Trade in your Junk Mail for Spam

QueueEhGuy writes "CNN is reporting that the Swedish Postal Service, Posten, is now offering a service where customers can choose to receive spam via a free, government run, service. Business are given the option of using this at a 25% discount from carrier delivered mail. For those of us with physical addresses, it raises an interesting question as to which one is less annoying, environmental benefits aside." Interesting step towards charging postage for email.

Comments

I use snail mail so much

[Apreche]

NOT. If you've got e-mail how often do you send letters in the real mail. I guess a business would send more than a home user. If this discout applied to packages and international mailings that would be better. Even better than that "my e-mail address is joeshmoe@hotmail.com, send me spam and give me a discount". Sounds like a good deal to me. I do nothing, you spam some crappy e-mail box, and I get cheaper mail, when I use it once a month to pay my two bills.

Why?

[lostchicken]

If a company wanted to use junk email, they would send junk email for nearly free.

I only see the headers of my virtual junk mail, real junk mail sits in my trash can for a while, while I stare at it. The time of my staring at the flyer is worth much more to a company than the quarter second of visibility in my inbox, and that's why they pay for real mail.

Also when the postal service's IP hits the blacklist, it's all over.

junk mail over spam

[MarvinMouse]

For a bunch of reasons, I find junk mail far more enjoyable then spam.

1. Junk mail costs the sender totally, I don't spend a cent. While spam costs me download time, bandwidth, and a bunch more.

2. Junk mail is tactile. When it's good, it's nice to read through a brochure or flyer. when it's bad, it's nice to feel and hear the sound of it hit the recycling bin. E-mail is just annoying all around.

3. I enjoy receiving junk mail, it means someone actually is willing to spend money to reach me. I hate receiving spam, it means someone has stolen my e-mail from somewhere and is charging me for their advertising.

4. Junk mail comes with coupons which are sometimes useful. At the very most, you'll have to print out the coupons received through e-mail, or only buy through online sites.

5. Junk mail arrives once a day at a set time. Not every 5 minutes annoying me endlessly at work while I am waiting for slightly more important e-mails.

So naturally given the option, you can see why I would prefer Junk mail via post over spam e-mail. E-mail should be reserved for correspondances and important communications that need to be received and responded to quickly. Snail mail can be used for the rest of the junk. (Plus, with all of the virii out there I get enough crap without needing to worry about junk mail.

Junkmail vs. Spam

[nuxx]

I, personally, would happily take spam over real, physical junk mail any day. Every day I go to the mail box, checking for bills and the occasional real letter. Almost all I ever receive are junk mail, credit card offers, and crappy ad-funded local newspapers. I'd imagine that I fill a kitchen sized garbage can once a month with junkmail. That's a LOT. Imagine if your whole neighborhood received that much? Your county? Your state? What a waste of paper...

Give me spam any day. At least I can write filters to eliminate most of it, costing only a few bits. At least I'm not destroying trees, filling up landfills, and spewing chemicals all over.

-Steve

PS: You can cut down on some junkmail by calling 1-888-567-8688 to opt out of preapproved credit card offers. It won't get rid of all of them, but it'll cut down on those twice-daily offers of high interest plastic.

It's the obvious solution

[strredwolf]

1. Customers opt-in to get spam (in which case, it's not spam now).
2. Merchants pay more than the ISP connection for the service
3. The goverment controls delivery, and gets money for it.

I'd say the US Postal Service should take Sweden's lead!

This is different from USA...

[AltaMannen]

Ok, the reason this might work in Sweden is that the postal service has credibility, that people in Sweden care more about the environment (paper mills smell like hell) than other peoples money and that the postal service has all the address records anyway, kind of like social services in the US so there is no real privacy threat other than there already is.

The reason this won't work is that if you stick a note with "no advertising" on your mailbox you don't get any junk mail (direct advertising at least), plus you can collect the junk mail over time and stuff it in any office of the company that sent it for them to recycle.

All from one site?

[pla]

Oh yeah, I'd *jump* at the chance to sign up it something similar appeared in the US.

Imagine the convenience of only having to block *one* spam site, something like "spam.usps.gov"... Ahh, gives me a warm and tingly feeling just thinking of the possibility.