Junk Mail

I used to watch 60 Minutes more than I do now. I still like some of their investigative reporting, but it's not like it used to be. They add their "spin" just like the Evangelical Christians, Michael Moore, and all politicians...and, I miss Ed Bradley and Dan Rather's craziness. Throughout, I've never been a big fan of Andy Rooney. Although he's funny and relevant sometimes, his whiny complaining gets to me, but there was one segment where I agreed with him.

His segment was about the large amount of junk mail he receives, and even though there are services available to help reduce the amount of junk mail we receive, some still filters through. So, his plan of attack was to use the pre-paid envelope to send back all the surveys, credit card applications, and pleas for money, that we all get in our mail. These companies get charged for the postage, and processing the envelopes must create some sort of inconvenience. This inconvenience is Rooney's justification...as these junk mailers inconvenience us, we must in turn, inconvenience them. Love it...and I do it from time to time, especially with credit card offers.

Knowing that magazines and on-line stores sell their databases, I'm always trying to figure out which magazine/store (or gift received) was responsible for some of the junk mail I get....or that schmaltzy Williams-Sonoma or Lillian Vernon catalog. I've even started to use different versions of my name when ordering on-line to see how the six-degrees of separation works. However, to send junk mail back to where it came from means using the pre-paid envelope, which requires opening junk mail, another time-consuming process, but sometimes quite humorous as well.

Recently Ann and I received a envelope addressed to the "Main Grocery Shopper in the Household". I opened it out of curiosity and looked at the survey. I've included 2 of the survey questions...the one above is unanswerable for us, and the other is just plain funny...mmm, creaming.