The angry thread

[Newportnobby]

If it's addressed to the Householder and it has a return address, I just return it
[/quote]
What you should do is see if it has a prepaid envelope in it and return that. It costs them money then!
Gareth
[/quote]

As far as I know, if I just put it back in the post with 'Return to Sender' it costs them. That's why I do it

On a separate note, I spent 9 lovely hours on our wonderful motorways today and then some bloke from BT calls me at 19.10hrs tonight. Poor bloke - I don't think he knew what hit him Let's just say he now has no head and a neck full of 

[thebrighton]

[/quote]

As far as I know, if I just put it back in the post with 'Return to Sender' it costs them. That's why I do it


[/quote]

No it doesn't; it just costs Royal Mail. It goes back in the postal system, the sorting machines read your address and it gets sent back to your delivery office again where the postie that delivers your post has to put a sticker on it saying why it is being returned to sender and it then goes back into another system to go back to the sender. If there is no return address on the envelope it goes to Belfast where they are opened to see if there is an address inside where it can be returned to. Unfortunately there is no machine that can pick up on a crossed through address and cut out this long winded method.
Furthermore as this doesn't cost the companies that send them they won't even bother to delete your address from mailings and continue to send you things.
Gareth

[Newportnobby]

Dammit
Sorry, Gareth - I'll desist from now on and just fire it into the paper recycling bin

[zwilnik]

Most of the "to the householder" mail (with no other address) is a Royal Mail service to businesses that makes the Royal Mail more profit than their proper mail. You can block it with an opt out form that's hidden deep on the Royal Mail website that you have to print out and post to the Royal Mail, wait a few weeks, ring them to see why it's not working yet, print out and send another one in because they claim the previous one must have got lost in the post, follow up that one with a couple of calls until your local sorting office finally puts a mark on your box to tell them not to put hand delivered unaddressed mail in there for you and then do it all over again in 2 years when it runs out.

Or stuff it all in the nearest post box with "not at this address". The sooner the Post Office is banned from making money on posting litter through people's doors the better. It's a massive waste of sources, both in terms of material and fuel.

[red_death]

Zwilnik - fair enough, though given that you accept it makes RM money, I hope you will be prepared to pay the higher postage charges (and not complain about those).

FWIW I think the RM is a pretty incredible service that has been poorly served by a succession of Govts. For pennies I can send a letter to anywhere in the UK. 

[zwilnik]

For the very few letters I send I certainly wouldn't mind paying the proper amount for it to arrive reliably and quickly. At the moment that's £5 or so for special delivery as the PO can't even reliably deliver its own mail (for instance my change of address that got lost between the local post office and the office that applies it).

The big problem is for the many people who don't have access to current technology and rely on subsidised post. We might as well do it properly and nationalise the post office and subsidise it as a critical part of the infrastructure.

[kaiwhara]

Bit down tonight. Put in an offer for a house we both really liked, we got beaten by a mere $500. Only chance we have now is to hope the other offer does not go unconditional in the next 5 days. Kinda makes me reluctant to want to list my current home now. 

[thebrighton]

The sooner the Post Office is banned from making money on posting litter through people's doors the better. It's a massive waste of sources, both in terms of material and fuel.

What good would that do? If we don't deliver it someone else will and at least you can opt out with Royal Mail.
Gareth

[thebrighton]

The big problem is for the many people who don't have access to current technology and rely on subsidised post. We might as well do it properly and nationalise the post office and subsidise it as a critical part of the infrastructure.

It is nationalised but even nationalised industries have to amke a profit nowadays as the EU doesn't allow subsidised companies competing with private ones. The CWU is fighting against us being privatised!
Gareth

[Kipper]

I was out Thursday, and got a card through the door to collect a "package". Went to Sorting Office yesterday morning, with driving licence, passport and both great-grandparents as ID. What did I get - a ruddy home made Christmas card about an inch thick, and no stamp of any kind. And, the person who sent it I saw on Thursday! There will be one less on our card list for next year!

[H]

The sooner the Post Office is banned from making money on posting litter through people's doors the better. It's a massive waste of sources, both in terms of material and fuel.

Why?

Oddly enough direct mail (targetted or otherwise), fliers and door drops do generate business and hence profit for companies (and generally British ones), so presumably some people find the contents of interest. But it also helps the economy, keeps people employed and contributes to tax revenues (as well as Mike has intimated keeping postage costs down).

Generally I just shovel it up from the doormat and put it in straight in to the paper recycling bin where it can be used by someone else to possibly make money.

H.

[Chinahand]

I was expecting my baseboards to be delivered from MRS this weekend but I got a phone call at 4 o'clock this afternoon to say they couldn't get mine on their delivery lorry so it will now be the end of next week. 

[daveg]

That's got to be so frustrating!

Hope you can find stuff to distract you from the wait.

Dave G

[Chinahand]

Not on the railway Dave. I had rushed to get all of the pre-wiring done ready for this weekend so now I'm totally banjaxed.  :'(

Nothing for it. I shall just have to put those shelves up in the garage and sort my tools out.

[zwilnik]

Why?

Oddly enough direct mail (targetted or otherwise), fliers and door drops do generate business and hence profit for companies (and generally British ones), so presumably some people find the contents of interest. But it also helps the economy, keeps people employed and contributes to tax revenues (as well as Mike has intimated keeping postage costs down).

Generally I just shovel it up from the doormat and put it in straight in to the paper recycling bin where it can be used by someone else to possibly make money.

H.

Blind mail shots typically give a 1% return at best. So you waste 100 sheets of paper and all the energy required to print them and transport them just for one person being interested enough to contact you (not even a sale). So while business do make profits from this type of advertising (otherwise they wouldn't do it), it's incredibly wasteful. Even if you do recycle the postal litter, that's still a lot of energy and fresh paper wasted.

If we're serious as a country about meeting carbon targets etc. banning unaddressed mail or at least taxing it so that it's not profitable unless you're doing it very carefully would save millions of tons of waste each year. You wouldn't do a mail shot by dumping leaflets over a town from an aeroplane (which is actually more efficient as they're more visible), so why hand deliver the litter?