Name and shame... (The local businesses that ignore the "no junk mail)

[ClareC]

The local businesses that ignore the "no junk mail" sticker on the door....

1. Swadesh..... Not just once but continuously, grrrr ironically I had never tried the place, I won't now on principal!!

Anyone else have any repeat offenders?

[seanmlow]

No one ignores those things.

[jctg]

Isn't junk mail delivered by Royal Mail? Or by leaflet deliverers on behalf of the company? eg. pizza menus. I wouldn't lay the blame on the shop itself.

[sofaRunner]

surely it's better not to give them the publicity of naming them here? if I get something through the post I don't open it but return to sender - particually rewarding if you do open it & find a free-post envelope to put it in!

[seanmlow]

I never know what counts as junk mail really. I mean, is a takeaway menu junk mail? I suppose the owners would say not as they are offering a service. I don't know...

[dbboy]

Pedders, estate agents, bloody annoying.

[Loz]

seanmlow Wrote:

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> I never know what counts as junk mail really. I

> mean, is a takeaway menu junk mail? I suppose the

> owners would say not as they are offering a

> service. I don't know...

Anything not specifically addressed to me by name is junk mail. So pizza delivery "To The Householder" and various estate agencies "To the Owner" count as junk. The only exception (sadly) is council tax bills.

[steveo]

Southwark Life 'magazine' and its get down wit' da yoof supplement whtvr.org. At least local businesses don't use our tax to send us junk mail

[peterstorm1985]

steveo Wrote:

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> Southwark Life 'magazine' and its get down wit' da

> yoof supplement whtvr.org. At least local

> businesses don't use our tax to send us junk mail

I cannot agree more - a shocking waste of money. I always flick through it in the desperate hope that there might be something worth the paper it's printed on but in the all the years it's been appearing through my letterbox I have never seen a single sentence of interest. Why don't they just put a stack of them in the local library for those that want them - should cut the printing cost down to approx 1%.

[James Barber]

Hi peterstom1985,

Next Dulwich Community Council 10 November 7pm Christchurch southern end of Barry Road.

We'll have an extended session talking about how to change what Southwark does - what can be cut, what promises to spend more have been made.

Come along and give your view about Southwark Life.

[Ridgley]

Perhaps you can email Southwark life, would that cut cost if people sign up for it?

[binary_star]

steveo Wrote:

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> Southwark Life 'magazine' and its get down wit' da

> yoof supplement whtvr.org. At least local

> businesses don't use our tax to send us junk mail

Ditto.

[kford]

I had to chortle at this month's Southwark Life - there's an article inside asking us to suggest ways the council might save money.

[languagelounger]

Living South magazine. Regularly get home in winter to find that their horrible jumped-up keep-up-with-the SE21s glossy tat mag has been jamming my letterbox open all day so the house is freezing. Told three times to desist or I will send them my heating bill. No joy. What can I doooo to these people short of going round to their office and dropping ice cubes down their cashmere sweaters?

[kford]

languagelounger Wrote:

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> Living South magazine. Regularly get home in

> winter to find that their horrible jumped-up

> keep-up-with-the SE21s glossy tat mag has been

> jamming my letterbox open all day so the house is

> freezing.

Worse still, if you're on holiday, it looks like there's no-one in. That's one of the reasons why postmen are instructed to push mail completely through the letterbox. Many times we've come back from a break to find a faded and limp pizza flyer hanging out for all to see.

[louisiana]

Within 30 minutes of me sticking a Southwark Council 'no junk mail' sticky over my letterbox, the junk mail delivery people were already jamming junk mail in there... Sigh.

[steveo]

My guess is that Southwark Life costs around ?100,000 a month but I could never get the councillor to provide proper figures

[peterstorm1985]

James Barber Wrote:

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> Next Dulwich Community Council 10 November 7pm

> Christchurch southern end of Barry Road.

> We'll have an extended session talking about how

> to change what Southwark does - what can be cut,

> what promises to spend more have been made.

> Come along and give your view about Southwark

> Life.

Is it possible to write to someone to table my views on the Southwark Life magazine as I cannot easily attend this meeting?

I imagine there may be many other local taxpayers who may be prepared to email/write but who are similarly unable to attend a public meeting.

(I have also sent this to JB by private message to alert him of my request)

[Old Yeller]

The Co-op.

Southwark Life.

These are the 2 main transgressors of my No Junk Mail prohibition - loudly proclaimed on my letterbox.

Then there's the odd piece of illiterate junk from some scam 'charity' collecting clothes on behalf of disadvantaged children...in Lithuania.

Junk mail is anything not addressed to me personally...including that gem of local democracy and creativity in action, Southwark Life, ...and including the ethical grocery's endless stream of marketing junk that gets delivered by the taxpayers' postal service, whether we want it or not.

This is particularly galling , as even if you register with the Mail Preference service so companies cannot direct mail you, they get around it by paying the Post Office to deliver their junk to you anyway, just without your name on. How ethical is that?

I agree wholeheartedly with the previous posts about Southwark Life.

Totally useless, uninformative, condescending, patronising waste of taxes, trees, time and effort.

Still, I guess it gives a few bods at the council (who'd otherwise have eff all to do every month, or no job) something to do when they're not in meetings.

Goes straight in my recycling bin where it's collected by other council workers who take it away (and then fling the recycle bin, lid and bag onto my plants) to be recycled into material for yet more Southwark Lifes that have to be rewritten by council 'officers', redistributed to householders, recycled, reprocessed, remanufactured, redistributed, rewritten .........

Scrap it. It's real, expensive JUNK.

[peterstorm1985]

I asked James Barber who I could write to in order to table my views on Southwark Life for the forthcoming community meeting as I am unable to attend. He responded simply,

"Write to me at james.barber@southwark.gov.uk and I'll ensure your comments are fed in to officers.

The meeting would have been 10 November at Christchurch."

Please may I encourage all others that do not think that Southwark Life is a good use of taxpayers money to also write to him.

I won't be asking for it to be scrapped entirely, as there may be some people without access to other sources of information (eg this forum, Southwark website) who find something of use in it but I will ask that it becomes available only on request - most likely free at the Library as this would significantly reduce printing costs and the amount of recycling.

[BrandNewGuy]

Looks like the government's serious about cracking down on the 'town hall Pravdas'...

"Under the new rules, it is understood councils will only be allowed to publish free titles four times a year. They will also have to remove any content which appears to praise the council or endorse the quality of its local services, including quotes from local residents."

[Loz]

kford Wrote:

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> I had to chortle at this month's Southwark Life -

> there's an article inside asking us to suggest

> ways the council might save money.

I got the biggest laugh in that section was from the obviously-planted vox-pop ("Cortina") suggesting that Southwark could merge some services with Lambeth. Gosh, what a surprise that a random person plucked off the street would suggest something that lines up exactly with a contentious manifesto policy of the new council!! What are the chances, eh?

At the very least they could rename it "Southwark Propaganda"

[steveo]

The reason why the council is so determined to have a magazine is that all the big shiny councils have one. They're not up there with the big boys unless they have a monthly bum wipe bragging about how brilliant they are. It's the badge of the plutocracy.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

This might be helpful for some

Beat cold callers and junk mail - MSE

[louisiana]

kford Wrote:

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> languagelounger Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Living South magazine. Regularly get home in

> > winter to find that their horrible jumped-up

> > keep-up-with-the SE21s glossy tat mag has been

> > jamming my letterbox open all day so the house

> is

> > freezing.

>

> Worse still, if you're on holiday, it looks like

> there's no-one in. That's one of the reasons why

> postmen are instructed to push mail completely

> through the letterbox. Many times we've come back

> from a break to find a faded and limp pizza flyer

> hanging out for all to see.

Yes, this is a real issue.

I'm thinking about installing a wall-mounted post box and sealing my letter box as an attempted solution (in addition to 'no junk mail' stickers etc.).

Many people's letter boxes can be a little tricky to manipulate (small entry, strong spring or heavy brushes, or even a dog at the other end!), which in *some* cases may explain why material is not pushed through all the way.