Comments on: Stopping the junk mail flood

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:36:55 +0000

I'm closing comments on this post. Continue the conversation over at the follow-up post.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:31:45 +0000

I only have one comment to make re:
“that people from the companies “follow up” on junk mail deliveries to determine if a junk mail deliverer is doing their job”

Pay junk mail deliverers peanuts and you get illiterate monkeys.
Pay big bananas and you only get smug bigger monkeys.

I have had an ongoing dispute for over 20 years with the two “free newspapers” in Newcastle and still get the same P(er) R(ectum) garbage from the companies each I complain. The local council is pretty quick of the mark to fine them for littering when the delivers get lazy and drop their papers in the street. Naturally it takes a complaint to council to get some action but it’s worth the effort.
At $600 a pop you would think that they would learn.

By: Stilgherrian · Stopping the junk mail flood 2

Stilgherrian · Stopping the junk mail flood 2 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:57:59 +0000

[...] a month since I complained about advertising being inserted to my “no advertising material” mailbox. How [...]

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:48:18 +0000

@Scot Mcphee: I have always wondered why so many house have letter boxes whose slots are too small even for a standard business-sized (DL) envelope -- let alone a B4 or C4 document envelope or the local newspaper. Was the world really so much smaller in the past? @Shane: Thanks for the heads-up on the Distribution Standards Board. I'll be in touch with them for surely. I was going to update this post tomorrow anyway but, in brief, there was a significant drop-off of material immediately after David Jones' distributor, PMP Limited, chastised their walker. But there's still plenty coming through. I'm particularly unimpressed with Domino's Pizza, who didn't even respond to my email enquiry, let alone cease spamming me. They'll get a hasher complaint tomorrow.

By: Shane

Shane — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:10:20 +0000

I don’t know if you ever got this sorted out but if it is still a problem, contact the Distribution Standards Board – http://www.catalogue.asn.au/distribution/

In a previous life, I worked closely with them on a particular issue of *cough*Government priority*cough* in the last desperate days before the 2007 election. The DSB is a self-regulating industry body, I will admit. However, they’re genuinely not interested in having junk mail shoved into “No Junk Mail” letter boxes for precisely this reason – people get irate and threaten to boycott the products of their clients. I have seen first hand positive outcomes from people lodging complaints with them.

Walkers work under a “two strikes and you’re out” policy so I would be interested to see if your junk mail situation has improved.

By: Trekalong

Trekalong — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:11:17 +0000

I was standing out the front a few weeks ago and I saw a junk mail delivery person notice I had a No junk mail note and diverted me, and it wasn’t because I was holding my Star Wars blaster gun. I have noted an 80% reduction of junk mail since placing the label on, so it does work. But Real Estate agents are the worst, followed by roof insulation companies (now with the government rebate scheme). We have 15 real estate companies serving our “zone” which is a little over the top.

By: Scot Mcphee

Scot Mcphee — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:32:52 +0000

I had a year-long running battle with the local real estate advertising journal, aka the ‘local newspaper’ in my area because for a while they insisted on delivering it repeatedly, sometimes by stuffing an enormous newspaper wrapped in plastic in my mail slot thus blocking for actual use by the postie. Sometimes multiple times too — we’re on a corner block I think we get two deliverers! And walking down the road on the way to work you’d see these things littered all the way down the footpath or rotting under hedges and stuff. As Simon Rumble says, it’s straight up litter.

I haven’t seen one for ages though, after repeated calls to their number and email complaints over the course of a full year. But then, I don’t see them in the street either anymore so hopefully they’ve gone out of business.

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:48:48 +0000

PMP Distribution, who deliver the leaflets for Marrickville Metro (AMP Capital Shopping Centres) have reported the action they've taken:

Walker reprimanded and performance will be monitored more closely. Issue will be rectified immediatley [sic].

From the documentation, it's clear that their processes allow them to track a specific leaflet drop at a specific address to the individual responsible. And they take these complaints seriously. I guess they have to, otherwise they'd lose clients.

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:07:21 +0000

@Baden Smith: I like some aspects of European law generally, far more oriented to human needs than corporations. The Netherlands specifically because there’s plenty of interesting work happening there in “Internet stuff”.

By: Baden Smith

Baden Smith — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:40:36 +0000

Just out of curiosity, why the Netherlands?

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:36:45 +0000

@Bob Bain: Interesting that ADMA considered the unaddressed material to be in their realm too. Thanks for that. @Cam: Welcome to Enmore. Or nearby. @josh909: While the "no advertising material" stickers have no legal force anyway, in other areas such as addressed mail and email, political and religious material is exempt. "Advertising" is used in is more strict sense of something promoting a commercial business.

By: josh909

josh909 — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:18:26 +0000

we have a ‘no junk mail’ sign at our abode in Enmore, yet everyday our mailbox is rammed full of flyers, menus, advertisements and catalogues – i even seem to recall in the lead up to the last local election finding various political propaganda flyers from all the major parties (including the Greens).

By: Cam

Cam — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:12:03 +0000

I’m reckon you live right near me. I’ve received crap from pretty much every single one of the organisations you listed there. In fact, I had the unique opportunity to stand by as someone put a “Raine & Horne Marrickville” leaflet in my letterbox clearly marked No Junk Mail last week. I immediately took it out and put it in the recycling bin as the deliverer walked to the next house.

Hate hate hate.

By: Bob Bain

Bob Bain — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:03:31 +0000

The ADMA regarded leaflets delivered to your door 10 years ago as “direct advertising”. A lot of “junk” email goes through companies such as PMP and indeed Salmat who I contracted for a few years ago..

MediaForce

http://www.salmat.com.au/index.php?pageID=3153

Salmat do work for government agencies, banks and direct marketers similar to Reader’s Digest. They also maintain databases for such companies. A lot of data sits on computers off site. Is there a conflict ? This was a question I asked a few years back. Security is tight.

Bob

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 07:47:48 +0000

@Daniel and @Bob Bain: The thing is, though, this isn't "direct marketing". By definition, that's addressed to you by name. The ADMA runs a Do Not Mail register and, if you put yourself on the list, their members are obliged not to mail you. What we're talking about here is unaddressed advertising material: catalogs and flyers delivered by contractors like PMP Limited's people, who walk the street. It's usually sold as an add-on service to the printing itself.