The Post Box

Even the modern world of communications and the internet, people are still inundated with mail received through Letter Boxes both at residential and at business premises. As we all try to cut down on waste in all forms, it is annoying to receive unsolicited mail and to have to sift through communications which are delivered through post boxes to separate bona fide letters from unwanted mail. Advertising fliers posted through letter boxes are often thrown away without being read, and even glossy magazines received through letter boxes can be put in the paper recycling without even having been opened.  This is not only a waste of paper, but a waste of money for the advertisers and promoters. People lead busy lives, and do not want to receive unsolicited mail through their letter boxes and to have to sort out the mail at the end of a busy day.

Some people who do not wish to receive unwanted mail through their post boxes put notices with “no junk mail” above their letter boxes, but this is bad news not only for the postman who has carried the mail and has to sort it out, but also for the company who has spent money producing the material.  It is not cost effective for advertisers to have their hard earned cash basically thrown in the bin. According to the BBC News site (November 2011), new measures are being introduced to reduce the amount of junk mail received through letter boxes. From April 2012 there is to be a single web site where the people can register to opt out of receiving unsolicited fliers and other mail.  Direct marketing companies have agreed to only use recyclable materials in advertisements whereas at the moment 80% of items received through your letter box do not fall into that category.   Currently people have to register on three separate web sites if they do not wish to receive junk mail – the Mailing Preference Service, the Your Choice Preference System and the Royal Mail’s Door-to-Door opt-out service.

Mail Boxes are often overflowing or letters are piled up behind the door when people return from holiday and much of it is unsolicited mail.  This all has to be sorted, causing aggravation when the majority of what has been delivered through the letter box is effectively rubbish. According to the BBC News report, on average the UK householder receives more than 370 items of unsolicited paper mail through their letter boxes each year, the greater part of it unaddressed.

In the same report, it was stated that an estimated nine billion items of unaddressed post are delivered through post boxes every year. Such mail inevitably ends up in the bin creating a lot of waste.    The Government are so concerned about the level of waste that they have brokered a deal with the Direct Marketing Association to reduce the level of unsolicited mail being delivered through post boxes in a crack down on junk mail as part of its waste review in the UK’s effort to forge ahead with a zero waste economy.