Mailman Steve Padgett, age 58, stood before a Federal Court judge recently to receive his sentence. The crime? Delaying and destroying the very mail he was supposed to be delivering– third class mail, or more commonly, the JUNK.
This spring, authorities were contacted by a utility worker who noticed what appeared to be an excessive amount of mail piled at Steve Padgett’s home in Raleigh. When postal authorities went to investigate, they discovered third-class mail stacked in Padgett’s garage and buried in his lawn.
According to Padgett’s attorney Andrew McCoppin, it wasn’t a conscious stand against waste or a junk mail protest that spurred the mailman to hold onto the mailers. Rather, it was the inability to meet the demands of a job in a growing part of the county while contending with heart problems and complications from his diabetes.
Padgett was given probation, fined and also sentenced to 500 hours of community service. And as a way to express our support for Mailman Steve and his junk mail minimizing tactics, MailChimp has helped bail him out by contributing to a fund that will cover Padgett’s fines.
How does this relate to email marketing you ask? Mailman Steve was keeping the spam out of people’s physical mailboxes, in the same way that MailChimp works to keep it out of your inbox. By taking simple steps like creating a good permission reminder and adhering to proper emarketing etiquette, you can take steps to ensure your email’s relevance and deliverability.
HAHAHA – Great post, this is why I love Mailchimp.
oh and your awesome mailing system.
Very positive story! The chimps have done their good deed for the day.
Haha, sounds almost too funny to be true.
Let´s hope this will start the “mailmen against snail-mail-spam revoution”
Nothing heroic about his actions, he tampered and destroyed *paid-for* mail he unilaterally determined others wouldn’t want.
I see how MailChimp wants to pick up some viral buzz from this…but I’m surprised you even touched this.
I am for the reduction in junk mail. Thanks for doing your small part.
Good point Henrik. Just b/c we might disagree with something doesn’t mean we should break the law and expect to be commended for it. I hate junk mail as much as anyone else, but rules are rules and the law is the law. MailChimp stresses keeping Internet e-mail laws, but people who break snail mail laws should be glorified?
I love all the opinions. We may disagree, but I love the opinions. Makes the world go round.
Sometimes it takes brave pioneers to break the rules in order for the rules to be changed. Therefore I think both The Chimp’s and Mailman Steve’s actions are heroic.
Imagine where we would be now if it weren’t for the music pirates…..still being ripped off buying CDs.
Most people don’t like their junk mail, but at least they have the opportunity to destroy it to prevent others from harvesting important info.
In addition to betraying the trust of his employer, this vigilante could be offsetting statistics that would help to resolve junk e-mail, statistics like junk e-mail complaints, for instance.
While his intentions may have been good (who buys the “lighten the workload” story?), his actions could have been harmful and were, according to the law, wrong.
Some argue email spam is paid for because the spammers pay fees for a internet connection thru a ISP or Electricity for there computers or paying staff and/or designers to craft spam messages. Physical spam also has staff and/or designers to craft junkmail and a delivery system that is paid for. Unsolicited mail in real or a virtual mailbox is all equal to me. Sometimes i enjoy it sometimes i do not. Its a shame that the law can not uphold or apply to both equally.
Quoting Tom Something – “this vigilante could be offsetting statistics that would help to resolve junk e-mail, statistics like junk e-mail complaints, for instance.”
With email, people complain with the “this is spam” button. That sends a complaint to the ISP who delivered the email to you. Then, the ISP sends a warning to the sender. If the sender doesn’t stop, the ISP looks at its “complaint statistics” for that sender, and acts like a “vigilante” and blocks the sender from sending anymore emails to its users.
With snail mail, how do you complain?
If only I could get this guy to delete all my spam in my inbox every day before I wake up!
Are you kidding?? I understand that the sender of my unwanted junk mail paid for it to arrive at its destination, but frankly, Steve would have saved me the steps to my outside can on the way in from my mailbox. That’s right, junk mail never enters my house, unless its is cleverly disquised at something I might possiably be expecting. I am not a die hard “tree hugger,” but definitely feel some outrage for the number of trees sacrificed in the name of useless, unwanted advertisement! On an average day, perhaps 1 out of the 10 pieces I generally receive ever makes it into my house for perusal. The rest are tossed unopened into the can to be rolled to the curb on Friday for pick-up. What a waste. Steve has my support.
Mailman Steve is doing the public a favor.
“The law was made for man not man for the law.”
Junk mail wastes paper and time. It’s excessive and those who deliberately finance advertising
to saturate the public with unnecssary ads
should be the ones to be arrested.
Not Mailman Steve!
WTF?! The article clearly states that “Mailman Steve” wasn’t fighting junk mail. He couldn’t cope and he took the sucker’s route… He tried to hide it.
I cringe at what makes the news these days. I’m half sorry for taking the time to click and comment.
****** QUOTE FROM ARTICLE ******
According to Padgett’s attorney Andrew McCoppin, it wasn’t a conscious stand against waste or a junk mail protest that spurred the mailman to hold onto the mailers. Rather, it was the inability to meet the demands of a job in a growing part of the county while contending with heart problems and complications from his diabetes.
@Phillip – Thanks for taking the time to comment nonetheless.
As a general rule, I tend to ignore (or read between the lines of) anything that starts with, “According to ___’s attorney,”
P.S. Nothing against attorneys.
It was probably more work for him physically to dig up his yard in order to bury the mail than to deliver it…which is definitely not the sucker’s route.
The suckers route is sending crap in the mail in the first place.
Steve’s a hero in my book.
****Quote from Ben***
“With email, people complain with the “this is spam” button. That sends a complaint to the ISP who delivered the email to you. Then, the ISP sends a warning to the sender. If the sender doesn’t stop, the ISP looks at its “complaint statistics” for that sender, and acts like a “vigilante” and blocks the sender from sending anymore emails to its users.”
The USPS does have a form that you can fill out to stop junk mail (bulk business mail) from being delivered to your home. Not quite as easy and convenient as the “This is SPAM” button, but effective nonetheless.
Have y’all heard about DoNotMail dot org? They are petitioning to stop junk mail. I actually take the time to recycle all the junk and even send back all the postage paid envelopes with junk in them. (I hope they recycle) Just my way of stickin it to the man 40 cents at a time!