WEBVTT - How Junk Mail Works

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

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<v Speaker 1>It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know

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<v Speaker 1>from house Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to

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<v Speaker 1>the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and I'm sorry I was

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<v Speaker 1>going to do the thing. And I'm Chuff Bryant and

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<v Speaker 1>this is stuff you should know that was totally off

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<v Speaker 1>the cup that I think we should say. I think

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<v Speaker 1>it's been chuck. You ever been to Austin, Texas? Yeah?

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<v Speaker 1>I love Austin. I've heard nothing but good things. Keep

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<v Speaker 1>Austin weird and all. I've never been very but I

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<v Speaker 1>do know that if you go to Austin, Texas right now,

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<v Speaker 1>and you go to MLK Boulevard near the corner of

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<v Speaker 1>Alexander Avenue, you're gonna find a little gallery and it

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<v Speaker 1>is called the Flatbed Press Art Gallery. Interesting. And if

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<v Speaker 1>you go into there, like I said, right now, you're

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<v Speaker 1>going to find a piece of art in art installation.

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<v Speaker 1>It's called free paper. Have you heard of this? Yes?

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<v Speaker 1>Because you told me, Well, I'll tell everybody else. The

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<v Speaker 1>uh There's a woman named a Net Lawrence and she's

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<v Speaker 1>a Texas artist, right and basically what she did was.

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<v Speaker 1>She saved UM a year's worth of junk mail and

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<v Speaker 1>it came to total two sixty five pounds by the way,

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<v Speaker 1>just junk mail. And she tore it into two inch

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<v Speaker 1>strips and then basically installed it. UM put it together

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<v Speaker 1>in stacks by month, and then UM put it on shelves.

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<v Speaker 1>So there's twelve little separate it's almost like a cross

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<v Speaker 1>section of junk mail. And the way she did it,

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<v Speaker 1>I wouldn't have thought to do it this way, but

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<v Speaker 1>it really gets the point across with minimal space. It's

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<v Speaker 1>quite beautiful until you think about you know, it's junk mail.

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<v Speaker 1>So I and as I understand, she's not the only

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<v Speaker 1>junk male artist that's going on right now, surprising, there's

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<v Speaker 1>a bunch. And I have another one here and her

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<v Speaker 1>name is Barbara Hashimoto, an American artist and she works

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<v Speaker 1>with junk male. She does provocative like art installations, interactive

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<v Speaker 1>type of thing. She's a provocateur. And what she's done

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<v Speaker 1>and this is generally like most junk male artists are

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<v Speaker 1>probably making a political statement and an environmental statement, and

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<v Speaker 1>that's what she's doing. And she is in Chicago and

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<v Speaker 1>she set aside the junk mail from her business for

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<v Speaker 1>a year, so it was quite a bit more, obviously

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<v Speaker 1>than a person would get, and she ended up with

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<v Speaker 1>three thousand cubic feet of Then she shredded it, actually

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<v Speaker 1>with a paper shredder. She had one called junk mail

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<v Speaker 1>with grand piano. And what she would do is she

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<v Speaker 1>got this piano player with a grand piano and put

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<v Speaker 1>him in a in a in a room facing a

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<v Speaker 1>street with you know, glass that people could see and obviously,

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<v Speaker 1>and he would start playing this symphony some you know,

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<v Speaker 1>not symphony, but some you know, nice piano music. Sound

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<v Speaker 1>like it's such a lunkhead there. I'm a musician too.

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<v Speaker 1>And so he's playing the piano and she starts dumping this, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>the shredded junk mail on him and on the piano

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<v Speaker 1>as he's doing it. And basically it's a process. And

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<v Speaker 1>at the end of it, this guy can't even be

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<v Speaker 1>heard anymore. He's completely cut or the pianos completely covered,

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<v Speaker 1>and you hear just these little muffled, hammered sounds of

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<v Speaker 1>the piano string and it's the point across that, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>that's pretty cool. Okay, So for the rest of us

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<v Speaker 1>who have neither the time nor the inclination to play

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<v Speaker 1>with junk mail, right and make statements with junk mail.

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<v Speaker 1>I should say, um, you know, obviously it's it's annoying.

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<v Speaker 1>I shouldn't even say that, it's just so blatantly obvious.

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<v Speaker 1>But it's also kind of harmful. Junk male is harmful

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<v Speaker 1>extremely Um. Number One, you can very easily become the

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<v Speaker 1>victim of identity fraud just from preapproved credit card applications. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>I think there's uh something like four hundred thousand cases

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<v Speaker 1>of identity theft every year, um that are attributed just

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<v Speaker 1>to pre approved credit cards. Interesting, that's as sig Kirshner's

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<v Speaker 1>by the way, that's his figure. He's a CONSUMERU. That's good. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>So um, that's that's a problem right there. And well,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, people, my wife is a master shredder. She

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<v Speaker 1>is on top of our household as far as the

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<v Speaker 1>mail and the bills, and she shreds everything like that.

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<v Speaker 1>She shreds things that I mean like stupid, you don't

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<v Speaker 1>need to shred my sports illustrated re up thing, and

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<v Speaker 1>she will. And coincidentally, we've never had our identity soul.

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<v Speaker 1>And so people that just toss that, people that just

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<v Speaker 1>toss that into the trash. It's ruthly not very smart.

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<v Speaker 1>No it's not. I usually burn mine. That's good, just

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<v Speaker 1>had a spite. Well, I don't have a shredder. I

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<v Speaker 1>don't want to just toss it in the trance either,

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<v Speaker 1>so you heat your home with it, or sometimes this

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<v Speaker 1>is kind of weird, but sometimes I will um take

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<v Speaker 1>the most sensitive parts of it and tear it off

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<v Speaker 1>and then eat it. Really yeah, yeah, no going through

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<v Speaker 1>that trash pal Well, that actually what she said before

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<v Speaker 1>about burning it leads me to an interesting stat that

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<v Speaker 1>I've just flown in from the home office. Two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and fifty thousand homes can actually be heated from a

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<v Speaker 1>single day's worth of junk male in the United States

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<v Speaker 1>by burning it. That would be awful. Not a single household, obviously,

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<v Speaker 1>it's all the junk mail in the country, right So

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<v Speaker 1>but I'm saying I don't think we should be setting

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<v Speaker 1>this on fire right well now, it's just to kind

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<v Speaker 1>of drive the point on the four million tons a

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<v Speaker 1>year in the United States alone. And a final stat, Josh,

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<v Speaker 1>if you're interested, forty four and this is a really

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<v Speaker 1>sad one of all junk mail goes unopened and is

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<v Speaker 1>put into a landfill eventually. Yes, and Chuck, I have

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<v Speaker 1>another stat for you. This is our stat Heavy Junk

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<v Speaker 1>Mail Podcast special. Um, did you know that with the

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<v Speaker 1>amount of paper that's thrown out by Americans every year? Um,

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<v Speaker 1>you're junk mail and just paper. Well, junk mail is

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<v Speaker 1>part of it. That's include junk mail. This is just paper.

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<v Speaker 1>But it's gonna leave me back around at a second,

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<v Speaker 1>so so bear with me. Um, you could build a

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<v Speaker 1>twelve ft tall wall from New York to Los Angeles. Really,

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<v Speaker 1>that's annually. They should build that wall. Think about how

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<v Speaker 1>how incredibly thin paper is. You can make it twelve

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<v Speaker 1>feet tall and all the way from New York to

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<v Speaker 1>l A How thick? Yeah, okay, it would be much

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<v Speaker 1>of a wall. No, no, no, I mean like you're

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<v Speaker 1>laying a piece of paper flat on the ground and

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<v Speaker 1>stacking them up until so it would be what eight

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<v Speaker 1>and a half inches? Why, I thought you were taping

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<v Speaker 1>it all together so it would be would be stupid. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>this is the Clean Air Counsel. I would like to

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<v Speaker 1>think that they wouldn't toy with me like that. But

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<v Speaker 1>you know, as always, as Mark Twain said, there are

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<v Speaker 1>three kinds of lies. Lies, damn lies and statistics. You

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<v Speaker 1>should always take statistics with a grain of salt. But

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<v Speaker 1>how about this. Clearly there's a ton of junk mail

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<v Speaker 1>that's wasted every year. Can we bring on that or

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<v Speaker 1>a million tons? Yes, that is a statistic. Two Okay, So, um,

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<v Speaker 1>you've got credit card fraud, you've got waste. But not

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<v Speaker 1>just um waste. It's also input. You have to consider

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<v Speaker 1>the input. It takes a tremendous amount of water actually

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<v Speaker 1>to make paper, um, which is kind of odd because

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<v Speaker 1>papers dry, But to separate the fibers and make this

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<v Speaker 1>in a pulp, they add tons of water. There's actually

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<v Speaker 1>a process where they first they washed wood off right

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<v Speaker 1>at all any impurities. They send it into a steamer

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<v Speaker 1>for four hours. Then they chop it up and turns

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<v Speaker 1>into a pulp, and then they add water to the

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<v Speaker 1>aratio of about two hundred to one two hundred parts

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<v Speaker 1>water to one part pulp. Yeah, and then they dry

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<v Speaker 1>it out. Right. Were you laughing in my amazement? No,

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<v Speaker 1>it's like I was laughing at the this this astronomical

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<v Speaker 1>use of water to make paper, right, so um, and

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<v Speaker 1>then they dry it out. Um. And when they're drying

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<v Speaker 1>it out, they're actually using um steam heated rollers. So

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<v Speaker 1>there's more water right there. And then there's another part

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<v Speaker 1>to the the end before they do the final dry

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<v Speaker 1>where they add more water and then dry it out

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<v Speaker 1>to make it slick and glossy. Yes, so that's a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of water. Of course, a lot of trees are

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<v Speaker 1>are are used specifically for paper about a hundred million

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<v Speaker 1>a year, is that right, that's what the University of

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<v Speaker 1>Oregon says. If I'm not mistaken, that's a lot of trees.

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<v Speaker 1>It is a lot of trees, and it's kind of

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<v Speaker 1>sad to think about it, but there's many are grown

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<v Speaker 1>specifically to become paper. Right. Yes, I must say that

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<v Speaker 1>paper mills do reuse water just for cost effectiveness. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>so they are reusing water. But still there's twenty eight

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<v Speaker 1>billion gallons of water used annually to produce paper. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>that's input, So you know that's if they're reusing it,

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<v Speaker 1>they're still using a lot of water. And I hate

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<v Speaker 1>to use the I don't mean to be inclusive and

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<v Speaker 1>exclusive and in group and out group like the paper

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<v Speaker 1>industry is just the evil you know, tobacco industries, which

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<v Speaker 1>God knows they're evil, but um, you're holding paper right now,

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<v Speaker 1>I am holy paper. I use paper, but I recycle

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<v Speaker 1>all paper like you. You know, we have that single

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<v Speaker 1>stream recycling thing where all the waste baskets at the

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<v Speaker 1>desks are basically recycling. I never throw anything away in there,

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<v Speaker 1>the only paper. Yeah, I practice what I preach. Friend,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not calling you to death. But all right, that's fine.

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<v Speaker 1>I can settle down because my fight or flight response

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<v Speaker 1>is just pumping. Okay, so chuck. It's a waste, right,

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<v Speaker 1>It's annoying, it's potentially threatening as far as finances go.

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<v Speaker 1>With identity threat, what can an individual do to fight

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<v Speaker 1>the good fight against direct mail? Well, which, by the way,

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<v Speaker 1>I can give you one more figure. This is a figure,

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<v Speaker 1>not a status, so it's much more reliable. First of all,

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<v Speaker 1>did you even know that there's such a thing as

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<v Speaker 1>um direct mail pharmaceuticals? No, get pills through the mail.

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<v Speaker 1>Now you can get pills through the mail, yes, but

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<v Speaker 1>this is like advertising direct mail advertising for pharmaceuticals. I

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<v Speaker 1>have never gotten one. I don't know. It's probably because

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<v Speaker 1>I don't have a primary physician. But the direct male

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<v Speaker 1>pharmaceutical market alone in two thousand and eight racked up

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<v Speaker 1>ten points x billion in sales based specifically on direct mail.

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<v Speaker 1>Their return on investment for one dollar was ten dollars

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<v Speaker 1>twenty seven cents. Every dollar they spent on direct mail

0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.040
<v Speaker 1>advertising rate them in ten dollars and twenty seven cents

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<v Speaker 1>in two eight. That's just one sector. Well, we're in

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<v Speaker 1>the wrong business totally. I've always said we need to

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<v Speaker 1>start making our own pharmaceutics. Never looking is just not paying.

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<v Speaker 1>We're not making ten billion, I'll tell you that. And no,

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<v Speaker 1>we're not or anything actually, So what can be done.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna leave the second part to you about the

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<v Speaker 1>official websites and things. I thought you left the first

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<v Speaker 1>part to me. I'm gonna go with the first part.

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<v Speaker 1>One thing you can do is you can actually send

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<v Speaker 1>it back. Uh. This is not about stopping it from

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<v Speaker 1>coming to your home, but instead of being angry and

0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.120
<v Speaker 1>just burning it or whatever you do, shooting it with

0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.679
<v Speaker 1>your eating it with your gun, eating it and processing

0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:52.640
<v Speaker 1>it through your own miserable body, some ink is better

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<v Speaker 1>than others. I can tell you. I bet you can

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<v Speaker 1>actually send it back. Um. Junk mail is usually first

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<v Speaker 1>class or third class, which is called bulk rate. And uh,

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<v Speaker 1>if you if your envelope is stamped, address correction requested

0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:11.040
<v Speaker 1>or return postage guaranteed. You can return it unopened to

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<v Speaker 1>the sender by writing refused return to center on the envelope.

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<v Speaker 1>Stick it back in your mailbox, and flip up your

0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:19.880
<v Speaker 1>little flag. Oh flag, I didn't think you're just a flag. Yes,

0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.480
<v Speaker 1>flip up your flag. But you can only do this

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<v Speaker 1>on bulk mail with that special notification on it. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>If you have a solicitation solicitation sorry that has postage

0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:34.800
<v Speaker 1>paid reply envelope, then just put a note saying that

0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:37.480
<v Speaker 1>you want to be removed from the mailing list and

0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.000
<v Speaker 1>include that mailing label and or write refused on it

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<v Speaker 1>and you might actually get taken off that list. So

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<v Speaker 1>that's one way to do it. Well, thanks to our

0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:48.800
<v Speaker 1>friend the Internet, it's gotten a lot easier to stop

0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:52.800
<v Speaker 1>getting junk mail ryes um. There are actual sites that

0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:56.080
<v Speaker 1>are dedicated to you not getting junk mail. And remember

0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.000
<v Speaker 1>they do not call registry right. Well, there's been several

0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:02.680
<v Speaker 1>attempts to create a you know, do not mail registry

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<v Speaker 1>basically UM, and it hasn't taken off. It may in

0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:08.839
<v Speaker 1>the future, who knows, but as it as it stands

0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.080
<v Speaker 1>for now, it's up to the individual to take care

0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:16.240
<v Speaker 1>of their own junk mail stream right um, And like

0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:18.079
<v Speaker 1>I said, the Internet is a great tool for that.

0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:21.400
<v Speaker 1>They're like, uh, opt out prescreen dot com is one

0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:25.360
<v Speaker 1>place you can go. And basically the reason we have

0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:28.760
<v Speaker 1>junk males because your name and address in personal information

0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:33.520
<v Speaker 1>is actually valuable. It's valuable on its own in a

0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.680
<v Speaker 1>very small amount fractions and fractions of assent as a

0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:39.640
<v Speaker 1>single individual. Well when you put it together with thousands

0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.080
<v Speaker 1>and tens and thousands and hundreds of thousands of other

0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:46.880
<v Speaker 1>people millions, millions, I'll go with millions, um, then all

0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:49.840
<v Speaker 1>of a sudden that list as a whole becomes valuable.

0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.880
<v Speaker 1>So people who have your information or millions of people's

0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:56.240
<v Speaker 1>information can put these things together and make some extra

0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.240
<v Speaker 1>scratch on the side by selling it to direct marketers.

0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:03.160
<v Speaker 1>And one group that aggregates these this information are credit

0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.600
<v Speaker 1>reporting bureaus. They are allowed by law to give out

0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:09.800
<v Speaker 1>certain personal information about you, like name, address, preferences to

0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.360
<v Speaker 1>some stuff that you've provided, to sell it for their

0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.559
<v Speaker 1>own behalf. You get absolutely nothing for it and they

0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:17.240
<v Speaker 1>make money off of it. Yeah, and what you get

0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:19.240
<v Speaker 1>in the end, it's junk mail. So the opt out

0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:23.680
<v Speaker 1>prescreen dot com website basically UH makes it so the

0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:27.720
<v Speaker 1>the four major credit reporting bureaus can't sell your stuff

0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:30.960
<v Speaker 1>any longer. Um. And it'll take a little wild to

0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:34.240
<v Speaker 1>get off the lists, but you will eventually hopefully be purged.

0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:37.480
<v Speaker 1>Um and that last for five years or I think

0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:40.800
<v Speaker 1>you can also do a lifetime block right on selling.

0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:42.720
<v Speaker 1>Why wouldn't you just do that would be great? I

0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.760
<v Speaker 1>don't know, it doesn't make any sense. In five years,

0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:47.719
<v Speaker 1>I might want to get this junk mail, so I'll

0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:49.680
<v Speaker 1>just go with the five. Well, you know, actually there

0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:53.240
<v Speaker 1>are there's this this group called the Direct Market Association

0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:57.680
<v Speaker 1>UH and they may be um, the bane of most

0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:03.080
<v Speaker 1>people's existence because they're actually a trade association of direct

0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:07.360
<v Speaker 1>marketers right and UM. Luckily, they have a nice little

0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:10.640
<v Speaker 1>website that you can access to get out, to opt out.

0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:14.560
<v Speaker 1>It's called d m A consumers dot org and they

0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:16.880
<v Speaker 1>have basically the same thing that you'll find an opt

0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:20.920
<v Speaker 1>out pre screen. They have fifty member companies and it's

0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:25.560
<v Speaker 1>not just for profit business. Nonprofits, political action groups are

0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:28.800
<v Speaker 1>members of of the d m A. And when you

0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:31.080
<v Speaker 1>get taken off the d m AS list, you get

0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:34.120
<v Speaker 1>taken off of all these people's mailing lists. So that's

0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:38.440
<v Speaker 1>another thing you can do. Um, there's steps you can take,

0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.800
<v Speaker 1>or actually there's steps that you cannot take that can

0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:45.640
<v Speaker 1>keep you off warranty cards. Warranty cards, Like think about this.

0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:47.840
<v Speaker 1>When I researched this article, I hadn't thought about it

0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.400
<v Speaker 1>at the time, and I thought back to, you know,

0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:54.520
<v Speaker 1>when I filled out in a warranty card, because I

0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:56.800
<v Speaker 1>must admit I am one of the suckers who actually

0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:00.000
<v Speaker 1>has filled out a warranty card and melded in. Um,

0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:03.840
<v Speaker 1>why the Queens and Art company who's blender I just purchased,

0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:08.480
<v Speaker 1>would care whether my UM household would be most interested

0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:13.680
<v Speaker 1>in hunting and fishing magazines or skydiving magazines, Like it

0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:16.080
<v Speaker 1>didn't dawn any at the time, Like that's a little odd.

0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:19.320
<v Speaker 1>And I think I even remember checking a box like, well,

0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:21.560
<v Speaker 1>you know, we're not really into hunting and fishing, but

0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:25.720
<v Speaker 1>we're more into skydiving these days, so check, you know,

0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:27.400
<v Speaker 1>And and then all of a sudden, like I got

0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:31.600
<v Speaker 1>skydiving magazine. Come ons, you know there's a master card

0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:33.760
<v Speaker 1>is sending me like a pre approved card with a

0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:37.160
<v Speaker 1>skydiver d like we know you'll like this, sucker, and uh,

0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.920
<v Speaker 1>it's it's it's bad. So never fell out a warranty

0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:42.720
<v Speaker 1>card because you know we talked about extended warranties before

0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:47.040
<v Speaker 1>you have your receipt. Warranty, that's your warranty. Because if

0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:49.600
<v Speaker 1>they say you're you have a warranty, and you have

0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:51.200
<v Speaker 1>the receipt, then you have the warranty. You don't need

0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:53.640
<v Speaker 1>to fill out a card to ensure that you have

0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.040
<v Speaker 1>the warranty. Exactly. It's just a big scam. It is

0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:59.520
<v Speaker 1>a huge scam. You know those bits that sometimes you'll hear,

0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.720
<v Speaker 1>like the morning radio shows do where they'll call like

0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:06.640
<v Speaker 1>the head of the telemarketing company, you know, midnight and

0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:08.240
<v Speaker 1>wake him up and say, how do you like it?

0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:10.120
<v Speaker 1>You do you know your company and all that stuff.

0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:13.520
<v Speaker 1>We should find out the person. There's one person, I'm

0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.000
<v Speaker 1>sure where all the junk mail originates. Find out where

0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:18.560
<v Speaker 1>this dude lives, and let's just go and like wallpaper

0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:22.960
<v Speaker 1>his house with grocery store flyers. His name is Rusty. Yeah,

0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:25.080
<v Speaker 1>he would. Rusty would wake up and try to look

0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:26.720
<v Speaker 1>out his window and all he would see is like

0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.520
<v Speaker 1>ground beef dollar. He'd be like a piano player with

0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:32.520
<v Speaker 1>a bunch of choke mail dumped on him right, and

0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:37.760
<v Speaker 1>here is screams sorry, Rusty exactly you've probably saw on yourself, Rusty,

0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:41.920
<v Speaker 1>Um the chuck. We're not quite done here. Okay, there's

0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:45.520
<v Speaker 1>other there's actually businesses that you can subscribe to that

0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.320
<v Speaker 1>will go to the trouble of getting you off list.

0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.320
<v Speaker 1>I know our producer recommended one. Yeah. Um it's Green Dimes,

0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:57.440
<v Speaker 1>I believe um. And basically our producer Jerry said that

0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:02.000
<v Speaker 1>she there's a free service, um where you can just

0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:05.520
<v Speaker 1>kind of I guess, do the basic job. But there's

0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:10.680
<v Speaker 1>their twenty dollar annual membership fee. Actually, these people actively work.

0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.280
<v Speaker 1>If they can't send something in on your behalf, like

0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.320
<v Speaker 1>it needs your signature, maybe your Social Security number, which

0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.439
<v Speaker 1>you will be asked for once in a while. This

0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:23.399
<v Speaker 1>is not you being lured into an even bigger scam, um,

0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.520
<v Speaker 1>but they need it for verification. I'm not certain that

0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:29.320
<v Speaker 1>they need it, but they require it for verification. So

0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:31.440
<v Speaker 1>if Green Dimes can't just do it as a third

0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:34.320
<v Speaker 1>party telling somebody else to back off, they send you

0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:37.280
<v Speaker 1>all the stuff that you like, these form letters, but

0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:40.040
<v Speaker 1>you sign mailing back to them and Green Dime mails

0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.000
<v Speaker 1>it for you, and then they monitor and by the way,

0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:44.880
<v Speaker 1>I don't own any stock in Green Dimes or anything.

0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:46.880
<v Speaker 1>I'm just kind of taken by this company. They may

0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:49.760
<v Speaker 1>not be publicly traded anyway. They well, my dad didn't

0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:53.240
<v Speaker 1>found it, if that's what you mean. Um. They they

0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:58.399
<v Speaker 1>monitor all these lists um mailing lists every every month

0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:00.439
<v Speaker 1>on a monthly basis to make sure your names stays

0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:03.600
<v Speaker 1>off and if not, they go after the people. But

0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:05.600
<v Speaker 1>just we're twenty bucks a year if you ask, and

0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.000
<v Speaker 1>they plant five trees when you join. Really, well, there

0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:11.920
<v Speaker 1>you have it. Four bucks a tree. Yeah, that's awesome.

0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:14.639
<v Speaker 1>Sure it dip it. Well, it depends on the tree. Yeah,

0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:16.960
<v Speaker 1>that's true. I'm gonna sign up for that. I didn't

0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:19.480
<v Speaker 1>know about that. And and remember never fell out a

0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.879
<v Speaker 1>warranty card. Don't You Never respond to a publisher's clearing

0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.760
<v Speaker 1>house sweep steaks one thing? What does it say on

0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.000
<v Speaker 1>that you may have already won, But a lot of

0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:31.920
<v Speaker 1>times it's name in your name. It'll just say yeah.

0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:33.760
<v Speaker 1>If you respond to that, you will end up on

0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:36.399
<v Speaker 1>what's called a sucker list. And and and that's actually

0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.679
<v Speaker 1>what it's called in the industry, because you have shown

0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:42.639
<v Speaker 1>that you were gullible and your junk mail will increase

0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:44.960
<v Speaker 1>tremendously and your name pops up on the sucker list,

0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:47.280
<v Speaker 1>and that's when all these companies go, oh, we got one,

0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:49.679
<v Speaker 1>we got one, let's get in there. Yeah, that's the

0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:52.240
<v Speaker 1>that's the lead of leads right there. And that's my

0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:56.720
<v Speaker 1>impression of a junk mail dude. Yeah, that was good. Thanks,

0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:59.280
<v Speaker 1>So there you go. UM. I also want to recommend

0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:04.080
<v Speaker 1>an article on MSNBC by uh Sig Kersheimer, whose name

0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:08.600
<v Speaker 1>I mispronounced at the beginning of this podcast, Sorry, Mr Kerheimer. UM.

0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:11.000
<v Speaker 1>It's called Hey, junk mail, follow these steps and Mr

0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:16.200
<v Speaker 1>Kersheimer has going to the trouble of basically giving every name, address,

0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:20.320
<v Speaker 1>telephone number, and website you would need to completely rid

0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:22.959
<v Speaker 1>your life a junk mail. So it's definitely worth reading.

0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:24.840
<v Speaker 1>And if you want to read our take on it,

0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.520
<v Speaker 1>you can type can I Stop getting junk Mail in

0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:33.000
<v Speaker 1>the search bar at how stuff works dot com for

0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:35.440
<v Speaker 1>more on this and thousands of other topics. Is it

0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:40.919
<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot Com brought to you by the

0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.280
<v Speaker 1>reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you