Stop Junk Mail? Define 'Junk'

By Paul Bobnak

Credit: Paul Bobnak

There’s nothing like a leaflet saying “STOP JUNK MAIL” to get your morning off to a sour start.

I went out the other day to get an oil and filter change done on my car and with a little extra time to kill, stopped at a Staples on the way to pick up a pack of paper for my office printer. After poking around a bit, I was headed to check out when a rack card on one of the service counters caught my attention.

It really stuck out like a sore thumb from the leaflets offering other services with an anti-mail headline, so of course, I had to take a look. And I won’t bother to go into many details about the offer and the company behind it, beyond their claim to stop “up to 95% of junk mail” (for a fee, naturally) and that Staples is apparently a partner of theirs. I guess maybe direct mail isn’t a big part of their marketing mix any more? Kind of odd. It sends a message that “all mail equals junk.”

But it brings up a point I’ve made often over just the last few years. You know, when people ask me “What line of work are you in, Paul?”

Call me a defender of the faith or evangelist, but I proudly say something like “junk mail… also known as direct mail.” And I’ll quickly add that marketing campaigns that include many touchpoints, including digital, perform better together. Most people get that as I explain how direct mail is more relevant compared to the past because data is more accurate, focused, and analyzed than ever before.

Direct mail and print is our business and often gets painted with a broad brush, sometimes deservedly, but most often not. Think about people’s concerns that lead them to maybe dislike or distrust mail, and call it “junk”:

Protecting privacy - According to the FTC, consumers lose billions to fraud, phishing, and scams, most commonly through email.
Saving trees - Around 46 million tons of paper were recycled in 2024. There’s a great story about recycling, forest management, and sustainability. Talk with the folks at Two Sides North America, among others, about all that.
Reducing clutter - Have you looked at your inboxes lately? And your social feeds? I’ll wait.

Don’t get me wrong. If someone truly wants less mail, they should be able to opt out. That’s reasonable and responsible. I’ve spent some time in the last few months looking at how nonprofits, for example, make it easy (or not) for people like my dad to manage their donor preferences.

What we send isn’t junk. What people don’t want is junk. Those are two very different things. What one person ignores, another reads closely and responds to.

So yes, help people stop what they truly don’t want. But let’s stop pretending that all mail belongs in the same bucket. The best direct mail is anything but “junk.”

It’s one of the few channels that’s still capable of meaningful, tangible engagement at a time when we get a lot of digital noise.

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