Junk Mail - What a Bloomin' Nuisance!

Photo: YanivG

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably fed up with the amount of unsolicited mail that’s delivered to you every day, and all those take-away leaflets and such that are regularly pushed through the letterbox.

If I want a credit card, I’ll go online and apply for one. If I want insurance I’ll do the same. I don’t want to enter competitions to win luxury holidays in Tahiti or Brazil or buy a set of useless miniature china teapots. I’ve no intention of changing my bank and I don’t need another loan. I have a couple of take-away menus from places I know deliver decent food (decent as in edible, that is), the rest are of no interest to me. They can just go stuff their junk mail, but the place I'm thinking of having them stuff it most certainly isn't through my front door!

As things stand today, stopping all that junk mail from landing on the mat isn’t easy. You need to sign up with the Mail Preference Service which will stop some of the unsolicited post that arrives (sadly, not all), put a sticker or plaque on the door to tell leaflet delivery people that you don’t want their junk and contact Royal Mail to let them know that you don’t want the leaflets that their postmen deliver along with your general mail, either.

In Holland they have a simple system. You sign up with one organisation that takes care of the whole thing. Apparently any company that intends to make an unsolicited mail shot must register with them, whether they’re sending their mail directly or via the postman in the form of leaflets or “to the occupier”. This is then controlled so as those who have opted out of having paper spam pushed at them won’t be bothered by it anymore. They also send every member a sticker to place on their mailbox, making it clear that they don’t want leaflets from private delivery services either, i.e. pizzas, taxis etc.

There’s a campaign at the moment that’s petitioning government to adopt a similar service in the UK. Why not nip over and sign it, and let them know that you’re also fed up with being bombarded with useless information printed on paper made from trees that have been wastefully killed. The shiny ones can’t even be easily recycled!!

You’ll find the petition here: Go Dutch Petition

Here's the link to the Mailing Preference Service, who you really should sign up with and if you want to contact Royal Mail to stop the postman bringing rubbish with him, contact the Door to Door Opt Out Service by email.

Another thing you should be aware of is whether or not you're on the 'full voting register' or the 'edited voting register'. If you're on the edited version, anybody can gain access to your details and businesses often use this for their mail shots. Next time your fill out your electoral registration form, make sure you tick the right box and at least some of that junk will disappear.

Here's to a clutter free life without masses of unwanted paper floating about!

And here's to a few more trees being left alone to do what nature intended them to do!

Sharon J

~~+~~