Although Royal Mail does not publish statistics about its door-to-door opt-out, we know that at present less than 0.5 per cent of households is opted out of receiving unaddressed mail delivered by the postman. This does of course in no way reflect the popularity of Royal Mail door drops. Rather, it is a direct result of the company's reluctance to tell its customers about the existence of the opt-out scheme.
People who do know that it is possible to opt out of receiving unaddressed mail items are not getting the quality service you would expect from a company like Royal Mail. The ineffectiveness of the door-to-door opt-out is presumably largely due to the fact that door drops are profitable. Making profit has become a big concern for Royal Mail.
Stop Junk Mail argues that making a profit and caring for the environment are not mutually exclusive. We believe that it makes sense, from a business point of view, to give people who are not interested in unsolicited advertisement an easy way of opting out. On the next pages we have four suggestions for Royal Mail which we believe would help make the door-to-door opt-out as effective and customer friendly as it should be.