Jolt Country

My wife has the ability to look at our mail and quickly determine which letters are important and which are junk mail. While she is out of town, I find myself opening every single envelope because I can't tell which are important and which are junk. How do you handle your mail?

Good poll haha

- Coupon packs : Used to have useful coupons for stuff like local Mexican and Italian food. Now it's nothing but carpet cleaning and shit so I toss it without opening.
- Any catalog : Girlfriend pile. I do not get catalogs.
- Anything addressed to GF even if it looks like crap unless it is from Publishers Clearing house or CC offers: Girlfriend pile.
- CC offers or PCR crap addressed to GF: Trash.
- Anything credit card related: Trash. Already have one through my bank and no interest in upgrading so promotional mail from bank also goes in trash.
- Something insurance related that is not from GEICO: Trash.
- "Hey we will buy your house for..": Trash.
- Something that looks personal but is clearly printed: Trash.

- Bills from places/utilities I know I owe money: Keep and open.
- Postcards with latest arcade auction date: Keep and open.

- Main reason for checking mail: Packages.

I am easily fooled. When I see those enveloped that have "printed handwriting" I think "well, maybe a friend got personalized envelopes!" And when I see something with no business name on the return address I think "maybe it's a secret!" And when I see ones that say "IMPORTANT" I always open them because who would lie to get you to open an envelope? (Spoiler: everyone.)

I ordered something from Oriental Trading Company over a decade ago and still get a monthly catalog from them. They sell party favors, candy, costumes, and all kinds of weird stuff. If you need a dozen pairs of 80s sunglasses or six dozen spider rings for a kid's Halloween party, Oriental Trading Company is your place. Those get sent to our PO box. If Susan drives, I flip through them on the way home and dump them into the recycle bin when we get home.

https://www.orientaltrading.com/party-s ... 544-1.fltr

Just check the postmark. First class mail is important. Standard Pre-Sorted is garbage. Spend a week looking at that and seeing if I'm right and you'll never open junk mail again!

(Utility bills may come Standard, I don't care, I just pay that shit online once a month and don't need the paper.)

After a while you recognize the real bills from the credit card offers and the other bullshit. I think I saw one piece of mail that was semi-important in the last year that wasn't a bill.

Flack wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:48 am And when I see ones that say "IMPORTANT" I always open them because who would lie to get you to open an envelope? (Spoiler: everyone.)

This is my general rule. If a piece of mail says it's important, it isn't.

One thing I liked was when PEPCO (the electric company in Prince George"s County, Maryland) was about to shut off swrvice for non—payment, these come in a distictive bright yellow envelope. Then I"d open it, and call the landlord to let him know how much was due and how long he had before outr power was cut off.

Oh., for anyone here who does household repairs, do not throw away credit card offers. The fake credit card they include in the package makes a great tool for spreading grout in tight corners. The curve is usually perfect for bathroom or kitchen tile,, and you can just throw it away after it"s covered in grout or silicone.

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