The Cursed Prime Position of Semilong Northampton
Semilong Northampton is ideally located within the town. For a whole host of reasons our neighbourhood has prime position. High on the list of advantages is the proximity to the town centre for its shopping and leisure activities whilst also enjoying easy transport and road links to other neighbourhoods in the town or to major transport hubs. These are real bonuses for the residents of Semilong Northampton. However, it’s this proximity which though beneficial, is also our curse.
The Curse Of Junk Mail
Anyone walking through our Semilong Northampton neighbourhood, from street to street cannot help but notice that on many many doors, windows and letterboxes are the stern warnings of NO MENUS , NO LEAFLETS, NO JUNK MAIL, NO UNSOLICITED MAIL. These signs are as the result of years of pent up frustration. Years of suffering an endless stream of junk mail. A non-stop train of menus for burger bars and pizza parlours or special offer leaflets for local stores.
Residents from other neighbourhoods would probably not appreciate the scale of the annoyance that being continually bombarded with junk mail has. The regularity of it is beyond all reasonableness and completely annoys many residents of Semilong Northampton.
The Leafleter’s Perspective
The Face Of The Junk Mail Curse Of Semilong Northampton
We often see them, one or two people walking round the neighbourhood holding a stack of leaflets and stopping at every door to inflict yet another blow to the leafleted weary resident therein. SEMILONG.ORG recently asked one of these leafleters for his perspective and though polite, he made it clear that his one aim was to deliver the leaflets without a thought for the effect for the residents:
SEMILONG.ORG: ” How many leaflets do you deliver?”
Leafleter: “I have 1200 in this bag to deliver today”
SEMILONG.ORG: “Do you know that many residents are extremely annoyed by being targeted for an endless stream of leaflets?”
Leafleter:”I deliver the leaflets”
SEMILONG.ORG: “So it doesn’t bother you what residents think?”
Leafleter: “I don’t know, I only deliver the leaflets”
We reiterated to him that many residents were fed up to the back teeth by receiving the junk mail he was delivering but thanked him for his time in speaking to us.
Who Is To Blame?
Is it fair to say that the people delivering the leaflets are not to blame? Afterall, they are only given the leaflets and told where to go. They are frequently ill-paid and so to work in an honest way is surely a good thing? Yes? Hang on, what about the other perspective that everyone are responsible for their own actions? They must know that delivering leaflets through doors is going to cause annoyance. What about the business that sends them out? Should they be held to account for their excessive marketing techniques?
Even Royal Mail Adds To Residents Woes
Our beloved Royal Mail posties are at the heart of our community and present a happy smiling face to residents. Yet even they are sent out to deliver junk mail with residents post. Royal Mail attempts to stem criticism of this practice by referring to junk mail as simply ‘unaddressed mail’ instead of calling it what it is, junk mail or hard copy spam. They also argue that residents have not told them not to deliver the ‘unaddressed mail’. TWADDLE. It should not be for residents to to opt out of it, the standard presumption should be that residents do not want any junk mail unless they specifically opt into it.
Royal Mail are really coining in on people’s inaction here. They tell residents that residents they can opt out of junk mail by using the Mail Preference Service
They do not say anything about opting out of receiving Royal Mail delivered junk mail (aka ‘unaddressed mail’) Only when the latter is specifically complained about do Royal Mail point out another form that residents have to complete to stop them from delivering junk mail. Even then, they try to dissuade residents from opting out by the warning that it will prevent them from delivering ALL non-addressed mail.
The Future
This situation is not going to improve anytime soon. Residents of Semilong Northampton are going to have to put up with the continiual leaflet delivery up until the time the law is changed. The leafleters do not take account of letterbox or door signs that try to prevent the daily delivery of leaflets through our letterboxes. If a complaint is made to the business, they would probably be glad that their leaflets are successful in generating awareness of their presence. For their part Royal Mail will continue to deliver junk mail, sorry ‘unaddressed mail’, to residents with post, whilst they are still paid to do so by all the businesses.
Are you affected by junk mail or do you not see it as a problem here? Let us know…
