Unwanted Deliveries
Yesterday morning I returned home after a night away to find a large newspaper protruding from my mailbox. As long as I’ve lived in my house (coming on three years now), I’ve had a little sign politely asking that there be no unaddressed mail, specifically newspapers and flyers, delivered to my home. For the most part, whoever is delivering these items has been equally polite and cooperative and has adhered to my request. Suddenly, this has changed. I went out to work this morning and returned for lunch to find yet another newspaper in my mailbox, and just now, at the end of my work day, I have found yet another one! What is going on?
I debated whether or not to name the publications I was finding and tossing – I didn’t want to come across as competitive but the thing is, I read these papers myself – but I do it online. So I have no reason to feel bad about saying that Kingston this Week seems to have suddenly forgotten my request as has the Whig Standard’s Home edition. The last one I found is a new one as far as I can tell, something called Flyer Pack.
My reasons for not wanting these items are simple: I get most of my news from the radio and the internet, I pick up coupon flyers at the grocery store when I’m shopping rather than planning it out ahead, and I think they’re wasteful. If I know I’m not going to use something, why deliver it to me? I don’t even crack a page, I just take it directly to my gray box. I have no doubt there are people who read these papers and plan their shopping trips based on the coupons in the weekly flyers, but I don’t.
We’ve made great strides when it comes to plastic bags and pop and water bottles (and necessarily so in my opinion) but no one ever talks about the newspapers and flyers. Have you noticed a change in the content of your mailbox? Have you ever had to go beyond the polite little sign and contact a paper or talk to the delivery person? Or perhaps you think I’m an over-the-top tree hugger and I should just make my trip to the recycling bin quietly.
Whatever your opinion, leave it here and let us know what you think about unwanted deliveries. I do, however, hope you’ll find some much wanted, hidden treats this weekend. Happy Easter and Passover to everyone. Have a great weekend!
that bloody Flyer Pack probably used an entire tree; it immediately goes into the blue box and the thousands of dollars of advertising won’t see a return from me
pizza coupons in my mail box drive me to no end as well; I wouldn’t mind if they were from good pizzerias or restaurants as I would probably redeem them but they are always the crappy ones; like two pizzas for $9.99
people talk where they’ll recommend what’s good and what to avoid / is too much to ask these companies and services we don’t want their intrusive advertising?
Speaking as a former paperboy, I'll say that calling the newspaper and putting a stop on your house is more likely to work. Generally if there was a sign I used to call in a stop myself, but otherwise the paperboy still gets the same number of papers to deliver and has to dispose of the extra one somewhere else.
We have stickers on our mail box from Red Dot Campaign but the only person who abides by them are the Canada Post mail persons. Local neighbourhood carriers with the real junk mail bombs just ignore them. Perhaps they get paid by the quota of deliveries.
At one point we verbally communicated to our delivery person to please stop. They acted surprised. HELLO. Large red “No Junk Mail” sticker on our box. They did actually stop for a while but perhaps our delivery person has changed because we’ve started getting all of it again in the last 6 months. It really gets unwieldy, our grey bin is overflowing again.
If someone finds phone numbers or email address to stop local delivery please share!
I would love to know if there is someone to contact as well.
Thanks for the link to the Red Dot Campaign. I was unaware that such a formal campaign against junk mail existed. In any case, as you've pointed out it doens't work when you have apathetic/lazy carriers. We have a homemade no junk mail, newspapers etc.. message, but lately the carrier has been blind our request. I would really hate to think that they're delivery to us just to pad the paper's distribution, but I wouldn't put it past them.
We have a sign that we have to keep editing. First it said no flyers, then no flyers or Kingston this Week, and now we're going to have to add EMC because it keeps showing up too.
I just walk from the front of the house where the mailbox is, to the back of the house where the greybox is and drop them off. Such a waste!
So, I went to the Whig and the KTW sites and through their "Contact" menu, I emailed "Circulation" politely requesting they stop delivery. Both papers got back to me within 10 minutes asking for my address and said it was no problem. So there you go. Let's see if it works….
I have contacted them three times and requested they stop delivery. It works for a few weeks but then it continues again. I have a mail box but the courier is to lazy to walk to the top of the steps. They leave it on my step so that it can blow all over my yard in the wind. Good Luck!!
To all confused, __I work for the local paper and in order to cancel the paper you must call in and have yourselves removed from the distributuion list (except the Whig, that is a subscription paper). The KTW and The Homes flyer pack are delivered by the same carrier. Carriers are given specific lists to follow with all the addresses on the street except those who have phoned in to be removed from the list. Homes Flyer Packs go to anyone who does not subscribe to the Whig Standard (it is the same flyers that come in the Whig all week long). The EMC is a totally different paper and you would have to phone into them aswell to have that one cancelled. __As for 'No Junk Mail" signs, is the paper "junk mail"? Some would say yes, others would not. Do you see where you confuse a 8-12 year old child who is given a specific list to follow? Not to mention the large number of carriers who do an excellent job and have intellectual disabilities. My suggestion is follow the proper steps to cancel unwanted papers and give these kids/carriers a chance to correct the issue.__Numbers to cancel your paper at:__KTW and Homes- 613 389-0257 ext 143 or 144 or 147 or 154__EMC- 613 546-8885
For me, junk mail is simply unwanted mail. Although using that rationale, our Utilities Kingston bill is also junk mail, but I digress. The sign at our mail box states "please do not deliver newspapers, flyers, or unaddressed mail". In our case, the recent spike in unwanted mail is attributed to new carriers, who are unfamiliar with our wishes/have not yet noticed our sign. I ran into our new carrier yesterday, just as she was approaching our mail box, and she politely obliged my request not to deliver to us in the future. Thanks for sharing the do not deliver numbers.
Thank you for posting this! It was very helpful! Extension 143 at KTW is actually a marketing guy named Graham, he was very nice but not the person to speak to.. He did take my info and promise to pass it along.
I have contacted this number and asked that my address be removed from the delivery list three times. They stop delivering for a few weeks but then they resume.
I've tried a few times to stop it. Maybe because I'm in the country and they fling it from a car they don't stop to look at the address? I can't put a sign out for them. Half the time they are in the ditch or worse hit by a car on the road and spread all over. Such a waste of resources. It should be a 'sign up to receive' set up. I bet a tiny fraction of people who receive it read it.
I look forward to the newspaper and flyers. I even went out and bought a newspaper box and hung it on my house. Most of the time it is not used. Instead the paper is thrown on my porch and gets blown around and soaked by the rain/snow. As a child I delivered the Toronto Star. The paper was ALWAYS placed in between the doors of the house or in the mailbox. These kids are LAZY and show no respect for the homeowners who have to chase the papers around the neighbourhood or pick up soggy papers. Maybe they need more training or a kick in the butt!
For a STOP Delivery Request of KTW please Contact 613-544-5000 EXT 547147 or by email at [email protected], the office has moved and is now at the Whig office.
Kingston This Week would be more then happy to help you further with any concerns. Requests for Stops, Starts or Missed deliveries are sent out to carriers and we provide a 2 week follow up call back or email to you to ensure the request has been made and followed through. You can also email [email protected] to stop any deliveries.
Please Provide
NAME:
ADDRESS:
PHONE:
EMAIL:
REQUEST:
Thank you for your time with this matter.
I tried to send an email to [email protected] but it came back undeliverable – email address could not be found