Americans were bombarded with 84 billion pieces of junk mail last year. And even more are on the way, thanks to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

Starved for cash, the Postal Service is cutting deals with companies and direct mail (a.k.a. junk mail) marketers to get them to send more advertisements through the mail. USPS made $17 billion in 2011 from direct mail, and officials believe they can up that amount by more than another billion going forward through special offers to businesses.

Nearly half (48%) of all mail is now of the junk variety. With Americans disposing much of it into the garbage, and thus landfills and recycling centers, local governments are trying to prevent the Postal Service from delivering unwanted mail.

More than 100 cities, including Chicago and Seattle, have established online registries that allow residents to opt out of receiving catalogs and other unsolicited mailings.

Meanwhile, the newspaper industry is also opposing the Postal Service’s push to lower the cost of sending junk mail…because it will mean less junk advertising fliers and inserts in Sunday papers and a potential loss of $1 billion a year in revenue.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Seeking Revenue, Postal Service Plans to Deliver More Junk Mail (by Ron Nixon, New York Times)

U.S. Postal Service Junk Mail Deal Could Cost Newspapers $1B (by Ryan Nakashima, Associated Press)