Government plans for the industry to set up a centralised opt-out service for unaddressed direct mail are stuck on the hard shoulder, with the DMA still waiting – nearly 18 months and counting – for Defra to act.
The proposal was just one part of a three-year deal between the Defra and the DMA, which commits the DM industry to a series of green targets to cut physical waste and carbon emissions,
Under the scheme – led by a new website which would link the Mailing Preference Service, the Your Choice Preference System and Royal Mail’s Door to Door opt-out programme – householders would be able to opt out of receiving all unsolicited post.
The DMA pressed ahead with building the new website but sought assurances from Defra that it would encourage other industries to join the scheme, most crucially publishers of free newspapers.
Without them, the DMA maintained, the system would be powerless as firms would simply switch their door-drop advertising to inserts in newspapers and other methods of delivery.
However, nearly 18 months later and all has gone quiet at the government department, despite regular contact between the two parties. Caroline Spellman, the environment minister at the time, is long gone, while it is understood cutbacks at Defra have forced the issue onto the back burner.
DMA chief of operations Mike Lordan confirmed to DecisionMarketing that the website was ready to go – and had been since April last year.
He added: “We are still waiting for assurances that other industries will sign up. But, so far, we have had nothing.”
