Do customers want direct mail?
Royal Mail and the industry call it direct mail, but the media and most customers call it junk mail. It's mail that is unsolicited and advertises various products and services. Some of it is addressed to customers as individuals, while some of it is unaddressed and is simply delivered door-to-door.According to this story in the "Daily Express", a new survey shows that much of this mail is unwanted and unopened.
The problem is that Royal Mail is a network business with a large proportion of fixed costs and, until recently, it has been the continued growth of this direct mail that has kept volumes up and costs down. In the last year or two, volumes have fallen and, if there is an adverse reaction to direct mail, they will fall even further, putting more pressure on Royal Mail's finances.
At the end of the day though, it must be for customers to make an informed choice as to whether or not they want such mail and, if they don't, they should be free to opt out.
What do you think?
The problem is that Royal Mail is a network business with a large proportion of fixed costs and, until recently, it has been the continued growth of this direct mail that has kept volumes up and costs down. In the last year or two, volumes have fallen and, if there is an adverse reaction to direct mail, they will fall even further, putting more pressure on Royal Mail's finances.
At the end of the day though, it must be for customers to make an informed choice as to whether or not they want such mail and, if they don't, they should be free to opt out.
What do you think?
Labels: Royal Mail
posted by Postwatch at 10:31 am
11 Comments:
I believe the Express story did not reflect the true nature of the survey - which is not surprising since direct mail or junk mail has continued to grow and take advertising from newspapers like the Express.
But in the defence of the Express the commentary put out with the original research was also very odd in its emphasis.
The story showed that a lot of people throw direct mail away without opening it. The issue is why.
One reason is that no one wants it - but there is another reason. As more and more firms use polythene envelopes for their mailers, and others put notices on their paper envelopes showing exactly what is inside or who it is from, people are able to judge quickly if they want to read what's inside.
Send me a gardening catalogue and I throw it in the bin unopened. It's reasonable to guess I might have a big garden, from my postcode (and I do), but the fact is I hate gardening, and pay a firm to do it for me.
So there's a piece of DM thrown away unopened.
But if we compare the response rates DM gets with the response rates ads in newspapers get, we begin to see what is going on. A 2% response rate to DM is quite normal - the research in question quoted some pieces that got 15% response rates.
In newspapers you are lucky to get a response rate of over 0.01%
So DM is very successful as a business model. Also new methods of mailing have arrived which are carbon neutral - see www.shared.org.uk/Green%20Mail.pdf for example. And it subsidises postage for ordinary people. Without DM 1st class stamps would cost 1 pound 50p
Tony Attwood
I understand why they have done it - of course I do. But I would far rather pay more for my stamps than continue to get this stream of junk through my front door. I shudder to think how much paper is wasted annually with junk mail.
The general service we get from the post office is poor; post is slow, sometimes never turns up and post offices are the most dismal places in Britain. And turning the postie into a pizza flyer delivery boy just seems to sum it all up.
I never read the junk mail that is included with my regular post. I object to receiving unwanted information and having to dispose of it in my recycling box which is not big enough for my own needs let alone the Royal Mail's rubbish. I tried to tell my local sorting office that I did not want any direct mail. They referred me to Royal Mail's website; I emailed them and was told I had to write a letter and post it to them. I did so and had a reply challenging my decision. They advised me that I would not receive local government information if I refuse to receive direct mail. I agreed to this and yet the Royal Mail ignored my preference and continues to put direct mail (junk mail) through my door. I now put it in post boxes so that the Royal Mail can dispose of it!
I'd like to point out the Mailing Preference Service which does allow users to opt out from receiving junk mail, and the sister service, Telephone Preference Service, to opt out of receiving cold/marketing calls.
Y'know this damn stuff infuriates not only houseowners but my fellow Royal Mail workers and I.Although we don't have enough manpower to even post 'proper' mail, (and at this time of increasing competition when we should be forging strong friendships with the customer),Royal Mail want to increase this unwanted garbage.I am sick to the back teeth of hearing negative remarks from behind the letterbox when I trudge to customer's doors carrying armfuls of this stuff.Lets just leave it to leafleting companies so we can concentrate on the important stuff.And yes....just like in most houses,it goes straight in the bin without a glance at our house aswell.
As a royal mail postman I find the extra cash earned through delivering this 'junk' useful for topping up my wage. It is not 'rocket science' to deliver the stuff. Most items are of a similar ilk i.e. car insurance or sky tv etc. I believe through comments received from the recipients that we are all doing our bit for recycling by binning these pieces of paper. All in all its a pointless exercise.
I don’t see why someone should put up with unwanted advertisements only because Royal Mail has a poor business structure that makes it more and more depended on junk mail.
Delivering junk mail to people who are not interested in it is wasteful. No other business would produce something only for it to be thrown in the bin straightaway. It just doesn’t make sense.
In many countries on the continent marketers have recognized that it is actually useful to give people an effective opt-out system, exactly for the reason that it’s stupid to keep sending leaflets, letters and catalogues to people who are no potential customers. Royal Mail could take an example to for instance its Dutch counterpart.
Indeed, at the end of the day it must be for customers to make choose whether or not they want to receive advertisements. And I would advise readers who have made that choice already to go to www.stopjunkmail.org.uk, where they will find all the information they need to stop the waste.
You are subjected to 3000 pieces of advertising each day. Direct Mail provides a subsidy to the universal service.
75% of the 'Mail' through your letter box is not delivered by Royal Mail.
Putting it in a letter box instead of the recycle bin wrecks the mail service!
It seems to me that this is a pointless exercise. The postmen themselves do not like it. Many of us consumers do not like it (mine goes into the recycle bin, unread). The increasing amoutn of junk mail means that valuable postal resources are being stretched even further with the increased likelihood of late delivery of proper addressed post. The post office claim that you may miss important mail from eg. the local authority. My local authority does not use the PO for this material!
The argument about carbon neutral is another irrelevance. ANY mail which is unwanted and recycled is still a drain on resources. It still has to be collected, sorted and repulped!
First class post might well cost more but most post is still sent second class.
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