Your mail was refused

“After delivery, an addressee may mark a mailpiece “Refused” and return it within a reasonable time, if the piece or any attachment is not opened.” — USPS DMM 508 §1.1.3

I’ve been in the habit lately of refusing all my junk mail. I certainly don’t want to pay for removing the trash I get in the mail. Why not make the sender pay for it? (Undeliverable first class mail will get returned to the sender, while undeliverable presorted standard mail (which is most junk mail) will get disposed of by the USPS. That’s just a part of the service that a mailer is buying when paying postage.)

5 thoughts on “Your mail was refused

  1. Interesting. I wonder if USPS disposal provides a safe way to get rid of the sensitive information in credit card applications. Probably not…

  2. Well, I figure it’s at least as secure as it being left in my mailbox between the time it’s delivered and the time it gets picked up. I haven’t gotton that paranoid yet, but I’m working on it.

  3. While your point is well taken, I should point out that most people make an effort to destroy their CC apps before discarding them, so it’s not just the tinfoil-hatters.

  4. Oh, I get your point. It’s not really about who accesses it while it’s in your mailbox. It’s a matter of how the USPS disposes of it.

  5. Well, it’s no worse than if they got lost in the mail on the way to me.

    I’ve opted me and my wife out of most preapproved credit offers (1-888-5-OPTOUT), and if I continue to get them I may instruct our postmaster to not deliver any mail to us from Delaware (or whatever addresses we get the junk from).

Comments are closed.