Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

Door to door Leafletting

95 replies

manicinsomniac · 27/10/2018 20:22

I regularly deliver large numbers of leaflets through people's letterboxes - either advertising amateur dramatic productions or political canvassing.

I hate it. As I approach someone's drive I can feel my chest getting tight and my breathing getting faster. My hands shake pushing the leaflets through and I have to restrain myself from running away from the door as quickly as possible when the letterbox rattles. Gravel driveways are a particular nightmare and I find myself trying to tiptoe without looking obvious. If there's someone in their garden, car or garage that house gets missed out straightaway.

The reason for the anxiety is that I feel people see the leafletting as an invasion of their privacy. That I have no right to be walking onto someone's property and up to their door without being invited. That lots of people have firm or even aggressive signs about cold callers and junk mail. I am scared of annoying people and even more scared of the door flying open and someone shouting at me.

But everyone else who I leaflet with thinks I'm crazy to worry like this and that we aren't bothering anyone, have a right to put whatever we like through the doors etc. There's one person who's nervous of dogs behind letterboxes but nobody else is scared of the process itself.

So I want to know how crazy (or in fact, reasonable!) I am being. Do you think it's unreasonable to use private letterboxes for advertising or campaigning? And does it annoy you?

OP posts:

Snomade · 27/10/2018 21:14

Yes OP if someone has a sign up saying no junk mail, cold callers etc then it is actually trespass for you to deliver leaflets there. Just fyi

Original poster

manicinsomniac · 27/10/2018 21:14

strumpet wow. I'd certainly never dare to do that! That's awful.

MetalMidget - I don't put them through doors which say 'no junk mail', no. But I do put them through 'no cold callers' doors as I think that means they don't want someone to knock on the door and talk to them. But I'm not entirely sure about that and should perhaps stop doing that (or delivering any at all the way this thread is going - eek!)

OP posts:

Alexandra2018 · 27/10/2018 21:14

I actually have one of the no junk mail signs! I can't bear the sound of my letter box it's huge it's so loud it gives me a fright the amount of leaflets I was throwing away was ridiculous

Amanduh · 27/10/2018 21:15

Jesus what an over reaction about privacy and trespassing. It’s a leaflet

ReverseTheFerret · 27/10/2018 21:16

I dislike them, never read them and have a no junk mail sign on my door which gets completely ignored. Won't have a go at people who still do it - but it does irk me in terms of its sheer pointlessness because I'm never going to partake in the leafleted stuff.

bringbackthestripes · 27/10/2018 21:17

I don’t love getting leaflets but I don’t think badly about anyone delivering them. I just scoop them up, might have a flick through, and stick them in the recycling. I have recently stuck a sticker on to say no cold callers because I hate being harassed on my doorstep but I didn’t put the no junk mail one up as I didn’t want my door to be full of stickers and I don’t find leaflets to be a huge issue.

DeathyMcDeathStarFace · 27/10/2018 21:21

I'm not a fan of getting companies leaflets for new boilers etc. through the door, and hate estate agents trying to get my business to sell my home (it's LA rented anyway), so they all go straight in the bin. (Not interested so don't want.)

But I like getting the local information - what's on at the theatre in the next town, what's happening with our local regeneration, what the local water supply company are up to etc. Dh likes the political stuff to see what they are proposing and compare their views. We don't find out the local stuff like theatre productions any other way around here.

You have to remember that some people don't want/are not interested in what you put through their door, but there will be others who are keen to have them. It is proven by the fact that people use the leaflets to buy tickets. Keep up the good work, it's helping fill your theatre and informing people of a night out they want to go to.

sproutsandparsnips · 27/10/2018 21:23

I'd rather a leaflet than a ring on the doorbell (JWs I'm looking at you - though I was polite as I'm a Christian 😀). I'll just recycle it if I'm not interested (and I'm generally not). I think it's fair enough.

DeathyMcDeathStarFace · 27/10/2018 21:23

P.S. I hate doing leafletting too but if it is needed for something close to my heart I would be prepared to do it.

DopeyDazy · 27/10/2018 21:23

sorry MNHQ ill rephrase
if it's is an offence which I doubt its civil not criminal,that's why police arnt interested when our beloved travellers and gypsies set up on car parks and playing fields.

Original poster

manicinsomniac · 27/10/2018 21:23

Snomade - but you can't usually read the door from the road so is it trespassing to walk up the drive, read the sign and walk away again? Logically it would have to be as trespassing is being on a property, not delivering something. But it's not the person's fault if they have to get to the door to read the sign?! And it can't be easy for a trespassing law to be able to cover what's a good reason to approach someone's front door and what isn't. Good to know that cold 'calling' means leafletting as well as knocking though. I will stop delivering to those doors.

Sputnik - no, they're the delivered ones. Family and friends usually book online or buy via rehearsals because we don't order enough leaflets for those we can just tell about it or people who are facebook friends etc. Plus they tick a F&F box on the 'how did you hear about it' question (well, I'm sure some don't bother doing ticking it but it's difficult to account for that in the stats!)

OP posts:

LaCarmencita · 27/10/2018 21:24

I hate it, but I would rather this than they knock on my door and try to sell me something or canvass on my doorstep. I do not like cold calling, I think it should be banned.

Original poster

manicinsomniac · 27/10/2018 21:26

Deathy - good to know they're not hated by absolutely everyone!

OP posts:

Shaboohshoobah1 · 27/10/2018 21:27

I have done it for my own business and I HATE it too for all the same reasons OP. In the end I started paying a company to do it for me, even though I suspected they were just chucking them in the bin

LaCarmencita · 27/10/2018 21:29

DeathyMcDeath I admit that when I had missing pets some years ago, I was so upset and desperate I posted leaflets in as many homes as I could. I completely understand that kind of leafletting. Also sometimes information about local events. But I am far less keen on takeaways, nightclubs, guttering specialists, chiropracters etc leafleting me. Such a waste of trees. I get so many from gardeners, guttering and window people etc which is silly as I live in a housing assoc property with a communal garden maintained by the HA and council.

LittleBookofCalm · 27/10/2018 21:30

Do you not have a local paper that is delivered that you could advertise in

GreenHatHacker · 27/10/2018 21:30

I deliver leaflets a lot. If I see someone outside their house I wish them a Good Morning/Afternoon as appropriate & say something nice about the flowerbeds/decor whatever. Never had anyone grumble about the leaflet -so don't worry about it. Preparing something nice to say about the house as you walk up the path might take the fear away maybe? Obviously don't put through if says no junk mail. Surprisingly often I get to knock on the door to tell people they've left keys in the lock, which seems to be appreciated!

GeoffreysCat · 27/10/2018 21:31

@manicinsomniac I used to have to leaflet regularly to promote my old business. I can identify with everything you wrote in your OP! I hated it too!

LaCarmencita · 27/10/2018 21:32

I do not mind the once a year leaflet from the local church about their carol service/alpha course/coffee fundraiser but those are only occasional things and can foster a bit of a sense of community. But if any of them called at my door, as opposed to dropping a flyer, I would NOT be happy. And do not get me started on sales calls, PPI, personal injury etc

Original poster

manicinsomniac · 27/10/2018 21:33

LittleBookofCalm - Yes, there is is. I live well outside of the town so I'm not sure of its delivery range or of how widely read it is (perhaps even more likely to go in the bin than a leaflet!) I know the smaller group has struggled to get space in it in the past but the larger group definitely uses it.

OP posts:

Original poster

manicinsomniac · 27/10/2018 21:43

GreenHat - that sounds like a good way of getting people onside (or at least bluffing your way past any oncoming objections!) but if I have to actually open my mouth and make conversation I panic even more. I'm definitely a stealth harrasser rather than an open and honest one!

Interesting that most other people who choose/have to do this hate it too. I must have really brazen/confident friends.

OP posts:

Howhot · 27/10/2018 21:44

I hate leaflets and they go straight in the bin here. What a waste of time, energy and paper. It does annoy me to see rubbish lying at my front door.

Having said that, I have next to no issues with the people posting them. I tend to assume it's just their job and they hate giving as much as I hate recieving.

xJessica · 27/10/2018 21:49

I really don't mind and don't see it as any different to the postman coming in. Definitely not trespassing! Our living room is at the back so I don't even know about it most of the time until I go through to the front door. I once had to deliver leaflets round the village for the school and hated it, I felt so worried every drive I went into, and like someone was about to whip the door open and shout at me!

Original poster

manicinsomniac · 27/10/2018 22:15

HowHot - how do you feel about people who are volunteering to do it rather than being paid? Do we anger you or do you feel even more sorry for us?

OP posts:

camelfinger · 27/10/2018 22:23

I don’t really mind. Most are a load of rubbish so they get instantly recycled. If it was about a local issue then I would definitely read it. Sometimes the school PTA ones are a bit annoying as there are posters everywhere, we’ve had leaflets in two book bags, so having two extra leaflets through the door seems like overkill. But I wouldn’t hold anything against the person doing the leafleting.

Flip

1 2 3 4