So years ago – the reason I decided to paperless was because my shredder had broken down, what came out of it was really tiny. Eventually it got so blocked up with the bits it couldn’t eject the small bits and it gave up and died.

I did want to recycle more so the plan was to buy two replacement shredders, one for normal paper and the other just for envelopes (which I didn’t know if the windows or gum on the envelope meant it couldn’t be recycled). In the mean time I sorted out my current mail into piles of paper, that strange paper junk mail always seems to use and envelopes.

Within a few weeks, I discovered that most of the mail I needed to recycle was actually junk mail and mail from Manchester City Council.

Update in 2020: Still getting mail from Manchester City Council even though I emailed the right person to get it paperless.

The penny dropped – what if I could STOP the mail coming in the first place, so there wouldn’t be anything to shred or recycle?

I put up the infamous and often ignored “No Junk Mail” sign. I discovered that I was already registered with the Mailing Preference Service and Door to Door opt out scheme. I wrote to Royal Mail regarding still getting “Door to Door” junk and they were sure it wasn’t the postman’s fault – despite the fact I saw him in the spy hole on my front door Also you’d think the local posties would know what crap they are posting in every letter box. I sent myself an annual reminder about the “Door to Door” opt out as you have to do it every two years, I’d rather do it every year rather than assume I did do it the year before.

MORE DOOR TO DOOR JUNK MAIL

Because of still getting the spam post, I’d write back, for example, a regular spammer was Sky and a frozen food company (the name of which I forget and never shopped there anyway). I said to Sky that if they didn’t stop posting this spam (even though I’d caught the postman delivering it) that I would cancel my Sky account.

Either contacting my local delivery office or me contacting Sky, the amount of Royal Mail Junk Mail went down to almost zero. So either Sky must have contacted Royal Mail unhappy of spamming current customers or posties ignoring the supposed opt-out of the “Door to Door” scheme.

One other important thing I did was to write to every company I dealt with an insisted that under the Data Protection Act (This could now be part of the GDPR.) They didn’t have my consent to “share” my personal data with “carefully selected third party companies” (i.e. just selling them my details for spamming purposes). One company addressed my mail in a strange way and what a shock I got a spam with the very same strange variation.

I wrote to both companies and the Data Protection Act as all the notices had gone recorded delivery with a copy sent to the Data Protection Registrar, so everyone knew I had opted out of being spammed.

The first company who shared my details came clean and admitted the offence. The spamming stopped but I still have to deal with the first company. I insist on them accepting me being paperless, which they rarely bother, so anything they send me, they get it back in a few days.

“NO JUNK MAIL”

No Junk Mail signs – more information here

You’ve probably seen a neighbour with a “NO JUNK MAIL” sign, maybe you have one too and wondered if they are worth the hassle. I can say that they are worth the effort, but occasionally need some policing. For quite a few weeks, one fast food menu from the same out-let kept arriving, every week. So one week I was ready for him and caught him, he started using a racist sounding Mexican accent he said “Me no speak English” so asking him to wait there “Me phone police” was my answer. I’ll be honest I though he was just being paid peanuts to deliver these and really didn’t understand English which is why he was delivering to the same streets week after week. He magicked up a proper English accent and said he wouldn’t do it again, snatched the menu back out of my hand and never saw one again.

I’ve also noticed I don’t get any charity bags like I used to get loads before. Either they aren’t worth the hassle or the sign is working.

“BT Phone book and Yellow Pages”

My “No Junk Mail” sign also now has “I’m 100% paperless” followed by an email address. I’ve two copies of different years of the phone book, even though I can’t read it (dyslexia) and had asked not to receive it. Not sure if I’ve binned the Yellow pages or they haven’t deliver a copy, might have been used as a door wedge … probably.

There is more information about opting out of Phone books here.

“The occupier” and Election junk mail

This is the main reason for still getting junk mail. “The Occupier” mail can easily be returned to sender, or opened, made a mental note of who sent it so you know not to buy or use their service. No need to explain why your returning it, pop it in an envelope and send it back. I still love writing “Not known at this address” on them ha! Hoping they are thinking “but The occupier isn’t a real person”. LOL

Election Junk Mail is the hardest to deal with and I’m still dealing with it. Because I didn’t want to enter a building belonging to Manchester City Council, I for a few years opted for a postal ballot paper. Ooooooooh! big mistake. Trying hard to keep a mental note of junk mail I was getting, I noticed I was getting even more Election based junk mail, even though my sign said NO

The reason why I believe it’s best not to request a postal ballot is because the council (Manchester City Council admit this to me) notifies the candidates that I have a postal vote and I kept wondering why I kept getting offers to drive me to the polling station or “help completing” my postal ballot. I can only assume they think I’m blind or can’t walk to a polling station. Once Manchester City Council admitted that notify candidates of postal votes, I stopped having postal ballots.

Several years ago, I wrote to the HQ of every major political party under the Data Protection Act insisting that they didn’t send me any political junk mail. Some have continued to ignore me and they then often wrote back saying it was their democratic right to contact me. I wrote back saying that I believed that they didn’t seem to understand the different between democracy and dictatorship. Some gave up, a few persist.

Writing to the local candidate.

If before the election you write to the candidates that have spammed you, telling them of opt outs via various systems, they will write back saying it’s their democratic right. Respond it’s a dictatorship and you might get left alone.

You can also write back asking why they are writing to you at this time of the year – “is there a general election soon?” that annoys the hell out of them and say things like “we keep you up to date all year around” etc. Must just me that gets them around election time.

The final plan – polling day

Two political parties still write every election and the average turn out is roughly 25% to 30%, so more than 75% can’t be bothered to vote, parties have wasted the time of our postmen, wasted paper etc. Maybe even sent people text messages and phone calls for all I know.

I get the list of the parties with candidates – cross out any spammers and then vote for one of the candidates that didn’t spam me. Since I now still get two spammers every election – I vote for the third most popular party/candidate to win. Now I know the third person isn’t going to win, but it means the two parties that do still spam me, have to work just that little bit harder – they need one more vote to cancel my “third party” vote, followed by another vote so it actually counts.

On my way to the polling station I pass a post box and post my “Sorry I didn’t vote for you” letters. “Hoping that you won’t spam me at the next election” – of course, even writing to the Information Commissioner, it still doesn’t work. One candidate, I wrote personally to him and my letters were returned to sender – not known at this address. When I spotted one other address he used and knew it was an abandoned building, I started to get suspicious that he was trying to imply he was more local and reported him to the Electoral Commission and said they couldn’t do anything, but him and his party did stop spamming me. I’ve just checked and he’s not a candidate for that party.

THE FINAL OPTION

If after all attempts of going paperless, you have one final option and that is to use enough duct tape on your letter box that the postie or spammer will think you’ve welded your letter box shut.

It does work, but a few months afterwards, I removed the tape only to receive a few screwed up letters, when opened were dated months ago, which I can only assume the postie has kept in his pocket, assuming that eventually the letter box won’t be sealed shut. They still got returned though.