The following is a perspective by postal commentator Gene Del Polito for Direct magazine. It's based on a letter that PostCom recently sent to the New York State Assembly regarding a proposal to create a "Do Not Mail" list within the State of New York.

Well, it's happened. First there were the "do not call" lists, then there were the "do not email" lists, and now someone in the New York State legislature wants there to be a "do not mail" list (NY Assembly Bill A01292). It's easy to see how, at first blush, such a measure might seem to be harmless, but a more careful study can easily prove that such a measure would be devastatingly harmful to many New York businesses, consumers, and the U.S. Postal Service.

There's rationale behind "do not email" lists. Email services don't come free. With postal mail, the situation is different. The sender, not the recipient, is the one who pays to have mail delivered.

The sponsors of this bill say discarded unsolicited mail is a major environmental problem. Yet, in its most recent study on Non-Hazardous Solid Waste, the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) published data that clearly show that if all advertising mail distributed in the United States was thrown away; if every catalog, shopper publication, fund raising letter, church bulletin, and sale notice was tossed out; if none was made from recycled materials and none was recycled or composted; then advertising mail would total less than 4/10,000ths (.0003951 percent) of the solid waste produced in the United States. (4.5 million tons of advertising mail divided by 11.387 billion tons of solid waste.) Four-tenths of one percent!! That's a major problem?

The sponsors also say that over 40% of all direct mail is unread. Yet, the U.S. Postal Service, which has been studying this issue for years through its annual household diary studies, says that of all who receive "unsolicited" advertising mail, only five percent claim to object and only 18% of ;such mail is discarded unread. In fact, the majority of those surveyed have reported finding such mail of some value--even if only for its informational content.

Then, there is the economic impact on the businesses of the State of New York. According to the Direct Marketing Association, some $2.5 billion worth of goods and services are created by direct marketing businesses in the State of New York. For a New York direct marketing business A01292 would be a fine how-do-you-do.

Finally, let's not forget the Constitution, which says that the power to "establish" post roads (i.e., the rules that govern how the U.S.'s postal system should be operated) is reserved for the U.S. Congress, not any individual or select group of states. Ideas as bad of this, shouldn't be allowed to see the light of day.