to put the junk mail delivered by Royal Mail back in the postbox?

[RapunzelStyle]

Today I received a veritable PILE of crap through the door from the postman. Adverts, flyers, brochures, takeaway menus. Plus a whole bunch of political propaganda as well. To add insult to injury, the one piece of addressed mail was actually CLEARLY addressed to the lady next door! I am aware that by law the political crap has to be delivered but would I be unreasonable to post all the other crap back into the postbox?

There were actually TWO of everything - one through the door and one just left outside the door on the mat. And that has happened twice now, ever since I put up a sign saying "no junk mail" so is the postman taking the piss? And yes, I know it was the postman as one bundle included the forementioned addressed mail and the other bundle was otherwise identical. I have now filled in one of those forms from Royal Mail opting out of junk mail but this apparently takes 8 weeks to take effect. I also suspect it will actually have sod all effect.

So mumsnetters:
a) should i post the crap back in the postbox;
b) can I decline deliveries and say go once a week to the post office to pick up only the mail I am willing to accept? How would I do this?

Yes, I am aware this is a first world problem but I find it quite intrusive to have mountains of crap put in my home every day which I then have to pay council tax to have recycled!

In fact, can it be right that the postman can put things through my door without my consent? What if I just declare my letterbox out of order and tape it up?

Very hormonal today. Thanks in advance.

Especially lately as my LA has halved the size of our 6 different waste receptacles and my actual paper waste doesn't fit in every fortnight. I have to pile it by the kerb already and don't want to add to this with junk which I've specifically asked not to receive. And breathe.

The RM website's info about it's own opt out scheme.

Royal Mail is still legally obliged to deliver all addressed mail, which includes mail that is addressed “To the Occupier” ... as well as mail that is personally addressed to you by name.

and

... The opt out will not cover any other distributors. Opting out of Royal Mail Door to Door deliveries will not necessarily reduce by a significant amount the number of items you will receive, as there are other carriers in the market place.

They recon 6 weeks to implement the opt out.

Almost feels like they're saying 'don't bother'.

Putting it back in the postbox will do fuck all.

You can opt out of receiving unadressed mail (there is no such thing as junk mail) and unless you've done that you can't moan. The sign on your door will be ignored because your overworked postie has to deliver the unadressed mail to you. That same postie would lose their job if they obeyed your little sign.

If you put it back in the postbox it'll get returned to the distribution centre by the mail centre and you'll have another lot next week.

Epona - you are so right - "legally obliged" my arse - how can they be legally entitled to post rubbish through people's doors? I totally agree, they are telling you not to bother trying to opt out.

Vodka:
The crap I put back in the postbox is just leaflets etc so it will be RM's problem to recycle. It's not addressed to me so it won't come back to me. In fact - good idea, I'll scribble all over it so it can't be reused.

I know someone who would seal the envelopes addressed to the company and send them empty. His reasoning was they have to pay for everything that gets sent back. Not sure how that works and if the pre franked stuff costs only when it is sent back. Made him feel better.

KingJoffrey that has reminded me that my dad used to get lots of crap through the post and would sit there, tear everything up and send it back in the SAEs

perfectly, was it my dad?!
I don't know if he still does it, I'll have to ask him.

I usually put any crap in any freepost envelope and post it back.

I have opted out in the past had to jump through a load of whoops and didn't really work then and it stops after a year. So have to go through the rigmarole of doing it again.

I actively avoid using the post office and Royal Mail for any postage and parcels if I can.

Bill Bryson the travel writer advises readers to send milk bottle tops, sweet wrappers etc back in pre-paid envelopes on the basis that if they send us their rubbish we send some of our own back!

I seem to remember a consumer programme recommending filling reply paid envelopes with unwanted junk mail and putting it back in the post box. The key thing was not to send it back to the company who sent it so (e.g.) Virgin Media get sent double glazing offers and vice versa. Plus the more you stuffed in the better as the company would gave to pay more postage.

Let's all keep complaining about "junk mail" until we put lots more people out of work once we get it stopped. The company that's advertising, the postie, the design company, the printer, the paper merchant, the whole shebang. Will everyone be happy then?

Faintly everything junk that comes through my door with a return address gets returned to sender. We've lived in our house 3 years and the amount of junk we get has dropped off considerably in the last 7-8 months, so that's how long it takes (I estimate) for the effort of returning the mail to work.

We are on the MPS for 'official' junk mail, and although we do get occasional pizza leaflets and estate agent flyers, this has definitely dropped off in the past year.

I know it's petty, but I hate the waste of it, it makes me furious for some reason, and doing the 'return to sender' is an easy and quick way for me to feel I'm doing something about it.

You have to wonder how much business is generated by all this junk mail. I've never followed anything up that's come through my door. Does anyone?

It just seems so pointless, someone sticks it through my door, I pick it up off the mat and stick it straight into the recycling bin.

Well, as pp said it keeps a lot of people in work, so I suppose it's serving some purpose.

I had to register with my local sorting office, to opt out of receiving 'unaddressed mail' (they seemed to get quite arsey when I called it junk mail).

More annoyingly, I have to renew this preference every 2 years. And if our regular postman is off, I have been known to run down the road after his replacement waving the pile of crap he will invariably have put through my door.

Does anyone ever actually want junk mail? Is there a type of person who thinks 'oh good, lots of leaflets to read!'? It's a scourge.

Mince - with your logic there would never be any progress as it puts people out of jobs.

E.g. candlemakers put out of business by electric lights
Laundrettes closed when people got washing machines.

Snail mail is becoming obsolete anyway. I can't wait!

Rapunzel, I'm not a Luddite, what I'm saying is that business wouldn't waste part of their advertising budgets on direct mail if it didn't pay off. Often the"junk mail" is part of a wider ad campaign. Personally I delete all "junk emails" without opening them where as something that's paper that I actually touch, I'm more likely to read. I'd also far rather have a real Christmas and birthday card than a picture on a screen too.

if its via royal mail they have to post it. I complained to my postman the other year when They were posting copies of "the sun". He said he didnt want to be posting that crap any more than I wanted to receive it, but that they had to