Idea for governments to rake in millions.

[jaF0]

Since (I'm estimating) 95% or more of all junk snail mail goes straight into the trash unopened and unread, assess garbage processing fees for it. Help offset the cost of clearing the litter, hauling trash filled with it and occupying landfills, etc. If they even charged advertisers/marketers a penny per piece, that income could add up significantly.

 

[BotanyBoy]

Since (I'm estimating) 95% or more of all junk snail mail goes straight into the trash unopened and unread, assess garbage processing fees for it. Help offset the cost of clearing the litter, hauling trash filled with it and occupying landfills, etc. If they even charged advertisers/marketers a penny per piece, that income could add up significantly.

They already charge them....more than a penny per piece.

Have you never mailed anything?

 

[jaF0]

I'm not talking about USPS funding salaries and pensions.

I'm talking about local, county and state governments that have to clean up the remains of it.

 

[Mello_SixtyNine]

And how would that work? Your junk mail gets sorted at the dump & they send a bill to the return address of each piece of junk mail.

 

[KingOrfeo]

I'm not talking about USPS funding salaries and pensions.

I'm talking about local, county and state governments that have to clean up the remains of it.

Well, are you talking about adding a penny to the junk-mail postage rates and passing that money along to local governments, or what?

 

[jaF0]

No, I'm talking about local governments assessing and collecting directly from the advertisers. If Bob's Globalwide Insurance Company sends out 10,000 pieces of bulk mail to addresses within a city, that city bills Bob's some amount based on the piece rate. It's the city that has to pick up the trash sent by Bob, so why not make him pay for it?

It's not even like pizza boxes and grocery trash since the resident has a choice to get those things or not. Residents have no way not to get junk mail.

The goal is to make it too expensive for companies to send trash mail.

 

[jaF0]

Have you noticed there are no trash cans in your local Post Office near the PO Boxes? A few years back when I had a PO Box, that trash can was always overflowing with all the junk mail. They finally took the trash can away.

 

[KingOrfeo]

No, I'm talking about local governments assessing and collecting directly from the advertisers. If Bob's Globalwide Insurance Company sends out 10,000 pieces of bulk mail to addresses within a city . . .

. . . then how is the city government to know that? I doubt even the USPO keeps track of such things, it just charges postage to every junk-mailer.

 

[Ishmael]

Excellent idea!!!!!! Punish the victim.

Ishmael

 

[Hard_Rom]

Just forward it to your member of parliament. No postal charges for sending mail to your MP or MPP. If everyone did that there would be a law against junk mail PDQ.

 

[Colonel Hogan]

I'm not talking about USPS funding salaries and pensions.

I'm talking about local, county and state governments that have to clean up the remains of it.

Not all trash collection is a municipal service, and very little is a state government service. A great deal of trash collection is a privately contracted service -- often within incorporated cities and PUDs "within" the contiguous borders of larger metropolitan areas.

Your plan, if not unworkable among multiple jurisdictions, would at least have to be legislated (or rejected) by those same jurisdictions. Home rule. One man, one vote. Democracy. etc.

You get the idea.

 

[BotanyBoy]

Have you noticed there are no trash cans in your local Post Office near the PO Boxes?

No, mine has like 5 of them.

 

[Phelia]

You might be surprised at how many people either use or enjoy receiving the coupons and catalogs that you'd classify as junk mail. People are weird. You can't make policies from personal preferences.

 

[Princess_Princess_Gump]

You might be surprised at how many people either use or enjoy receiving the coupons and catalogs that you'd classify as junk mail. People are weird. You can't make policies from personal preferences.

*triggered*

tee hee

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Since (I'm estimating) 95% or more of all junk snail mail goes straight into the trash unopened and unread, assess garbage processing fees for it. Help offset the cost of clearing the litter, hauling trash filled with it and occupying landfills, etc. If they even charged advertisers/marketers a penny per piece, that income could add up significantly.

Old paradigm.

We get very little snail junk mail anymore.

90% of it now goes straight to the spam folder...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

PS - We burn ours...

 

[BoyNextDoor]

We should be able to shut off mail service.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

We should be able to shut off mail service.

Dig up your mailbox...


:shrug:

 

[rocket_surgery]

We should be able to shut off mail service.

Um, you can.

 

[Ishmael]

Just throwing this question out there.

WHY does government always need more money? No matter what the condition of the economy they always want more money.

Allowed to continue I think everyone knows what the end game is.

Ishmael

 

[sircumvent]

Whatever the advertisers/Marketers would be charged would just be passed on down to the consumer.

 

[KingOrfeo]

WHY does government always need more money?

Because any government spends a lot of money, and most governments own no revenue-producing property or other intragovernmental sources of income. As to why government always seems to need more money this year than last year, which is probably the question you had in mind, first, that's not always true, and, second, it is only to be expected in a growing society and economy with growing needs.

 

[rocket_surgery]

I don't really have a problem with junk mail. A few coupons I can use and the rest just goes in the recycle bin. Sometimes it's fun to look through it all to see the cheesy stuff they're selling and I did once order the return address stickers for the hell of it. Even used them until sending mail became passe.

People bitch about it all the time but I honestly never see the problem. It's a few pieces of paper in the mailbox. I got more trash on the passengers side of my van than I get in the mail.

Ok maybe I shouldn't have shared that last part.

 

[chillywilly2]

The last thing we need is anybody giving the government more ideas on how to tax us...just stfu about it

Our POS government just instituted a carbon tax and they decided to hide it in delivery charges for natural gas and electricity...yeah, a carbon tax on electricity.

Anyway, was also have what we lovingly call a goods and services tax...its on everything, you know, goods and services, hence the name.

Well, with the carbon tax being hidden, we are now paying a 13% tax on a carbon tax and last week the government was bragging about how much more they will rake in unexpectedly...freaking crooks

So, please..no more bright ideas eh

 

[rocket_surgery]

Because any government spends a lot of money, and most governments own no revenue-producing property or other intragovernmental sources of income. As to why government always seems to need more money this year than last year, which is probably the question you had in mind, first, that's not always true, and, second, it is only to be expected in a growing society and economy with growing needs.

Wouldn't always need more if they trimmed the fat which they always promise but never actually do.