'A Bible's worth' of junk mail keeps hitting mailboxes, and people are sharing how to shut it off

A Reddit thread about junk mail tapped into a familiar annoyance for people who feel like their mailbox has become a delivery point for paper they never asked for and immediately throw away.

The poster's objection centered on how common physical spam mail still is despite being unwanted by many recipients, generating waste, and sometimes looking enough like real correspondence that it can cause problems.

What happened?

In a Reddit post, the user described the regular buildup of promotional mail as an ongoing frustration.

While noting that direct mail may help small businesses, they wrote, "This may be a bad take because it gives less chance for small business to thrive, but the amount of spam mail we all get is egregious." They also said it feels like "A Bible's worth of spam every month or so straight to the trash," and pointed to banks, mortgage companies, pressure washing, car washing, and tree trimmers as frequent senders.

"What's worse is often it's not even yours. 'To person who hasn't lived here for 6 years,'" they added. Then they wrapped up their rant, writing, "Why do they get to just waste paper and plastic ... Why is this allowed?"

Mail addressed to someone who moved out years ago can make the pile even bigger and increase the chance that truly important letters get lost in the shuffle.

Why does it matter?

Physical spam mail uses paper, ink, fuel, and often plastic packaging, only to be discarded almost immediately. For households trying to cut back on waste, it can feel like a steady stream of trash arriving by default.

So many resources are used to make the flyers and other mail, and so much energy is spent delivering the junk mail. It's difficult to recycle because it's often mixed with plastic materials, so it ends up in the landfill. 

As a few commenters pointed out, the junk mail dramatically intensifies during election season. Dozens of flyers from political groups and candidates are jammed into your mailbox on a weekly basis. 

Opting out can take effort, but many people are actively looking for ways to do it.

What are people saying?

The replies were mostly supportive of the complaint, and many users offered suggestions for cutting down the volume.

Among the tips mentioned were opt-out services, including DMAchoice, PaperKarma, and Catalog Choice, as well as contacting companies directly to request removal from their mailing lists.

Other commenters emphasized the environmental impact, saying unsolicited mail wastes paper and adds to carbon and tree costs, and some said they still do not understand why the practice is legal.

"I hate it, it's so wasteful and environmentally irresponsible. And half the time it's not even really relevant to me," one person wrote. Another Redditor added, "We should be able to opt out at the very least. It's awful for the environment, and everyone hates it."

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