DES MOINES, Iowa — It’s that time of year where every commercial on television, every ad before Facebook videos, and every random number that calls is political — but it doesn’t end there. With contested elections in the state this year, Iowans’ mailboxes are getting flooded too.
In the 2018 mid-term elections, over $573 million was spent on political mail by candidates, according to the United States Postal Service (USPS). It’s predicted this year will beat that price tag by a long shot.
“I do question the amount that they’re doing, because it’s every day. My mailbox is a regular house-sized mailbox, and it’s chock full every day. In fact, I wouldn’t get any mail if it wasn’t for that, so maybe I’m happy that I at least get some mail,” President of Mid America Recycling, Mick Barry said.
At Mid America Recycling in Des Moines, you can see just how many political mailers are ending up at its facility, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t getting read.
“The messages in them are very simple. They’re not overloaded with a lot of text, so you can get through them and get the message very quickly,” Karen Kendrowski, Director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center and Iowa State University Political Science professor said. “I think the most important thing to know about them is that it says something about the external support of the candidate. If it’s coming from a political action committee or an interest group, it’s supposed to impress the voter with the degree and the intensity of support.”
USPS conducted a voter survey in 2018 and 68 percent ranked political mail the most credible form of political outreach. Nearly half of those polled said it was their mailers that were the most memorable form of political advertising. So while it may seem wasteful and outdated in the digital age, it seems print is still king.
“One of the tropes in the political campaign world is that 75 percent of the effort that you do is wasted. The problem is that you don’t know which 75 percent, right? So you have to do everything, you know, ads, leaflets, door knocking when there’s not a pandemic, phone calling, texting, yard signs, the whole bit. The vote of operation is really a high touch operation, you want to get out to as many of your known, or likely, voters as possible,” Kendrowski said.
Barry said while they are seeing a lot of these political mailers in Mid America’s facility, their expensive look and feel is the perfect type of product for recycling.
“It is all printed on high-grade paper, high gloss paper, so it’s basically school book type of paper. So it’s very good quality. It’s very good for recycling. Of course, if you have your advertisement come in the mail and you’re done looking at it and reading it, definitely put it back in the recycling bin,” Barry said.
The one downside to the election season for Mid America Recycling is the yard signs. Barry said after Election Day many people try to recycle them, but that just doesn’t work. Only signs that you can rip and tear can be recycled, but the wire stakes or anything plastic hurts their production and can get stuck in machines.