'Tis the season to begin plowing through more mail than ever.
The U.S. Postal Service traditionally advises customers to get holiday packages early, and our own campus mail service has circulated a warning for university mail users that the tide is coming.
For anyone who has bought anything at any time from a catalog, the avalanche probably began rolling in your mail slot some time in October.
What bothers us most is that the main ingredient in the red and green tide of envelopes is not cheery greetings and news from relatives and friends: It is junk.
Who hasn't received reams of advertising matter wrapped up in red or green envelopes with faux bells and bows?
Who hasn't become disgusted with the stuff, tossed it out en masse only to discover that something important (such as a bill or a real holiday card) was in the pile?
Of course, advertisers have the right to advertise.
But do they really have to make the junk mail look like personal or business mail?
Even more confusing and annoying than the junk mail that looks like personal mail, is the junk that looks like government or bank mail.
A hefty portion may contain information about you gleaned from property tax rolls or other public records.
Applications for credit cards and loans may contain enough information to open an account or refinance your car or house by return mail.
The moment you toss the junk mail in the trash your privacy and your credit rating may go with it. That very personal information may fall into the hands of someone other than your friendly neighborhood garbage man.
Television news shows have featured many sorry souls who have lost their identities to trash diving scoundrels.
Advertisers and businesses who package their ads to look like something other than what they are and who include sensitive information in their mailings need to change their practices.
Until that time, and as onerous as the task may be, dispose of your junk mail with care or you might dispose of something that really is important to you.