Door-to-Door Opt-Out Survey
Introduction
Over the years I've received hundreds of complaints about Royal Mail's Door-to-Door Opt-Out. As no research had ever been done into how Royal Mail's opt-out scheme for unaddressed mail functions I decided to ask 100 people what they thought of the service.
The most common complaint is that opt-out requests are sometimes ignored, often repeatedly. But there are other issues as well. People have contacted me about the lengthy and complicated opt-out procedure and Royal Mail's controversial warning that you may miss all sorts of information from local and national government if you decide to opt out. It is not always clear what exactly door-to-door items are and there is confusion about whether or not the opt-out will stop mail addressed 'To the Occupier'.
Royal Mail does not publish statistics about the door-to-door opt-out. It is not known, for instance, how many complaints Royal Mail receives about its opt-out service. The only interesting statistic that has so far escaped Royal Mail HQ is that in 2008 less than 0.5% of British households were registered with the service. In comparison; around 15% of UK households is registered with the Mailing Preference Service, the main opt-out service for addressed junk mail.
Add to this the saga about Roger Annies, the postman from Wales who got suspended in 2006 for telling people on his round about the existence of the opt-out, and a worrying picture emerges: Royal Mail does not want people to know about the opt-out service and gives rather draconian warnings to householders wanting to register. And when people do sign up, they are likely to find that they are getting just as much junk mail as before.
About the survey
This survey is the first attempt ever at trying to get a fair picture of how effective Royal Mail's opt-out service is. I don't claim the research to be scientific, but I feel I have managed to come up with a survey that is not in any way biased. All the questions asked and the answers given by respondents are given in this section in full.
So how did I conduct the survey? Up until 14 May 2009 I invited everybody who requested a 'door-to-door opt-out form' via Junk Buster to take part in the survey. People agreeing to take part were sent an e-mail with a link to a questionnaire three to four months after the form had been requested. At this point a registration with the Door-to-Door Opt-Out should be 'fully effective'.
Main findings
The results indicate that 6 to 8% of the people who requested an opt-out form never received one. Nearly 1 in 10 people decided not to opt out after receiving the form because they were concerned that they could miss important information if they did opt out.
I also found that the opt-out service is unlikely to stop unaddressed mail delivered by the postman completely; more than half the respondents continued to receive unaddressed mail items from their postie. However, in most cases the amount of junk mail coming through the door did decrease. 'Only' 15% of the people who registered with the opt-out said that opting out has made no difference whatsoever. Most people who registered with the opt-out feel it is an effective way of reducing junk mail.
In summary, 15% of respondents never opted out; 13% opted out but found that it did not reduce junk mail; 25% got less junk mail than before; and 32% said that they no longer received any unaddressed mail from the postman.
Table 1 - Summary of the main findings
| What went right, what went wrong: | % |
|---|---|
| People who never received the registration form | 6% |
| People who decided not to return the registration form | 9% |
| People who found registering didn't reduce junk mail | 13% |
| People who found that registering reduced junk mail | 25% |
| People who found that the junk mail stopped | 32% |
| Don't know | 15% |
| Total | 100% |