Most people call it junk mail, but you’ll never hear Carter Clark utter those words.

In a time when fewer people send personal mail, junk is paying the bills for the U.S. Postal Service. More appropriately known as direct mail, or bulk business mail, it generally includes advertising circulars and other solicitations to prospective customers.

“It’s a catch-22 because we understand it isn’t what a lot of people look forward to, and yet it keeps our prices reasonable,” the North Bend postmaster said.

But even the junk is getting junked.

Clark said though e-mail has eroded postal mail since the Internet began, the decline of physical mail has been steeper in the past year. The economic crisis has cut into direct-mail advertising. Also, credit card and mortgage companies are sending out fewer offers and applications.

“Companies are not spending money to advertise their businesses like they used to,” Clark said.

Clark said revenue is especially important because as a “quasi-governmental agency,” the U.S. Postal Service doesn’t rely on taxes. Instead it survives on selling stamps, mailing parcels and selling advertising via direct mail.

No wonder post offices are closing across the nation. Clark said he has seen supermarkets cut their direct-mail advertisements from weekly to monthly.

While Carter believes the postal service will never deal with the bulk of mail it did pre-Internet, he thinks the load will eventually increase.

“I know the American public wants us here, depends on us and as long as we provide the service they’re paying for, they’ll continue to use us and the advertisers will come back to us when the economy turns around,” Clark said.