Junk Collecting

Pens.

Return-address stickers for envelopes.

Holiday greeting cards.

Calendars.

Key chains.

Note pads.

Fridge magnets.

Tote bags.

Mittens.

Socks.

It's got to stop.

Every year, DW and I—like so many people—make donations to various charitable organizations: the Red Cross, Heart & Stroke, the United Way, Plan Canada, CHEO, World Wildlife, Canadian Diabetes Society, Ottawa Food Bank, and many, many more worthwhile charities. We pick and choose a handful of charities each year, give what we can, and then choose another handful the next year and repeat the process.

We can't give to every charity every year, but we do our best to spread our donations around.

We never expect anything in return: we believe that these organizations should put every penny that they can toward the cause, including paying the hard-working people who work for these not-for-profit organizations.

Of course, once we give, we expect that we are entered in their databases so that they can contact us down the road to remind us that the cause is still just and for us to give what we can. A call for help is reasonable.

Lately, however, we are receiving huge envelopes, stuffed thick with many papers. Some envelopes warn the letter carriers and recipients to not bend them. And, more and more, some envelopes are stuffed with... junk.

Because these charitable organizations need to operate on thin margins, the so-called 'gifts' are of dollar-store quality, or lower. The pens are of cheap plastic and work for a short period of time, if at all. The key chains use poor-quality metals and feature tacky images. The calendars are small and feature images that just don't appeal to us.

Socks? Really? Like I'd actually wear them?

Of all the items that are sent from these charities, we might make use of the notepads. But because we also receive endless notepads from real-estate agents in our neighbourhood, we find ourselves flush with stationery, and so a lot of these pads end up in the paper-recycle bins, unused.

I use the tote bags to collect garbage, and they go out with the rest of my trash.

One of the charities also affix a nickel to the correspondence, and I simply peel the coin from the paper (before I put it in the shredder—it has my name and contact info on it) and put it in my pocket. Considering how many people this organization must send these nickels to, they must surely spend more on these coins than many people give.

Save the nickel. Put the money toward the people who really need it.

The junk that accompanies the call for donations is actually working against the charity, for me. Whenever we receive a thick package, filled with items that I suddenly find myself burdened with their disposal (pens, stickers, and key chains are destined for landfill), I am less inclined to want to send cash to the charity. I feel like contacting the organizations and saying, "Listen. Obviously, if you're buying all of this junk and spending more money on postage, you don't need my money. Please stop sending me anything more than a simple letter, with a return voucher and envelope. If you continue to send items that I neither need nor want, you're off my donation list for five years."

Maybe, I should just tell these charities to stop sending me correspondence of any kind. After all, they're already on my own list of organizations that I regularly give money. I've never used the return form and envelope to send my donation. I just go to their online site and give.

What about you? Do you find that you're collecting junk from organizations? What have you done to stop it? Leave a comment.

Now, excuse me: I have to take out the trash.