My wife and I were wondering how to stop unsolicited advertising material being put into our mailbox. We have a very visible ‘no junk mail’ sticker on the letterbox and every day receive 6+ advertising leaflets. How do we stop the waste?
How do we stop the junk mail?
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I feel your frustration! Most of the businesses that distribute advertising mail are happy to abide by people’s wishes to avoid junk mail. The last thing they want to do with potential customers is rub them up the wrong way. Unfortunately, there are exceptions.
The Distribution Standards Board (DSB) is the self-regulatory arm of the Australian Catalogue Association, which represents about 90 per cent of all unaddressed advertising catalogues. Their Code of Practice requires that ‘no junk mail’ stickers are respected.
People can report irresponsible distribution practices by calling the DSB Consumer Hotline on 1800 676 136. The Board can follow up the complaint with relevant members.
However, a lot of the unwanted junk mail we receive falls into that 10 per cent of materials coming from non-members, who are typically local pizza joints, estate agents and other local businesses. Contact the business directly and politely inform them that your sticker has been ignored. They will follow this up with their distributors accordingly.
For more information visit www.catalogue.asn.au. The DSB offers their own standard No Advertising Material sticker for free if you send a stamped self-addressed envelope to DSB Sticker, PO Box 7735 St Kilda Road Melbourne VIC 8004.
Comments
Hi I work for a specialized advertising distribution business, I need to get something off my chest. Everyone who has a no junk sticker or who doesn't but still complains about advertising material in their letterbox needs to get a LIFE!!!
The business that I work for is a small specialized business that only delivers small pamphlets using push bikes and we are completely aware of the No Junk Mail stickers & sign situation. Now we for most of our work avoid 99.9% of all No Junks, the only reason its not 100% because a few poorly signed no junk boxes get done and most of them are pad locked so we cannot retrieve the material.
Now personal I hate doing the No Junks because in 95% of suburbs they are usually no more then 5% of the total number of household's per suburb, for example in my home suburb there are as of last week 1400 houses and only 62 houses had a No Junk Sticker. So No Junks are a minority case in our job, because there are so few of them they are totally irrelevant and insignificant making very little difference to the job.
Now obviously we and some customers get complaints about the No Junks. When we get the complaint directly, we ask the householder if they have a no junk sticker and for their address so when we go through the area nest time we can take a look at the letterbox and check the condition of the No Junk sticker. Most of the complaints come from small, old, worn out and hand drawn no junks that are hard to see sometimes. Unfortunately despite our best efforts trouble still seems to come our way.
So to all people who have a No Junk Sticker, all those who don't and everyone who doesn't like advertising material in there letterbox big or small, stop being stupid & selfish and just throw it in the bin. The system of delivering advertising material is huge & diverse with many groups and individual people across Australia who do letterbox drops all year round or just now and then.
YOU CANNOT STOP IT AND YOU CANNOT CONTROL IT.
NO JUNKS STICKERS & SIGNS ARE ABSOLUTELY POWERLESS AND ARE NOT ENFORCEABLE BY LAW.
BY HAVING A NO JUNK STICKER ON YOUR LETTERBOX YOU ARE IN FACT ADVERTISING YOURSELF IN A SENSE. ITS LIKE HAVING A TARGET ON YOUR BACK AND YOU ARE CHOOSING THE NEEDLESS STRESS AND FRUSTRATION.
So whether you have a No Junk sticker or not if you do open your letterbox to find advertising material, just throw it in the bin and get on with your life because surely you have more important things to worry about ...... or do you?
We understand it's your job, and your job is to deliver it to the people who want it, not to just get rid of it at every house to make your job easier so you can get paid. You should respect people's choices if they wish not to receive junk mail, even if it's only a handful of people.
I never used to mind getting junk mail till they started delivering a few times a week and packing up the hole reserved for real mail. Don't you guys know how to use common sense? If there's no room for more junk mail, stop putting it in there.
You also shouldn't belittle people who choose not to receive junk mail and call them stupid or selfish. How about I lay a turd on your door step everyday and let you clean it up? and if you complain, that means you're stupid and selfish cause you can't just pick it up and put it in the bin.
just throw it in the bin? that's a nice environmentally friendly attitude.
Estate Agents are the worst. I always wonder why they think the "No Junk Mail" sticker does not apply to them so i asked one of them when i rang up and complained. He spun some crap saying they were giving free valuations and it was part of their service to the local community. Oh Please, lets not pretend its anything else other than a way to drum up business. It makes me mad because I have to waste my time ringing up all the estate agents telling them to stop.
Do a night watch and tell the paper dropper to give you home a miss. politely of course.
After all, these workers are trying to make a $ or two to make ends meet.
Or you could try invoicing the companies involved for disposal of their advertising materials. Thank them for using your junk mail disposal service and inform them that their first disposal is free but if they wish to enter into an ongoing arrangement with you, you will charge them (clearly list your prices for disposal, you can charge whatever dollar figures you like) for disposal of each item. All they have to do to agree with your terms is continue to deliver junk mail to your letterbox.
You are within your legal rights to do this as long as you have an ABN. I started doing this and found that the junk mail cleared up pretty quickly.
i have been revcieving junk mail ( and asking for it to stop) for the last 14 years. I go unheard, lateyl, the last 3 months i didnt get any and i thought i had finally gotten through, but it has started again, unfortunately, they always seem to do it when i am not home. it is getting to the point that i will be committing assault if it continues, it has gone WAY past frustration.and i mean WAY, way way way past that. my belief is, if i dont want it, why waste trees trying to sell me stuff i will never buy.........please help me before i hurt someone.......coz i cant stand it any longer
I have a problem with delivery of the Gold Coast Sun on the Gold Coast. I have made dozens of phone calls, written numerous letters, contacted consumer affairs but the deliveries stop for a while then recommence. My concern is when I am away they pile up , one would think when last weeks was still there that maybe no one is home. I do not want the paper delivered, my No Junk Mail sign apparently does not apply to newspapers. Everytime I contact them they tell me there is a new person on the job, no excuse you pass on the list to the new person of those who do not want the paper. Any suggestions? I would like to campaign to have papers included in the No Junk Mail category. I do not have a problem with the paper itself just that I should be given the right as a consumer to say I do not want it delivered to my property.
I feel the frustration, i had to act out against the local news paper guy as he ignored the sticker and my plea's fell on deaf ears, my current problem is with the new real-estate in my area, i have called them, i have taken their rubbish back to them, just the other day i returned some more back to them and almost go into a fist fight, next time they put their rubbish in my letter box i will be taking them my bins and dumping them inside their office...i'm sick of it.
Anybody have any more idea's that will help?
Call the Distribution Standards Board’s consumer hotline on 1800 676 136 and report the pesky leaflets!
- Caitlin, Deputy & online editor at G.
you can also email a complaint to the Distributions Standards Board at DSB@Catalogue.afn.com