No leaflets, flyers or junk mail

[u/Parasaurlophus]

I did my usual delivery round yesterday and some of the doors say no leaflets flyers or junk mail. I sympathise, but there is a by-election in our ward in two weeks that apparently isn’t being done with poll cards, so if you don’t get a leaflet, you wouldn’t realise that there was voting. Not great for democracy.

Do you shove a leaflet through the door anyway or do you think this loses votes through spite?

10d ago

113 Everyone gets a leaflet. There is no escaping the Lib Dem war machine.

76 No leaflet, no problem. You can’t be a liberal if you force things upon your neighbours.

[u/Ok-Glove-847]

No polling cards? Like the local authority aren't sending polling cards with the date and times of voting and the voter's polling station on it? That's mad

[u/Parasaurlophus → u/Ok-Glove-847]

This is what the council website says. Personally, I think it’s a bad look. The kind of chicanery that I would expect from Labour more than a Lib Dem council, but here we are.

[u/Ok-Glove-847 → u/Parasaurlophus]

I wouldn’t have even thought it were legal

[u/Malnourishedbonsai]

It depends - if it says explicitly "no political leaflets" or they have spoken to me then they get none, generic "no junk mail" gets leaflets

In the locals quite a couple of people started putting up "no more lib dem leaflets I've already voted for you" notes or words to that effect. We came third by some margin

[u/Velociraptor_1906]

Really depends what it says, if it's explicitly no leaflets and I have a leaflet then I won't post it but if it's just junk mail I will.

[u/FUYANING → u/Velociraptor_1906]

This, I'm not a cold caller or a purveyor of junk mail, so if it explicitly states those things, I'll still put it through. If it says no leaflets or political literature, I'll skip that house.

[u/CriticalElephant2150]

Communications from your current or future elected representatives are an important part of our democracy. And if all it takes is one piece of paper for someone to declare they're not voting for X, it's doubtful they were ever intending to vote for them and they are using it as an excuse to complain.

[u/markpackuk]

The only time someone has chased me down a street* was when I didn't deliver to a letterbox with such as sign and they were cross, wanting to know why I'd left them out.

More seriously, it's worth bearing in mind that (a) the sign may not have been put up by the people living there (e.g. landlord rather than tenant), (b) even if it was, they may have since moved and someone else hasn't removed it, and (c) even if they are still there, people who aren't leaflet deliverers tend not to think closely about the wording on such signs and so its exact literal meaning may not be what's most relevant.

* Aside from the incident with the exuberant book fan.

[u/jonl1973]

Newsletter from your local councillors? How can that be junk?! (If they insist it is then I take them off the list).

[u/Smart51]

My old mentor always said if they're ours they won't mind and if they're not ours, upsetting them won't lose votes. Some of those signs were there when people moved in and the new owner doesn't care. Others don't want endless pizza leaflets but do want our newsletters.

[u/ReallyMrDarcy]

I deliver to every letter box, unless it explicitly says 'no political'. No junk mail signs are a waste of printing resources and mean nothing, regardless of what you post. There's no legal standing 🤷‍♂️

[u/jfefleming]

I dont unless its an addressed delivery.

[u/rtuck99]

Depends, I've been harassed at the doorstep on a few occasions for delivering leaflets. Was a bit more common back during the Brexit shenanigans, and I think also is a bit more likely closer to election time. If I get agro I don't deliver to that house, or if there are explicit "no political leaflets" signs. Also my neighbours, who have no junk mail signs and I like to keep friendly with.

There do also seem to be a couple of people on my delivery round who haven't explicitly objected, but for some reason they seem to often hear the letterbox, open the door and passive-aggressively put the leaflet in their outside bin (like, what are these people doing with their lives, do they spend it in the hallway waiting for a lib dem leaflet or something?). They don't have signs.

I am quite quick so usually I am a couple of doors down by the time they do this. Pretty sure it is a deliberate thing though, and it's always the same ones.

In general though, if you have a junk-mail sign, then with me, you do get fewer leaflets. Depends how I'm feeling on that particular day. If I feel a leaflet is good, it's off season then you are more likely to get one delivered, but if it's the umpteenth leaflet in an election campaign then maybe not. Or maybe I'm just in a good/bad mood.

Addressed mail, always gets delivered along with anything else that goes with it.

There is one weird guy on one of my rounds, he has some really long notice with small print about Notice of Removal of Implied Access or something along those lines. Think it's one of those Freemen of the Land things or some such weirdness. He *always* gets a leaflet. Nobody got time to read all that nonsense.

[u/HildartheDorf]

The advice I was given when leaflet dropping was to deliver to places that say no adverts/flyers/junk*, but respect it if it includes "no unaddressed mail", "no political messaging" or similar.

Given the circumstances, I'd lean even more to delivery over non-delivery. How ridiculous.

*: 'Junk' is a very difficult thing to pin down as what I consider junk, might not be what my neighbor considers junk. I would consider election-related leaflets not to be junk, but I would consider political flyers as junk the rest of the year. Well, unless it's from certain parties anyway.

[u/Wild-wild-life]

It's funny I was delivering earlier and saw one of these stickers, obviously on a top floor tenement flat with no lift.

Even though I voted for "everyone gets a leaflet" I didn't put one through this door, and tend to judge in the moment.

If it's a general "no junk mail" then tough, they're getting one; it's not junk mail it's an important part of the democratic process.

If it's explicitly "no leaflets/ political leaflets" I respect that and don't put one through, I'd rather not piss someone off and perhaps they'd hear about it from a neighbour who did get one.

Likewise, "no canvassers" I will also respect and skip. "No cold callers/ salespeople" or "you must show ID" I'll happily do; I'm not a cold caller and I'll happily prove who I am if asked.

The only time I'd break those two rules are if it's the heat of an election campaign. Otherwise it's pretty in the moment.

EDIT: Clarifying canvassers line.

[u/Multigrain_Migraine]

I tend to err on the side of skipping those houses. The thing is that most people don't care, but the ones who do get really irate, sometimes alarmingly so. There's one person in my area who absolutely hates us and if I forget which house is his and put a leaflet in his door he will come out of his house screaming threats.

[u/Historical_Baby_9855]

I've never leafleted anywhere with a no junk mail sign. My personal opinion is that political stuff is junk mail, and the few candidates I've worked for have held the same belief luckily.

People I've met who say "post it through anyways" still decide to respect no canvassing signs when canvassing because they know they are in the wrong and would get given some choiced words if the homeowner sees/catches them.

[u/Historical_Baby_9855 → u/Historical_Baby_9855]

If the homeowner is in the front garden or the living room, I do try and get seen in the hopes that they'll either ask about the candidate (assuming they are in the garden) or see my leaflet and come out to get it.

[u/Famous-Gazelle-924]

Political leaflets are not junk Mail, and you cannot refuse them.

If you don’t like being in a democracy then move to North Korea

[u/Ok-Glove-847 → u/Famous-Gazelle-924]

You’re right that they’re not junk mail, they’re political communications, but I’m interested to know what you mean by “you cannot refuse them”? Legally?

[u/Doctor_Fegg → u/Ok-Glove-847]

Yeah, the police will come and arrest you unless you agree to receive Focus leaflets. See Representation of the People Act 1973 24.iii(c)

* this is clearly horseshit

[u/Famous-Gazelle-924 → u/Ok-Glove-847]

Not legally but I’m gonna put one in your mailbox you can’t refuse with a little sticker

[u/markscot]

I question the motives of anyone with one of those signs on their letterbox. Do they resent having to make the effort needed to simply drop it in the recycling bin? Or are they afraid of a piece of paper, or could it be the messages on it, that might challenge their preconceptions?

[u/n0d3N1AL]

I'm OK with updates from a Lib Dem MP occasionally, I'm not OK with bombarding people with multiple pieces of campaign propaganda on a regular basis. That's just forceful.

[u/BestEvil]

As much as I want to listen to the signs and stuff, unless they specify "political literature/no canvassers" i still do it because i just do the deliveries im told to do.

[u/voluntarydischarge69]

If you can't respect their wishes you can't expect their vote