No, Michigan Mail Carriers Will Not Take Your Political Mail Back

We've all seen it piling up in our mailboxes over the past few months. Mail from every political candidate running for every imaginable office in the area. But, is there anything that you can do to make it stop or get rid of it?

A friendly neighborhood mail carrier took to the Grand Rapids subreddit to tell us all that, basically, we're out of luck.

Can I Return Political Mail to Sender?

No. As user Maillady18 stated on Reddit,

Do whatever you'd like, just don't give it back to us.

The rules around political mail are very clear and the U.S. Postal Service and the Office of the Inspector General take them very seriously.

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So seriously, in fact, that they send auditors and investigators to 1,000 postal facilities across the U.S. during every election cycle to make sure that mail handlers and carriers are following the rules to a T. If postal workers are caught tampering with, delaying, or destroying/throwing away political mail, they could face jail times and fines.

Steps You Can Take to Stop Getting Political Mail

If you're getting political mail right now, there are ways for you to get rid of it without just ripping your address off of it and putting it back in your mailbox or writing "return to sender" on it (those two things don't work.) You can simply throw it away, you can recycle it, and many in the comments suggested that you can burn it (if you live in a place where burning is allowed) since it makes an "excellent fire starter". Or, as Maillady 18 suggested, "Frame it. Hang it on the refrigerator."

READ MORE: Unique Northern Michigan Post Office is Like a Tiny House Cut in Half

But, to stop political mail from coming to your home in the future, here are some pointers from the L.A. Times:

• Contact the company or campaign and ask them to remove your information from their mailing list.
• Another is to vote early. As soon as your vote has been cast, the fact that you voted gets recorded. And campaigns know that they're not going to be able to influence your decision.

The Times has a few other ideas that may help. Check out their comprehensive coverage from 2022 on their website.

The good news is that the general election is right around the corner and in six weeks or less, the mailings clogging up your box and taking up space in your recycling bin will be a distant memory. At least until the next election cycle.

Want a nice distraction from all of the politics? Go out and explore these ten West Michigan apple orchards.