13 May 2009 – The Mailing Preference Service (MPS), the most well-known junk mail opt-out scheme in the UK, has told Stop Junk Mail that it will ignore householders requesting an opt-out pack via its Junk Buster website.
The website, which was launched in March this year, provides a one-point-stop for information about reducing unsolicited mail and makes it possible for householders to contact up to six junk mail opt-out schemes via a single web form. Apart from the MPS, people can contact Royal Mail's Door-to-Door Opt-Out, the 'Your Choice' Preference Scheme for Unaddressed Mail and the three main paper directories distributed door-to-door in the UK (the Yellow Pages, Thomson Local and BT Telephone Directory). Since the service was set up, more than 12,000 e-mails have been sent to these opt-out schemes.
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), which operates both the MPS and 'Your Choice', has confirmed that it feels that Stop Junk Mail gives the public 'ambiguous' information about reducing junk mail and that it would therefore be 'inappropriate' to deal with the e-mails. The DMA also argues that requesting an opt-out pack is essentially the same as registering with an opt-out service.
Robert Rijkhoff, the co-ordinator of Stop Junk Mail, is not convinced by the DMA's arguments. The 34-year-old former postman said: "I have repeatedly asked the DMA's Manager of Preference Services to let us know what information the DMA finds 'ambiguous'. We're always open for suggestions, but to this day they have refused to give any specific examples.
"The DMA's concern appears to be that people who make the first step and request an opt-out pack will also take the next step and actually choose to opt out. They have received a large increase in the number opt-out requests and feel threatened.
"I find it worrying that the representative of bulk mailers in the UK is therefore now trying to prevent being contacted by people who simply wish to reduce unwanted advertising mail. I appreciate that the DMA doesn't like it when people tell them to stop sending ever more junk mail. But in the end it's not up to the DMA to decide what comes through people's doors.
"What the DMA should acknowledge is that we are providing the public with a friendly and popular service. We are doing what bulk mailers have failed to do; giving householders wanting to stop unsolicited mail an easy way to get in touch with the services that are supposed to do this. If they are concerned that people contact them via our websites, why don’t they set up a similar service themselves? They know full well that there is a great demand for a 'one-point-stop' for impartial information about reducing unsolicited mail and contacting opt-out services."
Stop Junk Mail is confident that the DMA will sooner or later chance its mind on its refusal to be contacted via their website. They argue that it cannot be denied that contacting up to six opt-out schemes separately is preventing people from using the services available to them. Last year, Stop Junk Mail revealed that less than 0.5% of British households are registered with the Door-to-Door Opt-Out, despite the fact that this is the most effective service available to the public. The campaigners see this as proof that opt-out services need to be widely advertised and easy to contact.
Householders can still use Junk Buster to contact opt-out schemes. However, they are now being advised to send a second e-mail to the MPS and/or Your Choice, to confirm that they wish to receive the opt-out pack they had requested. The correspondence between Stop Junk Mail and the DMA can be read in full on the Stop Junk Mail's blog.