unaddressed mail,opt outLeadline

The unaddressed mail market has grown by 70% since 1998, and is forecast to grow by a further 40% in the next 5 years.

Research by DMIS (Direct Marketing Information Service) backs up the effectiveness of unaddressed mail:

* 35% of recipients have responded to door drops in the last 12 months

* 30% have made a purchase within the last 12 months as a direct result of receiving door drops

* 81% read or glance at all door drops they receive

* 88% would welcome further door drop contact from the advertiser

* 79% would welcome future communications from a company from which they had previously purchased

These are staggering figures but it follows that if unaddressed mailings didn't work then advertisers wouldn't continue with this assault on British letterboxes.

For direct marketing companies, it's relatively cheap at around 3p per drop to a household.  It's a lot cheaper than postage, even on mailsort rates.  This earns a lot of money for Royal Mail to the extent that they maintain that the delivery of junk mail enables them to keep the postage costs as low as they can.

Many people are under the impression that unaddressed mail is delivered indiscriminately but Royal Mail offer profiled and unprofiled delivery options.

Surprisingly Royal Mail is responsible for just 25% of unaddressed mail, the rest being delivered by other distributors.

However, in your role as a member of the public, if you want to reduce the amount of unaddressed mail that you will be greeted with when you get home then you can opt out by sending your name and address details to:

or email:  optout@royalmail.com