Catalogs, phone books, postcards, coupons... when fighting the war on junkmail, one can feel a little outnumbered. Fortunately, there's an app that offers a peaceful solution— it's called PaperKarma. In anyone's quest to go paperless, the first step is to limit the amount of paper that enters the house, and PaperKarma does just that. Just scan the offending junkmail with your smartphone's camera (available for iPhone, Windows and Android phones), and PaperKarma will use that photo to recognize the piece of mail, contact the company and unsubscribe you.
So, sit down with a pile of Pennysavers this sunday and within weeks you'll see the incoming paper go way down. Then wait for the accolades from the trees and your mailman. Watch this week's Twirl to learn more about how it works.
19 Comments
Joy Carlton says:
I was not able to get the app on my android phone!! Do you know how to stop spam mail on your phone?
Heather Stephens says:
Hi Carly,
Love the new intro to your videos!
Very upbeat! Thanks for the tip...wonder if it will work on my "work " mailbox? I seem to be a magnet for marketing junk mail.
CKnobloch says:
Heather— You can only register the app in one place, and give it one name and return address. So if you want to use it for work, you could do that, but not both work and home, as it is now. Hope that helps!
sylrayj says:
Having recently been a Pennysaver deliverer, please allow me to add a comment. My contract instructed me to respect and honour any notes saying to not deliver the flyer to a home. Some would be posted on the screen door, some above the mailbox, even a few inside the mailbox. Whether I delivered to a home or was requested to not deliver, I was paid the same, and I considered it a point of honour to obey the notes.
CKnobloch says:
Sylrayj— Thanks so much for sharing your perspective. It's nice to know that Pennysaver cares about the people's preferences, but I would never find fault with the messenger‚ you guys are just doing your job! I would never think that posting a note on my mailbox would have any influence on junkmail, but now that two of my Twirlers have mentioned it, i've got to give it a try!
Sofie says:
I live in Norway and enjoy most of your videos. Not all of them is applicable here. I will tell you that here this problem is much easier to solve. On the post office we can get a sticker that we put on our mail-box that says "No junk mail here" (parafrazing) and the postman respects that and will not deliver anything we don't want. (But some big firms like IKEA may give us a "counter-sticker" saying "But I want the IKEA catalouge").
CKnobloch says:
Sofie— Oh, wow! That's cool— I wish it were that easy here! (BTW, does anyone NOT have that sticker on their mailbox?)
Sofie says:
I actually don't have the sticker myself, but I always throw away the junk mail in the paper bin before I go into the house, so I ought to follow my own advise here
Whitney says:
Thanks, Carley! Just got the app and registered my address. Does it only work for mail addressed to me? I have to have a new account for mail addressed to my boyfriend? I'm so tired of catalogs!
CKnobloch says:
Whitney— you have to register the app with your name and address, so you can only use it for mail addressed to you, even if there's someone else living in your house. They really should add the ability to include another family member at some point— no doubt they will soon.
Heather says:
I know this is several months late, but maybe this will help somebody else
I just downloaded the PaperKarma app. When I looked at the FAQ section, it said that you can edit the name field of your profile to include somebody else's name. That way you can include other people who live at your residence! I don't know if it works yet though...
Kelly Powers says:
Dear Carly, I love the concept of digitwirl, but I wish products were presented in a well balanced way. Please let me know the not so great stuff along with the accolades. I'd rather know up front. Thanks!
CKnobloch says:
Kelly— I appreciate your opinion, I do. I made a deliberate choice when I started Digitwirl to only talk about things I like, instead of wasting valuable air time discussing stuff I don't like. People look to me to give them the shortcut, straight-to-the-good=stuff point of view, and know that I look at lots of competitors and test them all before I decide to review "the one". I hope that gives you a bit more insight into why we do things the way we do here at DT!
Amy Starr Allen says:
You rock, Carly. I LOVE your videos and I always implement your tips... this one sounds awesome. Thanks for all you do!
xo
CKnobloch says:
Amy— You're so welcome!
SabrinatheOrganizer says:
Great idea! Do you have any apps ideas for Windows 7 or Android?
Nathan says:
Hi, I'm wondering how this company will profit from the users information for the service they offer? Unsubscribing people from junk mail is a nice service but I wonder what the true cost to the user is on such a service? Any idea of the cost to the user?
Elle (@Cleverlychangin) says:
I am going to try this today. I normally only get junk mail period because everything else is digitized. This is such a great app idea.
CKnobloch says:
Elle— Let me know what you think!