door to doors

[Straight4ward]

Look at it from an other angle, all those resources could be managed in a more constructive way, still giving employment and the rest........ and wait for it, a better quality of life for the majority.

Over the past year I’ve delivered D2Ds on behalf of Cancer Research, The British Heart Foundation, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Help the Aged, The Salvation Army, The Red Cross, The British Legion, Oxfam, The RNIB and the NSPCC. (These are the ones that come readily to mind, there were probably many others.)

All of them pretty much aimed at “a better quality of life” I would have thought.

[newtimes]

Look at it from an other angle, all those resources could be managed in a more constructive way, still giving employment and the rest........ and wait for it, a better quality of life for the majority.

Over the past year I’ve delivered D2Ds on behalf of Cancer Research, The British Heart Foundation, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Help the Aged, The Salvation Army, The Red Cross, The British Legion, Oxfam, The RNIB and the NSPCC. (These are the ones that come readily to mind, there were probably many others.)

All of them pretty much aimed at “a better quality of life” I would have thought.

OK I hear what you are saying, can I take your point to the next stage, many of these organisation are the final safety net for people which our society is failing. If our limited resources targeted these needs then many of those charities would not be needed. Some of the executives of these charities are paid more than the Prime Minister, my personal opinion is this practise is wrong. We pay national insurance, income tax, then whats left nearly every time we buy goods we pay an other 20% in vat. The housing market is a con, reduce the supply to increase the cost. No I say, lets demand a society which shares and distributes wealth in a more even and sustainable way. I am on a rant now, privatisation of our utilities to create a competitive market to drive the cost down that one worked well, we even pay tax on our energy bills, and council tax and petrol. The motto of the few who control our society is"feed the greedy not the needy". More workers claim benefits than the unemployed, there is a higher % of people who do not claim what they are entitled to than benefit cheats and look at the mega rich who do not pay their fair share. Yes we are being conned big time. Rant over.............for now.

[chrisj]

I completely agree with the last post.

Most posties will be happy to deliver charity d2ds for nothing. You might even wonder why we are charging these charities to deliver their promotional materials, the reason is that they are mostly run like a business with the Top Exec getting paid load and so are the professional fundraisers and the tax dodgers that use charities to reduce tax liabilities....

The other thing is that people talk about jobs, yes it is all well and good to have a job but it should be meaningful and sustainable. Cutting all those trees to deliver a load of rubbish that most people simply put in the rubbish bin is giving people jobs but that is just in the short term - it will become unsustainable when it becomes a nuisance and when we have exploited the natural resources that could be better used for something else or saved for the next generation.

If only jobs for jobs sake was the thing then a lot of the traditional jobs will still exist.

And what about those silly pens and pin badges almost all certainly produced in China being included in some of the charity d2ds - that is truly wasteful. It does not promote their cause any more than a simple appeal will have done.

I will prefer the job of delivering leaflets and marketing materials to be predominantly reserved for the likes of students, part timers wanting extra income (mums and others) and others in society (unemployed, refugees, asylum seekers etc) that could benefit with some job and some extra cash - not posties (we are alright).

[clashcityrocker]

I agree entirely with the last post.
I believe we should only deliver letters if the paper is made from trees that have been blown down or grown old gracefully and died on organic certified soil.
No bleaches should be used in the production of the paper.

[chrisj]

Use as much of the natural resources you need not just for the sake of it because it will not last forever.

Most of them end up in landfills with all the artificial inks and chemicals from the paper seeping into the water.

I am not a tree-hugger but d2ds should be targeted - simples! And like I said, this used to be an entry level means of employment and an easy-to-do job that is gradually being mopped up by RM and us. I suppose you missed that point.

[arnold cheshire]

Use as much of the natural resources you need not just for the sake of it because it will not last forever.

Most of them end up in landfills with all the artificial inks and chemicals from the paper seeping into the water.

I am not a tree-hugger but d2ds should be targeted - simples! And like I said, this used to be an entry level means of employment and an easy-to-do job that is gradually being mopped up by RM and us. I suppose you missed that point.

well said chrisj

[The Bundler]

What about the likes of me who work for royal mail at a walk bundling centre bundling the d2ds losing our jobs, the printers the couriers the paper makers etc etc it's really not all about deliveries, just get on with delivering them and stop moaning about them. also we have to put up with lapsing to, and we also finish at our finish time. Also our breaks are timed to the minute.

[clashcityrocker]

Trees are a crop.
You plant them and you harvest them - just like any other agricultural produce.

A few years back didn't RM insist all D2D were from sustainable sources or offer a discount for it.
I can't find it, maybe someone else remembers.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Trees are a crop.
You plant them and you harvest them - just like any other agricultural produce.

A few years back didn't RM insist all D2D were from sustainable sources or offer a discount for it.
I can't find it, maybe someone else remembers.

http://www.royalmail.com/marketing-serv ... or-to-door" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Sustainable Door to Door

http://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/ ... cation.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[chrisj]

An interesting read... But I do not think all D2Ds we deliver are from sustainable sources - that is not what I got from what I have just read.

RM offers such a service - that is commendable but a lot of the D2Ds are produced by others, for example TNT and co.

Anyhow, it is good to know that my concerns and a lot of others are being taken into consideration - so it is not just fanciful...

Having said the above, Virgin Media's current use of D2Ds is just too much and too wasteful. They also use heavily glossed paper with dodgy ink and often use A4 when smaller sizes could do - I doubt their paper is easily recyclable.

Deforestation is a problem for many reasons. Trees are crops, yes, but they do take a long time to grow and harvest and it is not the sort of agriculture that is small scale; the land is just not there these days - many competing interests.

Trees are simply not been replaced at any rate to them being felled and used.
I am not an environmentalist but I do know that lack of trees is damaging to the environment in some many ways.

[OnAFlyer]

Many of the larger charities have turnovers in the hundreds of millions, of course they need to be managed properly and run like a business would be. They are a business. If paying a top chairman/exec a hundred grand a year increases turnover then it's worth it to them.

[Straight4ward]

Since Royal Mail’s inception it has delivered pieces of paper. That’s what we do.
Marketing mail is no different, just more pieces of paper. A perfect fit with what we already do.

Why would we want to turn this business down? We already have the distribution network in place.

It accounts for over 12% of our turnover, more than a £billion of income. Take that away and, yes,
we will lose jobs, posties' jobs.

Do I want to deliver D2Ds? Damn right, I do!

[newtimes]

The 3 Rs
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle

Big money in recycling, no money in reducing.
Our way of life is based on money.

[steve1873]

I don't think 'door-to-doors' have anything to do with keeping posties in work, and nor do they always relate to encouraging individuals to purchase something. Some are for information only (i.e. not from businesses, but the NHS from example).

The issue many find difficult to deal with is how to fit large amounts of mail into frames, sometimes old, incapable frames, on busy days, often a Wednesday or Thursday, take out overweight bags (try getting management to agree that it is ok to leave your overloaded bag!), then deliver your multi-shaped, flimsy, awkward material through tiny, half-opening letterboxes or wall boxes, in the rain, without mashing the contents entirely.

Customers often say things like "more rubbish", and proceed to put the newly-delivered material in the bin/recycling bin. Thanks.

So, it seems most people don't appreciate "more rubbish", and the material causes posties a huge headache... and backache, while making money for Royal Mail. A simple thought though: who would any business conduct such activities that irritate its customers so much, with the potential to seriously damage its own reputation, simply to earn money? Which is more important: reputation, or revenue?

I'll leave that question for others to answer, along with the thought that there is far more to a business than making money, and when it comes to Royal Mail, the service we provide, and have provided for a very long time is one that is integral in our society, and a fundamental part of the community, but for how much longer?

Maybe "door-to-doors" should be renamed "bin-to-bin", since this is where most of the material ends up...

Why on earth would that bother you? They can use it to wipe their @rse with for all I care, I still get paid. Whether they read it, frame it, bin it, eat it, paper their walls with it, use it to fashion some sort of origami giraffe, wrap their grandchildrens birthday presents... none of that is of any concern to me.

[CharlesSpooner]

I'll take as many D2D's as RM want me to. Whether it's 1 lot, 2 lots or 10 lots it's all the same to me.
I come in at my start time and go home at my finish time - what I haven't got time to deliver is my managers problem, not mine.
And they don't cause me any backache - my light-weight trolley copes admirably with the weight.