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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that if someone posts something through your door you're not obliged to give it back?

36 replies

mindthegap01 · 26/01/2014 13:50

Rant about those companies who constantly post tat filled catalogues through my door. I know they provide flexible work for people and have no problem with that, they just don't interest me. I always put them back out to be collected on the day they specify, sometimes with a note asking them to stop giving me the damned things. They keep coming. Last week I put one out on Monday as requested and went to work. When I got home it was still there. Still there by Wednesday evening, at which point I binned it. I was home on Thursday, when a rep knocked on the door asking for their catalogue. They were very unimpressed to hear I'd binned it, as apparently it wasn't mine to bin. Am I unreasonable to be very irritated by this? If you want your junk mail back, don't post it through my door! Grrr.

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 26/01/2014 13:52

Just get a sign for your letter box-then they won't put them through in the first place.
Some of the companies make the catalogue distributors buy them.

RevoltingPeasant · 26/01/2014 13:53

YANBU. I always leave them out till the day they are to be collected then bin them.

You could try a sign saying no catalogues or charity shop bags, but personally I hate signs on doors - they always look so scratty and I don't want to deface my door with one!

SS3J · 26/01/2014 13:53

YANBU! I hate that too.

pinkdelight · 26/01/2014 13:53

I totally agree. We even have a no junk mail sign and still they come, and make me feel terrible for not buying from them. It's totally unsolicited and guilt-trippy and I hate it. It's not even like Avon used to be where they'd treat you like a proper valued customer. This is just a PITA. YANBU!

RevoltingPeasant · 26/01/2014 13:54

Oh, and the whole it's not yours business is nonsense. If I posted my personal possessions through your letter box I wouldn't have room to feel aggrieved if you threw them away. I understand the collectors have to buy them, but then they need to pick them up when they say they will and stop posting them when asked!

BrianTheMole · 26/01/2014 13:54

YANBU op. I wouldn't be impressed either.

BillyNotQuiteNoMates · 26/01/2014 13:55

My DH bins them all the time. We never use our front door and I think the last one I put back ooutside is still there several weeks later.you can put a note on the door or bin them everything, either way they will probably stop eventually.

BillyNotQuiteNoMates · 26/01/2014 13:55

My DH bins them all the time. We never use our front door and I think the last one I put back ooutside is still there several weeks later.you can put a note on the door or bin them everything, either way they will probably stop eventually.

nickymanchester · 26/01/2014 13:57

Yes, we just bin them as well

Sparklingbrook · 26/01/2014 13:59

I don't bin them. I put them out on the day they say they will be collected. If they aren't they go in the recycling, but it's not a big deal.

Original poster
mindthegap01 · 26/01/2014 14:02

When we lived in a modern flat we barely got any junk mail - I think we were somehow under the radar - but since living in a house it's become a total PITA! I've occasionally taken to posting bundles of generic junk mail (asking to buy my home, sell me pizza, sell me broadband etc) back in the postbox. Petty I know but it makes me feel better.

OP posts:
HoratiaDrelincourt · 26/01/2014 14:03

They cost the self-employed rep £2-3 a go. They put them through your door at their own risk.

Honestly, putting a note in the bag telling them not to bother again means ... they won't bother again. Why waste time and effort for no sale?

Sparklingbrook · 26/01/2014 14:10

Our postman delivers junk mail-I guess Royal mail get paid for it. Also my son has a local paper round and he gets paid for papers delivered and extra for the leaflets.

I can't see that it's a huge hassle to just put them in the recycling if you don't want them.

WooWooOwl · 26/01/2014 14:15

YANBU.

People are not obliged to look after things that other people have posted into their homes until such time that they want it back.

I don't want to have to have an ugly sign on my door telling people that I don't want their crap, because that takes away choice. I don't mind getting the avon book but I don't want the better ware one, so I don't see why people should have to miss out on one just because they aren't interested in the other.

GingerBlondecat · 26/01/2014 14:16

You have already told them NOT to leave them, its on them that they still do.

VivienStanshall · 26/01/2014 14:19

Wow, didn't know the rep was.paying £2 per catalogue.

I always put them straight out again so my conscience is clear. Charity bags however usually make for free bin liners.

neverputasockinatoaster · 26/01/2014 14:22

The thing with a note in the bag asking them not to leave one is that the people delivering to my road change so often.
I try to remember to leave them out but my head is full enough with a millionty other things.
I'm never in when they come anyway.
If it comes through my door without my asking for it then they take pot luck as to whether they get it back.

WaitMonkey · 26/01/2014 14:27

YANBU, thankfully we never get them.

Nocturtle · 26/01/2014 14:32

Anything deliberately posted to you or put through your door is yours to do with as you please, as long as it is addressed to you or "the householder".
A mistakenly posted item with someone else's name on it, or something accidentally sent to you (eg. you order a Timex from Amazon, and they send you a Rolex) still belongs to the sender.

In this case, the catalogue is yours to bin, recycle or return at your leisure. I hate unsolicited anything; phone calls, email, post, street surveys etc. Most of the time you can refuse their services immediately, but with catalogues like this your only choice is to have an ugly sign on your door that most people ignore anyway.

If the seller is out of pocket for losing these catalogues, maybe they need to strike a better deal with their supplier, or reconsider their sales method. Either way, it's not your fault and so you shouldn't be inconvenienced.

Sickofthesnow · 26/01/2014 14:35

Totally understand. And tbh if they say they are going to pick it up on a certain day then don't come along until a few days later, even if they had a really good reason, they must know that some people would just put them in the bin? Part and parcel of being a rep for home shopping companies.

Regarding the signs - we have a NO COLD CALLERS big ugly bugger of a thing on our front door (thanks DH!) yet we still get door to door salesmen and charity people ring the bell almost daily!

Hoppinggreen · 26/01/2014 14:42

They mildly annoy me but I do know that a lot of people who put these things through the letterbox are mums trying to make a bit of extra £ so I don't bin them. As soon as I see them I stick them back outside in my porch

Fairenuff · 26/01/2014 14:47

All mine go straight in the recycling. If they want it they can fish it out of the box which will be at the kerbside every other Thursday.

FudgefaceMcZ · 26/01/2014 14:59

YANBU to recycle it, YABU to think they provide 'flexible employment' when in fact what they provide is pointless timewasting exploitation and an excuse for amoral idiots to massage unemployment figures. No one makes a living wage from that kind of nonsense, all it does is waste paper.

Sneezecakesmum · 26/01/2014 15:05

I would stick a bright yellow unmissable sign out to the effect all will be binned so don't bother knocking.

YANBU

RustyBear · 26/01/2014 15:13

I don't put them out anymore because if I do the neighbour's cat shits on it.