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| pic by Jeffrey Joslin |
Sure looks sneaky, don't it? These gentlemen were snapped on the first block of Midwood from Flatbush (Midwood I to the newcomers out there) They're loading up the circulars, getting ready to deliver the goods to every house and apartment building that doesn't have a strict policy against it. A few years ago, some brilliant neighbor made up some laminated signs to just say no to flyers. We bought ours at Hawthorne hardware, and it's worked like a charm. One of them was actually stolen I love the (perhaps fanciful) idea that someone needed one so much that they took it in desperation.
Who made 'em, and how can we get some more? Would make a big difference I think.
8 comments:
Most competent elected officials have the signs you referred to in there office for free.... clearly it would be tough to focus on such matters when the good dr is so busy serving the people
You know what, that's an EXCELLENT idea. ME usually needs to be prodded and prodded again to do stuff, but I can see his office thinking this is exactly the kind of thing that will curry favor. Will someone who is NOT me call his office please? Maybe bring by an example, or at least send some text so they understand wtf we're talking about.
I think it's a new company, because they suddenly have gotten really aggressive about it, including ignoring those signs (which I think is illegal) and even going so far as to steal a few from houses on my block. Grrrr.
I love the circulars. Free coupons galore!
Another tactic that might cut down on the proliferation of the flyers would be to contact the advertisers and let them know that they're being ripped off... I'm pretty sure they get charged based on total circulation and if my house is any indication, the actual circulation numbers must be wildly inflated. It isn't uncommon for my one-family house to get 2, 3 or even 4 bundles of the flyers. Multiply that by the number of houses—add in the bundles that get dumped in the trash—and these supermarkets are probably way overpaying.
Also, a story re flyers that, while it wouldn't work in our situation, has always amused me. (I hope it's true; I heard it years ago. It might be an urban legend...)
Back in the '80s, I lived on the Upper West Side and we had never-ending "menu wars." A couple of large Chinese restaurants littered every lobby with dozens and dozens of menus a few times a week. That nearly every building had NO MENUS! signs posted on their front door did no good whatsoever. So some residents in a few of the larger buildings decided to fight back; over the course of a few months they saved all their menus. And one evening they walked into the restaurants during the dinner rush and just started throwing hundreds of menus all over the place...
I suspect the restaurants just reused the menus and they wound up back on lobby floors, but the residents' revenge must have felt sweet!
Another urban legend that might be useful here...
Sometime way back in the Egyptian days some dude went around killing all the first-born little dudes. BUT, he passed over all the houses with lamb's blood over their doors.
See where I'm going with this? Lambs. Laminate. Lambinate.
And to be inclusive, maybe vegans could leave the Blood of Seitan...
I'm a big fan of the three c's - communication, cooperation and compromise. If some like the circulars, they should be able to opt-in. If some don't, they should be able to opt out. The thing is, most people aren't given the opt-out option. We do it with spammy email, and that doesn't kill trees (or as many - apparently there IS a real environmental cost to all this digital trash).
The other three c's: Create, consume, contractor-bag.
I had no use for those flyers... Until I started fostering kittens! They are great for lining the crates! For the first time in years our lobby is flyer free.
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