I rarely read through my mail. It’s a bad habit, I know, but I hate doing it. Why? Because 99.9% of my mail is junk. Seriously! When I do go through it I end up shredding almost all of it. Very rarely do I keep any of the mail I receive, and when I do, I end up losing the important part any way.

Now, let me clarify. I’m not talking about bills or statements. Those important items are handled in a timely manner. What I’m referring to is everything else. The rest of the mail I get is absolute crap. The number of “Urgent Warranty Renewal Notices” I receive is staggering. I swear I get one almost daily. Okay, maybe it just seems that way because I only look at my mail once per month. The most recent Warranty Renewal notice I got had two different cars listed, neither of which I own. Whoops! I guess I won’t be taking advantage of that super special low price on renewing the warranty on my non-existent Honda Civic.

The other big spammer (that’s what they are, right?) I get mail from are the car dealerships I’ve previously done business with. Just the other day (okay, some time in the past month) I received a letter from a car dealer I bought a car from back in 2000 wondering if I still had that sweet Ford Mustang, and, if I did, would I be willing to part with it because they have a buyer willing to pay top dollar for it. Frankly, I haven’t owned the car since 2003 or 2004 and if I did still have it wouldn’t fall prey to their scam to try and trick me into buying a new car.

Ford Mustang

 

Big tip, don’t buy a car from Bob Utter Ford – they’ll harass you for years to come with notices that they “need to buy your car back.” I swear I’ve gotten at least one notice from them every month since I bought my car from them over 15 years ago. That’s a LOT of spam!

Credit card offers, LifeLock, banking offers, mortgage scams, etc., all arrive in my mailbox. Going through my mail has become a big joke to me. I sit next to the shredder at work. Open the envelope. Shred. Glance at the letter. Shred. Pick up all the assorted pieces that fell on the floor. Shred. Repeat with the next “letter.”

How does one get off this never ending cycle? I wish I knew. Too bad there isn’t a way to lock down my mailbox to just letters from legitimate contacts.

Maybe it’s a sign of getting older and I should feel “honored” that companies think I’m either senile or have enough money to invest in their timeshare, buy a car, or add a credit card to my wallet. None of that’s happening.

I think I’m just going to cut out the bottom of my mailbox and have everything funnel directly into a shredder. Cut out the middle man and save me time & effort to review this crap. What do you think? Will it work?