Door to door Leafletting

[manicinsomniac]

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?

I receive masses of junk mail. It's very irritating. 99.99% of it goes straight in the recycling after a very cursory glance. What a waste of money, time, effort and natural resources. I particularly dislike the sealed envelope with no name or address on, trying to tease you in to opening it. - usually a charity begging letter so no longer open any of them.
I don't hate or resent the people who deliver them though.

@manicinsomniac - no recycling just mitigates some of the damage.

That leaflet of yours that I haven't read is made of paper that has been produced - maybe from trees cut down for the purpose, maybe from partly recycled paper. It's been bleached, pressed, dried, bundled up and distributed by road to some wholesaler where it's sent on to a purchaser in due course.

Meanwhile the inks it's printed with have been made, packaged, distributed etc etc

This environmentally expensive piece of paper can be recycled - it has to be collected, pulped, bleached, dried all over again. This all consumes our valuable resources.

I find it irritating when signs specifically requesting no leaflets or junk mail are ignored. Otherwise, so long as it's not the same crap every week, I mostly just put it in the bin. No real skin off my nose.

However, we get a leaflet on a weekly basis for a 'gym' that has those vibrating plates you stand on to, supposedly, jiggle your fat off. I find it infuriating, we've been here for a year, if I've not responded to the last 52 leaflets I shan't be responding to any others. It does feel intrusive as it's so frequent. I'm not interested in dropping a dress size by being shaken around like a turd in the sea. I'm pregnant, I'll go back to actual working out when I've had the baby and lose the weight that way.

I hate it. It makes the door bang which wakes me if I am finally getting a chance to nap. Special place in hell reserved for the person who does it at 6.30am or 10pm.

The letterbox banging wakes my dog who barks and wakes the whole house. It’s bad enough during the day when the baby is finally asleep and I’m having a desperately needed rest which is rudely interrupted. But it’s even worse early in the morning or late at night. Before we go to sleep I put up a sign that says Baby Sleeping: DO NOT knock, ring bell or post leaflets. GO AWAY. Last time someone ignored my sign and rattled the letterbox with their stupid leaflet I stormed out full of sleep deprived fury and tore them a new one.

You shouldn't have posted this if you need to continue leafleting. You should know how cantankerous Mumsnet posters are.

I’m fine with it. I’d rather not have the leaflets, but I certainly don’t feel cross with the person delivering them. And I can’t see how my privacy is invaded by someone walking up my front path and putting a leaflet through the letterbox.

I usually bin the leaflets straight away unless they are for the local allotment open days or a menu from a place we actually use and then chuck out the outdated ones.

What really annoys me is to come home and find the damn things sticking out of the letterbox. We have a security letterbox and it is a bastard, you have to be really determined to get anything through it, so of course people don't try very hard. No one bothers to read the no cold calling sign so have no hope of stopping the junk paper.

I occasionally deliver leaflets for the political party I'm a member of. I don't really enjoy it (more than once I have nearly had my fingers bitten off by a particularly vigilant dog!) but I think political leafleting is very important. It's the only way some people get any information about the candidates/parties in their local area. Ok, some may well go straight in the bin, but it is then that household's choice to remain uninformed, rather than the information not being available to them.

Political apathy would increase even more if people were reliant on seeking out information themselves.

If people have a sign up saying "No leaflets/junk mail/Baby sleeping" and you respect that and skip those houses, then that's fine.

If people don't want leaflets they should put a sign up (where it's easily seen before the leafletter actually puts the leaflet through the letter box!!)

I've delivered leaflets for Neighbourhood Watch before now - rightly or wrongly I don't see these as "junk" as yet another leaflet for a curry house I'm never going to use, so I put them through every door unless it specifically said "no leaflets".
I never saw any saying "Baby sleeping" - I'd definitely have respected those !

Oh yes, and always push the leaflets through so that they're not sticking out of the letter box

You are welcome to put leaflets in my door. Some I ignore, others are very useful.

I don’t hate leaflets - sometimes they are useful and tell me about local events or a new restaurant opened or something

I do it ever so often to advertise my business and find it the best way. Its great exercise you get to talk to people. Dont worry op just make sure leaflet totally through the door and dont deliver to those that say no junk mail. You learn alot of your local streets doing this.

You shouldn't have posted this if you need to continue leafleting. You should know how cantankerous Mumsnet posters are

You're probably right! I do know but I got the direction of the 'cantankerousness' (not sure that's a word!) wrong - I thought everyone would tell me to 'get a grip', 'stop being pathetic' and 'get on with it', 'support your groups', 'do something active with your beliefs', 'no pain no gain' etc. I didn't really expect people to agree with me that it's a big deal, I thought it was my stupid social paranoia/anxiety kicking in!!

It is a massive waste of time and resources. I put any leaflets straight in the recycling bin.

We live in a small village and share information on events etc in the bi-annual leaflet and on the local facebook group. We have a buddy system to cover the few people who do not have easy online access
None of the leaflets which still pour through the door are for local events, so a massive waste.

I can think of so many ways to raise awareness of your products and services...

When we moved in, I followed up with anyone leaving a catalogue with a 'i will call back on x to pick up your order' warning them that any future catalogues would go straight into the recycling so best not post them through the door. One such person foolishly argued that it was her property, she could not remember where to not leave one and that she would sue if i did not leave it outside tbe door as instructed. She lost only one before deciding it probably was possible to remember to not post one through my door.

Don’t mind the leaflets.
It’s the twats who ring the door bell and try to sell me new windows,doors or some other crap that I don’t want.
They have rung the Bell they can see my windows and doors are OK.
Some twat rang my door bell at 8.30 pm. last winter.
Twat—- “Sorry to disturb you”
Me———- “You’re not sorry at all go away”
He was hoping to jet wash my roof!
Yes I am abrupt with them.
Once I have finished speaking I close the door .
There’s a special place in hell waiting for the fuckers.

Rant over😡😡😡

I did some leafleting once for a very well known advice bureau. 150 leaflets delivered, 1-2 people responded. I was knackered. Also was not sure whether to deliver a leaflet if a sign by the front door said “we do not require any free services or quotes”. Does a genuine charity wanting to reach out to vulnerable people count as free services? I assumed they were targeting “free quote for new windows” type salespeople. But tended to avoid nonetheless.

Would you mind getting a genuine leaflet offering free services to a vulnerable sector in the community who might have difficulty accessing help themselves?

I know what you mean, OP. I leaflet for my hobby as well, occasionally, and I feel awkward about it. But I don't mind junk mail myself, and I discovered the hobby after being leafletted my very own self so...

My rules are:

1. I don't put them through any door with 'no junk mail' on,
2. I try to minimise clanking with the letterbox,
3. I go up and down the designated front path and I don't take short-cuts across the householders' lawns.

I do put them through doors marked "no cold callers" because I think that's a totally different thing. I object to cold-callers too, because it's a totally different level of intrusion from having a small piece of paper put through a designated porthole on the door.

P.S. trespass is a civil matter in the UK, not a police matter, and going up someone's path to deliver a leaflet and then leaving straight away does not meet the parameters for it.