31 August 2006 - Postwatch, the independent watchdog for postal services in the UK, has said Royal Mail is failing to give its customers sufficient information on how to avoid junk mail delivered by the postman.
The accusation follows the suspension of Roger Annies, a postman who told people on his round how they could stop receiving unsolicited letters and fliers by opting-out of Royal Mail's so-called door to door service.
In today's Daily Telegraph, a spokesman for Postwatch said Royal Mail is failing to give customers information about the company's door to door opt-out: "It should not be difficult for customers to opt-out. They have a choice; however, at the moment it is a little prohibitive."
Royal Mail makes large profits from delivering fliers and letters and, although it says it offers all customers the opportunity to choose not to receive such door to door items, the opt-out service is not publicised.
Postwatch said that the door to door opt-out service had changed its address several times and that customers still had to write a letter to make sure that their wishes were carried out, even after they had called a special number. The service is also not advertised anywhere and no details could be found during a search of the company's website.
A spokesman for Royal Mail acknowledged that the address to write to had changed twice and that it had not been publicised on the Royal Mail website. He promised that this would be "rectified in the next 24 hours". The spokesman added that anyone who rang the customer care number on 08457 740740 would be given information on how to apply for the service, although he accepted that that had not been publicised either. "We don't publicise all of our services," he said. "We have so many of them."