Daily Mail slams ‘junk mail surge’

MarketReach’s “Mailmen” marketing campaign may be the talk of the industry but surprise, surprise, the Daily Mail is throwing its toys out of the pram, slamming a “surge in junk mail”.
The publication, which operates a huge direct marketing department of its own and is a major direct mail client, has taken umbrage at new figures which show a major rise in unaddressed mail volumes since privatisation.
It said: “[This] means almost 3.2bn items of ‘unaddressed’ junk mail were delivered in just one year – almost double the 1.7bn delivered annually five years ago. These figures do not even include the vast quantities of ‘addressed’ junk mail also delivered, which have the names of occupants on the envelope.”
The Daily Mail claims revenue from addressed and unaddressed direct mail has “soared to £1.1bn a year, earning Royal Mail £3m a day”. However, this is the same figure as last year.
In its defence, a Royal Mail spokesman said: “Marketing mail is mail like any other – it is our job to deliver the mail. Companies use direct mail because it has proven results. Many households find the information useful. Three in five people have acted in response to a piece of advertising mail in the last 12 months as a direct result of receiving door-to-door marketing material.”
Unabashed, a spokesman for the Local Government Association said: “Junk mail is a blight on the nation’s doormats. Not only is it a nuisance to pick up and throw away, it adds thousands of tonnes to the waste councils have to pick up creating additional costs for tax payers. Royal Mail and its direct marketing clients have to do far more to reduce the torrent of junk mail.”