Marketers use the term “direct mail” to refer to marketing with physical mail (commonly known as “junk mail” to the recipients). In the US at least, the term “opt-out” is gaining ground as a recognized affirmative request not to receive marketing emails (commonly known as “spam”). Why not combine the two concepts and provide a way for people to opt-out of direct mail?
It’s already possible to request removal from marketers’ mailing lists, but the Dutch have created a standard system for opting out of all types of post box advertising. Each mailbox clearly announces the type of advertising that is acceptable. A “Nee – Nee” sticker means the resident does not want any advertisements and a “Nee – Ja” sticker indicates that only local newspapers are acceptable, but not flyers. I’ve never seen a “Ja – Ja” sticker, but I suppose that’s assumed when there is no sticker.
The stickers show the power of standardization. There is never any confusion over what types of advertisements are acceptable in a particular mailbox. Even a discretion-less machine would be able to apply the residents’ requests. Imagine the same system applied to email: an inbound message would have a machine-readable content indication. You could adjust which ads you receive by changing the preferences of your email client (no need for creative filtering based on content – and thus no more pen1s emails trying to game the filter). In practice, of course, such a system has yet to materialize.