Snap a photo of physical junk mail, become unsubscribed

Seattle-based Readabl's PaperKarma mobile app lets users submit a photograph of each piece of junk mail they'd like to stop receiving, and then works to make that happen.

No one likes junk mail, and the average US household receives some 850 pieces of it over the course of a year. Whereas French Pubeco aims to shift such communications to the online sphere, Readabl’s PaperKarma mobile app lets users submit a photograph of each piece of junk mail they’d like to stop receiving, and then works to make that happen. Roughly 44 percent of unsolicited mail in the US ends up in landfills each year without ever being opened, according to Seattle-based Readabl. Aiming to help address that problem, the company’s PaperKarma app enables users to simply snap a picture of an unwanted piece of junk mail and press “send” to become unsubscribed from the mailing list that generated it. The company explains: “We work closely with the source companies to help you unsubscribe from catalogs, magazines, credit card offers, etc. and optionally – i.e., if you explicitly choose to – convert you to the corresponding online (email) versions.” Launched earlier this year, the free PaperKarma app is now available for Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone. Of course, unwanted mass mailings aren’t just a problem for consumers — such fruitless effort also represents a significant waste for the companies that send them. How can your brand help to reduce the many resources wasted this way?