We obey 'no junk mail' signs says NZ Post

RACHEL PINDER
Residents in Hawke's Bay who mark their letterboxes "no junk mail" will not be bombarded with unaddressed brochures and pamphlets - so a bylaw restricting unwanted advertising is unnecessary.
That's according to Richard MacLean, spokesperson for New Zealand Post. "We deliver in Napier and Hastings, but it would be difficult to say how much junk mail gets delivered from week to week. It depends on the time of year. In the run up to Christmas there is a huge increase," Mr MacLean said.
"The situation is also very variable, and if we deliver community newspapers there is a constant level of unaddressed mail being sent out with them.
"New Zealand Post has signed up to a code of practice, which means we tell our deliverers if a letterbox has a 'no junk mail' sign on it we will not deliver to it.
"Also we will not deliver to a letterbox which is already full and that's just basic common sense," he said.
"We don't call it 'junk mail', it's basically anything that doesn't have an address on it. One of the problems we do have is that we often hear from people who have 'no circulars' on their letterbox who complain that they have not received some things in the post that they do want, but if they have a sign up for 'no circulars' then that's what they'll get," Mr MacLean said.
His comments come in the wake of news that Auckland City Council is to pass a new bylaw restricting unwanted advertising.
Under the bylaw, it would be an offence punishable by a fine of up to $5000 to place unaddressed advertising material in letterboxes marked "no junk mail".
It would also be an offence to place junk mail in a full letterbox or on a car parked in a public place. Waitakere, North Shore and Rodney councils last year imposed similar measures.
The New Zealand Marketing Association had already developed an industry code of conduct that said members should not put unaddressed mail in letterboxes with a sign asking for no such material. It also covered full letterboxes.
"We tend to think our code of practice is offering the same protection that Auckland City Council is calling for with its new bylaw," Mr MacLean added.
Napier councillor Tony Jeffery said if people had a "no junk mail" sign on their letterbox, deliverers should abide by that.
"I'd be quite happy for a bylaw in Hawke's Bay but I think a $5000 fine is a bit over the top. A smaller penalty of $50 or $100 would be appropriate," Mr Jeffery said.
"People receive dividend cheques and all sorts of things in the post, so it's important that they're secure and not dropped on the footpath because the letterbox is full of junk mail.
"A small penalty would act as a good deterrent not to deliver junk mail, and I think that would make a lot of sense," he said.