Waste: Commercial Ads via U.S. Post

Click the title to read the full article on America's #1 easy-to-fix necessary-to-fix waste problem.
There are lots of different kinds of waste which people are fixated on. Energy waste is a massive topic with each of its many subtopics -- automobiles, trains, airplanes, public electricity, private electricity, just to name a few -- could each have a book published about them. ("Trains are energy inefficient" this, "Americans drive too much" that, etc.) Then there's the waste of time, another big topic (and one which concerns this blogger on a daily basis). There's wasting money, wasting food, on and on it goes. But none of these problems is easily remedied. Each of these problems requires a major change in our way of living, both as individuals prepared for change and as a society in dire need of it.

But what I'd like to talk to you about is the problem of mailed commercial advertisements. I'm referring to those magazine-paper advertisements you find stuffed inside your mailbox (almost without fail) every single day that the postman delivers mail to your residence. Some will say that the advertisers are propping up the USPS and that their ads are crucial to the US postal infrastructure, but I reject this for reasons I'm not prepared to go into right now because they are too many and too lengthy. If you wish to voice a criticism, do so and then I shall respond to that specific criticism.

(A WHOLE BUNCH OF TEXT EDITED OUT FOR YOUR SAKE)

Okay. I'm digressing, and I don't have time or patience and neither do you. So let's cut to the chase:
The problem overall: companies think they need the mail sector to stay afloat
The truth: they don't. And we know this because Americans have been throwing away those advertisements longer than Publishers Clearing House has existed.
The alternative:
1. Not all companies even need to advertise this much. Groceries, for example, need only let newcomers to the community know that they effing exist and to maybe show some pretty in-store pictures (not of specific products but of the store itself). A 1-page single or double-sided advert mailed to the community's houses only once every 3 months. I don't need Kroger to mail me a 20-page booklet showing me their prices (zero coupons!!) for this week because I and every other grocery shopper go to the grocery at least once a week. Personally I go at least twice a week, and usually more frequently than that because I purchase small amounts of perishable goods (like turkey from the deli).

2. Those companies which feel they do need to advertise this much (e.g. pizzerias) should at least cut back on the amount of paper they print and distribute via the mail. They should have a once-a-month 3"x5" piece of paper (single or double-sided) which shows that month's special pizza(s), the store locations, and their phone numbers. Redirect customers looking for coupons to the internet. "I don't have internet" is no longer a valid excuse because of the ubiquity of public computers with internet access. Maybe in 1999 people could cling to that argument, but not in 2009!

3. Companies which are compelled to get the word out that they exist (e.g. Geico) would do well to simply do so with a 3"x5" notecard (or smaller!) that has the company name, what the company does, and the name and phone number of the nearest Geico branch manager for interested potential clients to call and get more information.

4. Insofar as coupons are used by companies to reward customers for choosing their brand over the competition's, companies would do well to never mail coupons to anyone except customers who entered in their UPC labels online and thus became eligible for coupons "as a reward for buying our product."

5. Insofar as coupons are used by companies to entice customers to switch to using their brand over the competition's, companies would do well to NOT mail coupons to already-known-to-be loyal customers. And they -do- know this sort of information because the groceries (e.g. Kroger) keep track of it for customers who use that particular grocery's member card when making purchases, and there's nothing to stop them from outsourcing this information to the interested 3rd parties. I mean, not really: even if there is some legal bullshit which technically exists to prevent this, it can't be enforced unless they get caught. And the potential profits to be had by ascertaining this information far outweigh the legal costs in court.

6. 4 + 5 --> NO MATTER whether you believe coupons exist to reward old customers or to entice new ones, the point is that EITHER WAY the companies should not be mailing out coupons to loyal customers. #4 suggests don't mail any at all, while #5 suggests "at least only mail them to people who don't buy your brand yet." I know people are going to think I'm shooting myself in the foot for saying this, but ...

7. XFD, when was the last time you used a coupon anyway!? I used one just yesterday, but the last time before that was so long ago -- Summer 2008, maybe? -- that I can't even recall!! I use coupons rarely and intermittently. Every time I remember to use a coupon that I did hold on to, it's always expired by one to two weeks. And generally speaking, I throw away most coupons because most coupons are worthless even when they're for things I do buy. (Example: "save 10¢ on Hellmann's mayonnaise 16-oz jars or larger!" is worthless to me when I have one mostly-full jar at home due to expire in a few months and one unopened jar at home due to expire in about a year.) I'll give you another example: "buy 10 boxes of Kellogg's cereal, get the 11th free!" It's not worth it to spend $50 to save $5 when I have nowhere to store 11 boxes of cereal in the first place. (All my cabinets are full. I have room for about 4 boxes of cereal at most at any given time in my cereal-designated cabinet.)

unfinished 'cause too long, apologies