29 August, 2006
Addressing door-to-door junk mail
I'd like to think that anyone reading this in the UK will already be aware that it's possible to opt-out of receiving personally-addressed yet unsolicited commercial mail, by registering with the Mailing Preference Service (and associated phone & fax services). However, that still leaves all the unaddressed junk mail.
There's not much one can do about leaflets hand-delivered by the companies themselves, but I've discovered that it is entirely possible to avoid the unaddressed items delivered door-to-door by Royal Mail postmen. The Royal Mail remains legally obliged to deliver anything addressed to 'The Occupier', but the opt-out still covers quite a lot (about a quarter of all unaddressed junk mail, apparently).
Needless to say, the Royal Mail is paid to deliver leaflets door-to-door, so doesn't exactly advertise that the opt-out exists. I discovered it via a BBC report about a postman who produced his own advisory leaflet and delivered it to households on his rounds. Well done, Roger Annies, even if your bosses' response was to suspend you for misconduct.
The opt-out procedure itself is extremely straightforward. Simply write to the following address, stating your name, address (including postcode) and that you are asking the Royal Mail to cease delivery of Door to Door mail (that's their specific name for the service) to your address. Remember to sign and date your request.
Door to Door Opt Outs
Royal Mail Door to Door
Kingsmead House
Oxpens Road
Oxford
OX1 1RX
Alternatively, send the same details in an e-mail to:
optout@royalmail.co.uk
Or phone:
08457 950 950.
[See updates, below, and follow-up, here. Sending an e-mail will get you a printable confirmation form, which needs to be returned by post. I suspect a phone call would have had the same result, but the line has been closed.]
The BBC claims one has to complete a form, but the staff of my local post office knew nothing about that. Luckily, the postmaster is a reader of the Daily Mail (he seems quite rational otherwise) and told me that there was a form in today's 'newspaper'. I bought a copy (I hope you appreciate the sacrifice), but discovered that the Mail had composed its own form rather than duplicating something 'official', so a normal letter, e-mail or phone call should be entirely adequate.
A Royal Mail spokesman, quoted in the BBC article:
"Royal Mail's future depends on competing effectively in all parts of the market and that includes unaddressed mail, a service which is used by a great many firms and people, whose businesses depend on it."
If, like me, you don't give a **** about the Royal Mail's future viability as a sp*mmer, opt-out today.
[Update 16:37: The Royal Mail responded to my opt-out e-mail within 30 minutes, which was impressive in itself, but the message was a clarification and/or attempt to dissuade me.
No, I'm not "considering 'Opting Out' of receiving Door to Door items", I am opting-out.
The points they wished to bring to my attention are:
- This opt-out only relates to unaddressed mail. Items addressed to a specific name, to 'The Occupier' or to any other generic recipient will still be delivered, by law.
- It's not possible for the Royal Mail to distinguish between commercial advertising material and official communications from Central/Local Government & other public bodies [at present – see follow-up]. Opting out from Royal Mail Door to Door stops all unaddressed items.
- Self-evidently, the opt-out will affect all residents of the designated address – do they agree with this action?
These are all fine with me, so I returned the enclosed form by e-mail.
Two points:
- The clarification e-mail came from an address which doesn't accept replies. Cunning....
Don't simply hit 'Reply:', but change the 'To:' address to optout@royalmail.co.uk. - I suspect that they're not going to accept my e-mailed reply, as the form seemed intended to be printed, signed and posted (in an envelope – remember them?). I object to paying the Royal Mail to transport my message to the Royal Mail, so sent the e-mail anyway. I'll let you know if it's rejected.
I presume that if you write
or ring to opt-out, the Royal Mail will want to send you a 'clarification' too. You might be able to short-circuit the process by stating in your initial communication that you
"understand the implications of opting-out of receiving deliveries of Royal Mail unaddressed ‘Door to Door’ items to your address", and that you
"understand that you may miss important information from local, national or government publications that are sent using this service."]
[Update 17:01: I was right. Sending the completed form to that e-mail address resulted in my receiving the same generic response and a blank, printable form. Might as well just send a letter in the first place.]
Posted by Ministry at 15:14
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