is also one of the cheapest, energy-efficient, and effective forms of advertising — which is why it’s still around even after all other postal communications have reverted to digital media.
As for “wasting paper,” one of the hardest concepts for people to understand is that using paper does not endanger trees any more than eating corn endangers corn. As long as trees are a viable commodity they will continue to be farmed. The real danger is if we actually stopped using paper, thereby lowering the value of trees and making it more economic for companies to sell off their tree farms in favour of something that brought in more profit.
Personally, I never look at junk mal, but my wife and father-in-law do. When we moved into our new place and my father-in-law discovered there was a “No Junk Mail” notice on the letter box he immediately removed it.
Nice piece, and very well written.
This is so true! I had completely forgotten about the days of penpals and birthday cards in the mail. Giving someone your mailing address nowadays is like something super personal that is only for people you REALLY, really well. Isn’t that sad? Great post! Definitely worth the feature.
-Morgan
ah…the lost art of letter writing…i know what you mean about receiving letters (cards) in the mail around christmas…i love sending my friends newspaper clippings or comic strips they may enjoy so they can have something other than junk mail greet them *hahaha*…thanks for encouraging me to send something out to my girls in the next few days…via snail mail *hahaha*
Wow….either you love it or hate it. I have to say I hate it. When you add up all the junk mail by so many households that just toss it (I recycle it ) I just cringe thinking of all the garbage we produce and trees cut down. But I do understand your point about getting letters. Nothing beats a nice thank you note. An email isn’t quite the same when you are thanking someone.
I don’t love junk mail, per se, but I do love getting catalogs and unexpected coupons in the mail. It’s amazing how many towels and linens I would own if I didn’t remind myself I only have 2 beds and 2 bathrooms… My mom’s pretty good at sending “just thinking about you” cards, I think that’s something I should get into because there really is something exhilarating about receiving stuff in the mail!
Now that’s looking the beauty of everything! Way to go 😉
Great post, I love junk mail too!
http://www.nift.ac.in/admissions1.html
Pingback: Junkmail.. love it or hate it? « Ro's Blogs
Pingback: Junk mail. Love it or hate it? « Ro's Blogs
I feel the exact same way. Ah, the simple things in life =)
Pingback: I Love Junk Mail (via Pages from my Crazy Life) | Top world news online
Junk mail is a love/hate thing with me. I currently hate it because my life is way too cluttered. Junk mail + shredder = more work organizing paper for the recycle bin.
This is hilarious! I thought I was the only one that enjoyed and actually read the junkmail. Thanks for the great post!
http://fluffyglutton.com
Pingback: Review 2 – Junk Mail « blogrreview
I happen to love junk mail, just hate throwing it away!
Oddly enough, I think I agree with you. I’d much rather have a postbox filled with junkmail than one bill… So many colours, so much more life and so much less “demanding”… =)
Pingback: Things I won’t write about « Pages from my Crazy Life
Pingback: Junkmail.. love it or hate it? « Ro's Blog
I have been sending a card in the mail to my friend every week since August, when her Mom became ill. Her Mom has since died, and the cards I send are ways to lift my friend’s spirit, while she is dealing with the loss of her Mom. Junk mail is fun, but walking down the card aisle and finding the perfect greeting to send to a friend – spontaneously – is even better!
Oh Katie, how I wish I could transfer all my junk mail and junk emails to you 😀
If you like junk mail, you would be very happy with my mailbox. I can’t tell you the last time I actually received something of substance in my mailbox, but I do have a menu from every pizza and Chinese restaurant within five miles.
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed
Pingback: A Vacant Mind « Pages from my Crazy Life
Pingback: What I have learned « Pages from my Crazy Life
Pingback: Bizarre « Pages from my Crazy Life
Pingback: A New Year – A New Promise « Pages from my Crazy Life
i hate junk mail every piece that comes through the door!
Pingback: If I were you… « Pages from my Crazy Life
What’s your address, I’ll send you mine! 😀 😀 I do enjoy my junk mail….when I recycle it. But I see where you’re coming from. I like getting my Bed Bath and Beyond…cut that coupon out and recycle the rest! Cute post!