Frazee Ridge, SASS #54171 9 Posted June 21, 2011 Morning Again Pards: Dad's in a nursing home for a while so I am taking care of his mail, paying his bills and so on. Have you ever seen all the stuff that elderly people get? Sweepstakes promising millions of dollars in prizes, must have opened five or six yesterday. All wanting a "processing fee". No wonder old folks go broke. I'm just thankful he realizes this stuff is just a scam and doesn't fall for it. Just had to vent. Frazee Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 2,839 Posted June 21, 2011 Morning Again Pards: Dad's in a nursing home for a while so I am taking care of his mail, paying his bills and so on. Have you ever seen all the stuff that elderly people get? Sweepstakes promising millions of dollars in prizes, must have opened five or six yesterday. All wanting a "processing fee". No wonder old folks go broke. I'm just thankful he realizes this stuff is just a scam and doesn't fall for it. Just had to vent. Frazee And the political solicitation...out of this world! Dad is an 86 year old retired Vet, with a very modest income; he carefully donates small (very small) amounts to political candidates that he believes are truly worthy (is that an oxymoron?) As a result, he is on every Republican's fund raising list, and gets dozens and dozens of requests fromn all over the country, at all levels of government. Sheez... He keeps a paper bag next to his reading chair, and it is filled every few days with endless piles of junk mail. Still, he gets a kick out of reading some of it....funny how some of these folks think that seniors are gullible just because of their age... LL LL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 6,179 Posted June 21, 2011 Morning Again Pards: Dad's in a nursing home for a while so I am taking care of his mail, paying his bills and so on. Have you ever seen all the stuff that elderly people get? Sweepstakes promising millions of dollars in prizes, must have opened five or six yesterday. All wanting a "processing fee". No wonder old folks go broke. I'm just thankful he realizes this stuff is just a scam and doesn't fall for it. I suspect that someone responded to them in the past. If you don't they eventually dry up but it might take 10 or more years. 80% of my mail goes into the trash bins at the post office. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 2,234 Posted June 21, 2011 It is not only the mail. Email is just as bad. My wife is political active. I have tried to reason with her, but without success. I get at least a dozen emails every day that want money and subscriptions to news letters. The sad part is that a "government program" to deal with this would only lead to the loss of more trees and more money. I just sift throught it and move on. I have even thought of buying a new computer and changing my email address. Hmmmmmmm Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShadowCatcher 171 Posted June 21, 2011 It is not only the mail. Email is just as bad. My wife is political active. I have tried to reason with her, but without success. I get at least a dozen emails every day that want money and subscriptions to news letters. The sad part is that a "government program" to deal with this would only lead to the loss of more trees and more money. I just sift throught it and move on. I have even thought of buying a new computer and changing my email address. Hmmmmmmm Hey Badger - If you're using Outlook, or other e-mail tools of similar capability, you can program the tool to sort the e-mail into folders for you - for example you can create a cowboy folder and select all the e-mail names of cowboys in your address book to be directly routed to that folder on start-up and connect to your mail server. Likewise if your wife has people who regularly send her e-mail she can create a folder for her stuff to go into auto-magically. If there are key-words that show up in the subject, you can auto-direct them to the waste folder and delete upon closing. If the mail comes from someone not in your address book it can be directed to a different folder, or if it has attachments, etc. You can color code things that have you as a TO or a CC differently, so that you know if you need to look immediately or if you can treat as info, etc. The tools are powerful - they will let you do things automatically, so you need only spend a little time dealing with the garbage . . . Shadow Catcher Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jack Houston # 35508 0 Posted June 21, 2011 Any junk mail I get if it has a postage paid envelope included I stuff everything they sent into it and mail back! It seems to work! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 2,234 Posted June 21, 2011 Hey Badger - If you're using Outlook, or other e-mail tools of similar capability, you can program the tool to sort the e-mail into folders for you - for example you can create a cowboy folder and select all the e-mail names of cowboys in your address book to be directly routed to that folder on start-up and connect to your mail server. Likewise if your wife has people who regularly send her e-mail she can create a folder for her stuff to go into auto-magically. If there are key-words that show up in the subject, you can auto-direct them to the waste folder and delete upon closing. If the mail comes from someone not in your address book it can be directed to a different folder, or if it has attachments, etc. You can color code things that have you as a TO or a CC differently, so that you know if you need to look immediately or if you can treat as info, etc. The tools are powerful - they will let you do things automatically, so you need only spend a little time dealing with the garbage . . . Shadow Catcher Well, I use a MAC Shadow Catcher. I just delete it all and read the stuff that I have interest in. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 6,179 Posted June 21, 2011 Any junk mail I get if it has a postage paid envelope included I stuff everything they sent into it and mail back! It seems to work! I*f it doesn't work, stick it to a package containing a rock or something heavy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ShadowCatcher 171 Posted June 21, 2011 Well, I use a MAC Shadow Catcher. I just delete it all and read the stuff that I have interest in. Sorry to hear that. I hope it gets better soon. If not, I hear tell they have some treatments available that reduce the problem a bit. Let us know if it ever get's better! Or as I once heard about those MAC's: "oh look - it's like a computer, only smaller!". SC P.S. - Doesn't MAC have any kind of programmable e-mail reader? You can get eudora or thunderbird I guess . . . . BTW - the fall City Diner is re-opened, they're not too bad - and they try hard! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Presidio 2 Posted June 22, 2011 Any junk mail I get if it has a postage paid envelope included I stuff everything they sent into it and mail back! It seems to work! I LIKE IT ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gunner Gatlin, SASS 10274L 411 Posted June 22, 2011 Jack Houston seems to have the best idea - and if it doesn;t have a postage paid envelope to send back, shred it... GG ~ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mean Matt McCord, SASS #24683 0 Posted June 23, 2011 Any junk mail I get if it has a postage paid envelope included I stuff everything they sent into it and mail back! It seems to work! I always liked mailing the empty envelope back, particularly if it's some organization I don't like (such as AARP). They still have to pay postage on it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paladin Gun For Hire 33 Posted June 23, 2011 Any junk mail I get if it has a postage paid envelope included I stuff everything they sent into it and mail back! It seems to work! I do that all the time and enjoy overloading it. If it cost them more in time or money to deal with it, the better I feel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
