Drop off, Trashed up, Opt out

On Saturday, the Coloradoan covered Fort Collins' councilman Ben Manvel's concerns over the glut of unwanted free newspapers that Fort Collins Now drops around the city. From the Coloradoan story:

After receiving complaints from residents who received copies of the Fort Collins Now after asking to be taken off the distribution list, Manvel asked city attorneys if it's legal to fine publications for driveway dropping.

"I just wanted to know if that is a law that we could have," Manvel said. "I have not asked staff to draft any such law for consideration, but I wanted to know if we could. And, from what I have been told, we can."

The FC Now says it has an opt-out list that people can call to stop drops, but that sometimes delivery drivers may toss a paper by mistake. Of course, most of the people who don't bother picking up a free paper thrown at their homes are the kinds of people who aren't going to seek out how to cease the bombing, so to say. I can't find it on the website right now. (For the record, the Chronicle strictly works on an opt-in policy: You pick up a paper from one of our distribution points or you don't get one.)

Chicago has wrestled with this issue and, in October, passed a law that knocked out unsolicited distribution in the city and created fines up to $1,000 for each drop, although bagged papers, such as the Now, could be exempt.