The Shocking Truth About Junk Mail

See how the numbers add up in terms of money, time, trees and emissions. Then make it stop.

October 15, 2009 at 10:41AM by Brian Clark Howard | comment

It's approaching holiday season. And we know what that means: catalogs. Each year, North American companies produce 17 billion catalogs (59 for every man, woman and child in the U.S.). They hawk every category of gift or good, from the ridiculous (redneck pacifiers and big foot garden sets) to the most mainstream. Yet we know that junk mail produces as much CO2 as seven states combined.

We were inspired by this great graphic over at TheCoolPrint.com. According to the site, the there are more than 100,000,000,000 pieces of junk mail sent in the U.S. every year (huge number!) -- about 30% of all mail delivered in the world. Despite the Internet, the amount of junk mail has been snowballing, even though 44% is trashed without ever being opened (just ask this junk mail jihadist).

Want to see how much junk mail costs us in dollars, emissions, trees and time? Head over to TheCoolPrint.com.

Want to reduce your influx of junk mail? Register for the Mail Preference Service on the Direct Marketing Association Website. They will help remove your name and address from prospective mailing lists. Be patient, as it may take up to 90 days for most mail to stop.

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