to put this unsolicited Avon catalogue in the recycling bin?

[Rae36]

Came home to an Avon catalogue on the doormat. I didn't ask for it.

It has a note telling me to leave it our for collection on Sunday afternoon. The actual wording is "Leave this catalogue out on your doorstep for collection on Sunday afternoon EVEN IF YOU DONT WANT TO PLACE AN ORDER".
We're going away this weekend so I don't want to put it out tomorrow morning and have it lying there advertising the fact that we're not at home until Sunday afternoon.
The note says that if I can't put it out on Sunday afternoon I can call the person and arrange another time to collect it.

AIBU to just chuck it? I didn't ask for it, I don't want to phone a stranger up and arrange for her to collect it at a different time. Or will she come knocking on my door at some other random time looking for it? How long do I have to keep it lying around my house in case she comes back for it?

And who does she actually think she is to drop this off at my house then tell me in capital letters what to do with it?

And finally, why has this pissed me off out of all proportion

I just leave them out with a note saying that I’m not interested so please don’t leave any more.
I do that as soon as I receive them so they’re often out for several days but it saves me from having to remember.
Up to you if you decide to recycle it but you’re likely to get more if you don’t communicate with the rep.

@Chloemol

You are being heartless. This is someone who maybe starting out, trying to build up a round, they have to pay for the booklets, hence wanting them back.

Be kind, either phone her, or leave it so she can collect.

Treat others as you would wish either yourself or your children to be treated......One day you, or they, maybe in the same situation

PMSL ^ best laugh on the thread!

As @RaspberryCoulis said, bollocks to all this 'be kind shite!

YANBU @Rae36 I fucking hate this. We have had a couple of 'body shop at home' catalogues pushed through our letterbox this past few weeks, and I get annoyed as we have not asked for them, and the 2 women keep asking if I was to join this cult organisation! I have ZERO interest and am also weirdly irked by it!

Also we used to get kleeneezee (wrong spelling probz!) dropping catalogues off. Also with offers to fucking join them!!! And they'd say' SUE will be back on Friday. If you do not want anything, leave the catalogue on the doorstep.' Like you, we also worried about it, and never left it.

A couple of times we lost/binned the catalogue, and the agent became irrationally angry and pissed off with us, as it has to come out of their commission if people don't return the catalogues.

DH said 'we never asked for it, so you can piss off with your scolding us for binning it!' They never came again!

@Ihopeyourcakeisshit

"Who does she think she is...?" I dunno, perhaps someone really desperate for a job/ money who knows?

She probably thinks she’s an entrepreneur. And that’s the tragedy. MLMs like Avon hook in the people who can least afford to lose money but they invariably do. They still make them pay for the catalogues; it’s such a scam. Ultimately I feel sorry for them because they’re being tricked. They end up doing increasingly desperate things to try and attract engagement - junk mail in the hope you will bite @Rae36 and you’re right it is irritating. Most MLM victims are irritating people online these days.

@Rae36

I'll leave it on the doorstep before we leave with a note saying I don't want another one.

Nooo, don't cave! Just bin the catalogue. You didn't want to leave it out in your OP. Don't do it! Don't weaken. Ignore the few posters with their #bekind bollocks!

It would annoy me too OP, reasonable or not. Bin it, I wouldn't have even noticed the sticker, it would've gone from the door to the recycling without a second glance.

@Laiste

I mean - why would you want to fanny around writing in a catalogue order form, put it outside on the right day, hope the woman comes to get it, wait for her to do the orders, wait for her to receive the item, wait for her to walk it to you and then - what? - Are they still coming round for the money on the doorstep at a later date? Do you have to be in to collect the stuff and pay on the same day??

It's nonsense!

A lot of the older people I've worked with love having the Avon brochure. They like chatting to the rep, buying stuff and getting it delivered so they don't have to carry the items from town. They look forward to getting the delivery and new brochure. They plan what Christmas gifts they are getting for their families so they don't have to depend on others.

They seem to have had the same Avon sales rep for years though.

"Poor lady likely can’t afford a holiday."

OP should at least offer to take the Avon lady away on holiday with her so she's not put in the rain collecting her soggy catalogues back. Be kind OP.

Sarcasm. ^

Into the bin without a second thought.

i had one once left it out just sat there for a week longer than when they said so i binned it

Years ago, I had Betterware catalogues shoved through my door. First few times, I put it back out with a note saying I didn't want any more catalogues. The catalogues were being collected.

I got pissed off that my notes were being ignored. So I binned the next one.

Got a person knocking, asking for the catalogue. He got irate when I told him I'd recycled it. I told him I'd left out previous ones with a note, and I was binning because I was cross my notes were being ignored.

Turns out there were 2 people selling in my area, this chap was a newbie, had been putting out his first catalogue. So I told him 1) how was I supposed to know, and 2) not my problem anyway. I'd been good enough to leave a note a few times, and now I was binning.

@bigbaggyeyes

If it's unsolicited then hun it

I know you meant to say ‘bin’ but the word ‘hun’ is entirely appropriate.

Who does she think she is...?"I dunno, perhaps someone really desperate for a job/ money who knows?

I was that person. Doing Avon ensured that my DCs had dinner money and subs for rainbows etc when things were really tight. It was purely cash for me to help me through the month. There is very little profit as you pay for the catalogues so the more reuse the better.

Some of the posters on this thread sound very mean and unlikely have had to scrape together pennies to get through a week.

(maybe the capital letters are meant to be read in a pleading tone rather than a shouty voice?)

@FireUnderpants

"Poor lady likely can’t afford a holiday."

OP should at least offer to take the Avon lady away on holiday with her so she's not put in the rain collecting her soggy catalogues back. Be kind OP.

Sarcasm. ^

And by getting hooked into a scamtastic MLM scheme, the "poor lady" isn't going to be buying a holiday off the "profits" any time soon.

All the people advocating phoning her, texting her, writing wee notes, putting things in plastic bags - that means the OP going out of her way to deal with something she never asked for in the first place.

@YouokHun

I know right 😂

I did this a couple of times with 'Avon' magazine drops by complete unknowns. I wouldn't order from someone I didn't know in the first place. I did feel bad though - pretty sure someone knocked at the door to collect theirs on one occasion and wasn't best pleased I'd recycled it.
I suspect many of those who think they'll make money out of Avon end up losing money as I'm sure they have to buy the catalogues?

She probably thinks she’s an entrepreneur. And that’s the tragedy

How patronising. I was just desperate. I was a single parent earning less than my outgoings. Child maintenance didn't cover childcare. Avon helped me over a very rough patch, allowing me to keep working until my salary increased and I could stop living on overdrafts and credit cards.

Mock away, all the privileged posters who can afford to look down on women trying to make a living.

Laughing at the idea of a poor, penniless person who has no way to make some money than to leave Avon catalogues at the doors of random strangers. The all-caps bossy instructions notes are sure to soften many a heart, and the orders will come rolling in!

If someone needs money, leaving unsolicited Avon brochures is not the way to get it.

Why can’t you just be kind and put yourself in their shoes?

Someone posted a Kleenez catalogue through our door whilst we were on holiday for 2 weeks. They also left a load of notes that became exceedingly rude as we hadn’t left it outside to be picked up, including one saying they were going to charge us for the catalogue.

I genuinely don't think some people comprehend the concept of a customer, as opposed to 'somebody who makes you money'. Just pondering, but maybe they've been given the spiel that 'each catalogue generates an average of £X' and they therefore see it that you've taken those earnings from them - without even considering that you have agency and you never asked for it.

it isn't just small businesses that do this, either - many of the massive household names do exactly the same, where they look at figures on a balance sheet and it doesn't cross their minds that there's an actual person behind each of their reference numbers.

But you can't do a damn thing about people putting rubbish through your door to sell you tat you don't want or need.

Even Royal Mail do this nowadays - take money from companies in exchange for putting their rubbish through your door along with your actual post. It's definitely changed the relationship between the householder and the poor postie who has no say in the matter: instead of confidently greeting you if you're outside when they come or they also have a parcel for you and have to knock, they often mumble and shove the whole lot at you before dashing away. I don't blame them, really - they're doing the management's dirty work and don't want the abuse for it that some would undoubtedly give them.

Put it outside with a note that you don't support MLMs taking advantage of vulnerable people so want no more catalogues through your door.

Btw, this is very different from someone selling Avon the normal way. My aunt used to do that. She sold to family, friends, and women she worked with, primarily, and as far as I know never pressured or guilted people to buy. This, just lazily leaving the catalog and expecting a stranger to look after it for you and return it on a specific day, isn't the same as that, imo.

I had a large angry bloke in my face for not leaving out a Betterware catalogue that I had no memory of receiving, (I'll no doubt have binned it along with the other unsolicited junk). He was very intimidating and told me it wasn't mine to throw away!
I apologised because I was a bit shaken but I wish I'd thought to tell him not to post his property through my fucking door without asking if he was precious about getting it back.

Some rep had a right go at me a few years ago for apparently "recycling" their brochure. In reality I'm just picked it out of the post box with the rest of the junk mail, not looked at any of it and put it in the recycling bin.

@HollyHardcastle

I had a large angry bloke in my face for not leaving out a Betterware catalogue that I had no memory of receiving, (I'll no doubt have binned it along with the other unsolicited junk). He was very intimidating and told me it wasn't mine to throw away! I apologised because I was a bit shaken but I wish I'd thought to tell him not to post his property through my fucking door without asking if he was precious about getting it back.

I would argue that once you put it through my door, it's mine to bin, set on fire or wipe my arse with🤷‍♀️ what a prick.