No Circulars Please

Whoever delivers the promotional mail made a mistake this week and gave me some. 

I offer to you - Exhibit A:

Promotional Mail from Tuesday 6th September

That is 435 grams of unasked-for paper (the random face mask I used to tie up the bundle was worth ~6 grams). In one day.

To put that in perspective I offer you - exhibit B:

Which cost the most? I didn't pay for the promos, so are they free? I paid for the book, probably ~$30 by New Zealand standards which would have gone for not just the material cost but also the authorship (IP) and various margins. 

What is the environmental cost? Probably even.  As I've mentioned before its the costs we don't see that are too easy to ignore. 

What about the contribution to the universe?

The flyers were:

Briscoes

JB Hifi

Flybuys

Repco - Bathurst sale

Political flyers x 2

Liquorland

New World x 2

Target Furniture

Warehouse Stationery

Noel Leeming

For all that 435 g, only one (New World) might be considered a weekly purchase (though I hope none of my readers would buy Australian strawberries in September). All the rest are effectively trying to vie for your discretionary expenditure - and you don't need or want any of it..  yet.

According to these flyers you might need "new looks for your home" or "state-of-the-art products" "massive clearance", " spring refresh" "get your workplace in order", or "new season deals". By contrast John Kirwan wrote a powerful book that brought mens mental health into public discussion in New Zealand.

There's a great sense of freedom in saying "I don't need that". I don't even need to look at that. That this stuff does not add anything to my life. Even assessing the potential purchase would consume too much energy that I'd rather devote to something else.

I didn't ask for those flyers yet someone has invested 435 grams of materials into trying to convince me to buy something. If they'd asked me, I'd say I'd much rather those materials went into another copy of John Kirwan's book. 

I'm asking you to consider, even if you get something for free, its not. We all need to think about our contribution to the demand side for these non-products.