# unwanted political literature



## Magee (2 Oct 2008)

Does one have a right to not receoive political literature distributed by the politician staff? What if they are told to stop and persist? What is the law? Are they trespassing by entering the yard to deliver it?


----------



## ClubMan (2 Oct 2008)

I've seen several hall doors/letter boxes with "no flyers" notices on them. Always wondered if people delivering junk paid any heed to them?

Isn't trespass a civil matter? You could try suing them. I don't think the _Gardaí _are going to be interested anyway.


----------



## Magee (2 Oct 2008)

ClubMan said:


> I've seen several hall doors/letter boxes with "no flyers" notices on them. ?


What are they made of? some of the plastic ones look tacky


----------



## LennyBriscoe (2 Oct 2008)

Why dont you just fire the literature into the recycle bin?


----------



## rob30 (2 Oct 2008)

I do a bit of canvassing and never put leaflets in the letter boxes that say " no junk mail". Not that I believe that the message we have is junk, just that I inderstand the avalanche that some people come home to.  

Some house also have a note saying " that includes political flyers". 

I would dearly love a contract between the canvassers and the voters. We wont stick leaflets in your letter box if you dont want one, as long as we ban those detestable floor level letter boxes, they kill the back and trap the fingers!


----------



## j26 (2 Oct 2008)

I have yet to try it, but I'm thinking of a "Canvassing will disqualify" sign  next time out.


----------



## D8Lady (2 Oct 2008)

I do leaflet drops for my local TD as well. We don't drop where people have a no junk mail notice. However, if the householder outside we do ask. 

Older people consider menus from takeaways and the like to be junk mail but not the information leaflets that are usually about issues relating to their area. 

I agree with rob30 on the low letter boxes. my other pet peeves are the vertical ones and the badly installed draft excluders that take your fingers off

D8L


----------



## shesells (2 Oct 2008)

In the UK there's a mail preference list which you can sign up to to reduce junk mail through the post (but not hand delivered) which I miss since I moved home.

I like getting political stuff as it is very informative. Now if I get one more bogus clothing collection sticker in the door I might explode but political literature is fine.

Incidentally I think this isn't really an askaboutlaw query


----------



## Graham_07 (3 Oct 2008)

LennyBriscoe said:


> Why dont you just fire the literature into the recycle bin?


 
Fair enough but why should I recycle something I didn't ask for in the first place. 

We have , in the past, put signs on the door near the bell and the letterbox at election times "Please, no canvassers or political literature". It has, for the most, been observed by those delivering political material.

Regarding other "junk mail", this is straying a bit from the original topic, but the amount of material lately from businesses, services etc. trying to promote their wares has increased hugely. Perhaps a sign of things quieting down. The printers muct be doing well from it though, so as they say "it's an ill wind etc.."


----------



## csirl (3 Oct 2008)

> In the UK there's a mail preference list which you can sign up to to reduce junk mail through the post (but not hand delivered) which I miss since I moved home.


 
There's also one in Ireland - you fill in a form supplied by the direct marketing association. Unfortunately it doesnt seem to apply to hand delivered leaflets. Legally speaking, it applies to politicians posted adverts, but the politicians ignore it.


----------



## bond-007 (3 Oct 2008)

What about leaflets for the local supervalu that the postman delivers? Is there anyway to stop an post from delivering these leaflets with the post?


----------



## Latrade (3 Oct 2008)

Graham_07 said:


> Fair enough but why should I recycle something I didn't ask for in the first place.


 
I would also add: why should I *pay* to recycle something I didn't ask for in the first place.

Most LAs have refuse charges which includes the green bins. On a weekly basis the vast majority of what I put into my bin is junk mail, whether "direct marketing" or leaflets pushed through the door. In particular I'm not sure why certain pizza companies feel the need to remind me every week that they still have the exact same menu and offers as last week.

Being all anal about it, I worked out that if I only put into the green bin waste I actually generated, then it would only need emptying 3 times a year. As it is, it's every month.

BTW, as an aside, during the last election it was actually the Green Party that posted more useless fliers through my door than anyother political party, though they only narrowly beat the Socialist Workers to the number one spot.


----------



## Graham_07 (3 Oct 2008)

Latrade said:


> Being all anal about it, I worked out that if I only put into the green bin waste I actually generated, then it would only need emptying 3 times a year. As it is, it's every month.


 
Our recycling bin is collected every fortnight. It's always full, mostly of unnecessary supermarket packaging that we cannot avoid and items such as all those unwanted posted junkmail and hand delivered junkmail items. We buy little by way of newspapers ( one on Sat & one on Sun ), no magazines ( ain't carzone.ie etc. great ), very little by way of plastic fizzy drinks bottles & such and are always very conscious of packaging & waste, we use own carrier bags, shop as much as we can at at the farmers market etc. yet it's the recycling one which is full way before the regular waste bin.


----------



## Complainer (3 Oct 2008)

Why not try something a bit creative and attention-getting like taking photos of you, the literature and the 'no flyers' sign, and sending it back to the pols, or even to the local papers?


----------



## roro123 (3 Oct 2008)

I suppose this is related, I came home to find both a new Phonebook & Golden Pages delivered to the door. I picked it up thought about who could use it locally, then realised everyone gets one and I popped in in the recycle bin.
 It seems to me to be unnecessary in this day and age, and seeing as both eircom & golden pages have websites, even if there was a powercut I would never have any use for it.
Can one opt out of this particularly heavy waste of paper/resources?


----------



## rob30 (4 Oct 2008)

i agree totally, much easier to do a search on the internet than try to remember the alphabet!


----------



## damson (4 Oct 2008)

Complainer said:


> Why not try something a bit creative and attention-getting like taking photos of you, the literature and the 'no flyers' sign, and sending it back to the pols, or even to the local papers?


 Like this?


----------



## bond-007 (4 Oct 2008)

> BTW, as an aside, during the last election it was actually the Green Party that posted more useless fliers through my door than anyother political party.


Oh, the ironing.


----------



## Complainer (5 Oct 2008)

Latrade said:


> BTW, as an aside, during the last election it was actually the Green Party that posted more useless fliers through my door than anyother political party, though they only narrowly beat the Socialist Workers to the number one spot.


I recall one canvasser telling me how, if he came across an unoccupied house with literature from other parties within reach at the letterbox, he would fish it out, and save it up for an unoccupied house with a 'no junk mail' sticker. That house would get a pile of literature for the other parties!


----------



## Latrade (6 Oct 2008)

Complainer said:


> I recall one canvasser telling me how, if he came across an unoccupied house with literature from other parties within reach at the letterbox, he would fish it out, and save it up for an unoccupied house with a 'no junk mail' sticker. That house would get a pile of literature for the other parties!


 
Going even further off topic, kind of, but it's another point that raise my blood pressure: leaving flyers half hanging out of a letterbox. Why not advertise to the whole world the house is free to be broken into? An Post are usually ok, but again during the election the amount of political material hanging out of rows of houses signalled an unoccupied house.

In this litigous age, could we not sue one of the parties for our house getting broken into for failing to put the (unwanted) literature all the way through? 

Note: I ask this in complete jest, feel free to remove if jumping the shark in terms of OT posts.


----------



## Magee (9 Oct 2008)

Got some flyers at 11 pm last night! On the question of the political flyers a friend says he has found out the politicians home address and is writing to him there to say he does not want them. Maybe he should deliver at 11 PM?


----------

