News archive (2006)
Stop Junk Mail was launched at around the time Royal Mail suspended postman Roger Annies for daring to give householders on his round information about stopping unaddressed mail items delivered by the postman.
Royal Mail's somewhat draconian response to Mr Annies' actions quickly backfired on the company. Mr Annies became a national hero; Royal Mail was forced to start advertising the existence of the Door-to-Door Opt-Out; MPs, Postwatch and the Local Government Association all called for action on junk mail; and hundreds of thousands of people signed up to opt-out schemes for junk mail. Oh, and Stop Junk Mail was born!
Junk mail news in 2006
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Millions of scam victims
- Research by the Office of Fair Trading has revealed that 3.2 million adults in the UK fall victim to a scam every year. Scams cost the UK consumer an estimated £3.5 billion per annum.
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Postman fuels rise in junk mail opt-outs
- The actions of postman Roger Annies, who told householders on his round how to avoid unaddressed junk mail, have led to more than 200,000 people signing up to opt-out schemes.
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Anti-junk mail postie could be nominated for First Class People award
- A local newspaper has started a campaign to nominate former postman Roger Annies for Royal Mail's 'First Class People' award. Mr Annies was recently suspended by Royal Mail for telling people on his round how to stop leaflets distributed by Royal Mail.
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A new American (Junk Mail Free) Dream
- Three years after a Do Not Call Registery was introduced in the United States there still is no 'Do Not Junk' Registry. The Center for a New American Dream is hoping to change things.
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'Spam more annoying than junk mail'
- Most people find spam emails more intrusive and irritating than junk mail landing on their doormat, according to Canadian research.
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Local Government Association warns Royal Mail over junk mail ambition
- Abolishing the limit on leaflets distributed by Royal Mail would hurt both the environment and council tax payers, according to the Local Government Association.
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Banks and credit card firms Britain's worst junk mail offenders
- It's official: banks and credit card firms are Britain's worst junk mail offenders. Together they are responsible for more than a third of the 3.4 billion pieces of addressed junk mail posted through our letterbox every year.
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Anti-junk mail postie loses round
- Roger Annies, the postman suspended for telling customers how to stop unaddressed junk mail distributed by Royal Mail, has been told he still has a job - but not his old round in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan.
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Lib Dem MP urges Government to reduce junk mail
- Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, has urged the government to take action to reduce the amount of junk mail posted through British letterboxes.
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Confusion over warning not to register with Door-to-Door Opt-Out
- Royal Mail has warned householders wanting to register with the company's opt-out scheme for unaddressed mail that they may no longer receive "information from central and local government and other public bodies" if they do so. Postwatch is disputing the warning.
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Royal Mail 'failing to give customers information about junk mail opt-out'
- Postwatch, the independent watchdog for postal services in the UK, has accused Royal Mail of failing to tell its customers how they can stop leaflets delivered by the postman.
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Royal Mail tells postmen to ignore 'No Junk Mail' signs
- Following the case of postman Roger Annies, who was suspended after informing people on his round that it's possible to opt-out of receiving unaddressed mail distributed by Royal Mail, the company has reminded postmen that they should deliver leaflets to households with a 'No Junk Mail' sticker on their door.
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Even the death are inundated with junk mail
- On average, 80 pieces of addressed junk mail are sent to people who have died in the first twelve months following death. Nearly 47 million pieces of 'direct mail' are sent to the 584,000 Britons who die annually.