Bring on the junk mail, Herr Postman
In this part of the world, you’ll notice that many people’s mailboxes sport stickers that say things like “no advertisements, please”. That’s all it takes to avoid a box full of Werbung (ads and leaflets). Mass mailings from political parties and charities still come through, but nothing else. Less junk, save a few trees… who wouldn’t want that? In fact, almost everyone seems to take advantage of this easy way to opt out of junk mail.
The other day we received a piece of mail from Swiss Post itself. The envelope contained a sheet of mailbox stickers (in a variety of convenient sizes) which all say “Werbung? O.K.!” The accompanying letter was an impassioned plea for the implementation of the stickers on our mailbox, containing lines such as “maybe you’ve changed your mind about receiving Werbung” and “perhaps it wasn’t even you who made the decision to halt the Werbung flow, and you just inherited your ‘no ads’ sticker from the previous occupant” (in fact, this is true in our case). The letter attempted to make Werbung sound like something you were missing out on, something that would make your life fuller, more complete. It made me laugh. Hard.
I’m dying to know if anyone actually placed the “Junk mail for me, please!” stickers on their mailbox after receiving this letter from the Swiss Post. I’m also tempted to stick them on other people’s mailboxes, or perhaps even on our mailbox, right before we move out. (kidding!)
