Door to Doors

[briantwigley]

Getting back at 11:45??? Most of the time we don't get out till at least then.

[Ossie From Preston]

If you was to steal a bag of mail and a bundle of door to doors Royal Mail count every item of the letters and the door to doors for the courts and press so therefore it' counts as live mail so anyone taking door to doors home should be sacked, and anyone who takes them home to put them together should be sacked hung drawn and quartered the losers.

[BingBong]

Hitcher, you prep them by putting them all together instead of one at a time into the frame. It was well worth it when we got paid on piece-rate. But I still prefer to prep as I put into the frame as I cannot be dealing with loose heavily glossed papers of all sorts of shapes and sizes. I just put the d2ds into the biggest one - easier for me although the marketeer might not like it

We've been told we aren't allowed to put them altogether in one now. We have to put them seperately for some reason.

[fishtank]

We've been told we aren't allowed to put them altogether in one now. We have to put them seperately for some reason.

You were never meant to "nest" them...even way back in the day....but it was and still is ignored in most offices.
The reason is simple,the customer doesn't want his/her leaflet hidden away inside another...and to be honest you can see their point.

[BingBong]

We've been told we aren't allowed to put them altogether in one now. We have to put them seperately for some reason.

You were never meant to "nest" them...even way back in the day....but it was and still is ignored in most offices.
The reason is simple,the customer doesn't want his/her leaflet hidden away inside another...and to be honest you can see their point.

Yep...dont want to miss out on their weekly dominoes leaflet...

[fishtank]

The reason is simple,the customer doesn't want his/her leaflet hidden away inside another...and to be honest you can see their point.

Yep...dont want to miss out on their weekly dominoes leaflet...

You're mistaking customer for recipient.
I'm talking about the real customer,the one who paid for the leaflet to delivered through the door in a way that the recipient might hopefully see it.
As opposed to sticking it inside something else..making the whole "advertisement" thing slightly pointless.
I'm not a big fan of D2D,in fact i hate the stuff but if we're going to take their money to help pay our wages we should really try to provide the service they are paying for...otherwise they are likely to piss off elsewhere which might sound great...until the P45 arrives.

[bag69]

Dont forget that D2D is now officially classed as unaddressed LIVE mail. RM are looking for any excuse to get rid of people, DONT play into their hands. If they want they can sack you for this. Might be fine now, but piss them off later on over something trivial and it is a ready made excuse for the dole queue. CYA at all times.

[chrisj]

Dominoes Pizza are actually one of the lucky ones - they tend to use A4 paper with a space to insert other leaflets. Given that I have a huge frame with many double slots; there is no way that I am going to be putting one potsy, flimsy leaflet one at a time. It takes more than 20 minutes as it is and anything above 4 D2Ds means I will likely not finish my round. I cannot even pick up some of the leaflets - I don't fancy the saliva method...

Having seen how D2Ds and letters are mixed up when I cover already thrown rounds on OT, I will continue to do it my way unless specifically told my DOM. The DOMs, LM, OPGS and folks on light duties throw out a lot of D2Ds in my office, and my other round in the pair comes under this category - it is not good. Letters in between, letters stuck in the leaflets, D2Ds in front or at the back of letter - no consistency.

Most of my misdeliveries tend to have to do with D2D issues...

Another thing is that modern letter boxes have become such a struggle to get things through and the bulk of the D2Ds help push the letters through. Imagine having an A5, A4 or sometimes almost A3 newsletter to put through; and those pesky Direct Lines ones or angular Red Cross promotions

[POSTMAN]

It's seriously not hard to throw the s**t in,it takes some time at times but s**t happens.
Also my walk takes me ages,any ideas on how i can piss that while were here?

[dvbuk55]

It's seriously not hard to throw the s**t in,it takes some time at times but s**t happens.
Also my walk takes me ages,any ideas on how i can piss that while were here?

Yes walk faster or jog you slacker

[Postie45]

if D2D is now treated as live mail then I`d think that taking it home is NOT an option.

[thecyclingexpostie]

as someone who has produced the wretched things before i was a postie, i offered comment/asked questions of the current d2d policy. rm's response (including my original comments)… laughable in parts…

Many thanks for your thoughts on Royal Mail Door to Door. I have broken down your email in chunks and responded to each part.

Please see attached.

Q. When getting business for new d2d contracts, can we provide the client with some mechanical data (e.g. min/max dimensions, min/max stock weight) that would enable the d2ds be more postie/customer friendly.

A. The product specification is clearly spelled out to the customer in all the literature and on line – for example :

Are there any size specifications?

Your item should not be heavier than 100g or have a thickness greater than 17mm. The minimum size an item can be is 70mm x 100mm. The maximum size an item can be (folded) is 297mm x 210 mm.

As long as the items conform to our size and weight limits, we set no other restrictions on the creative – apart from a requirement that the content :


· does not “cause embarrassment to RM, RM’s employees or the person who will receive the item;

· does not harm, or are likely to harm, RM’s reputation;

is banned or restricted by law or by any regulations or guidelines;
· is dangerous (that is, are banned by law or could harm people).


What we will do is act on front line feedback, particularly with health and safety concerns. We have in the past asked customers to change their items – e.g. not using crystal cases for CDs, addressing ink transfer issues.

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Q.It is quite standard practice to do this; newspapers require inserts to be of a certain dimension, and below a certain weight, so it is not imposing anything too onerous on the d2d client. i speak as someone with years of experience producing such material myself. i'd recommend that leaflets were set at the size of an average bundle of mail and avoid a4, as a4 leaflets tend to fall foul of the runner bands in the bundles and rip, even with decent stock.



A. As previously stated we do set out size and weight restrictions. With regard to A4 items, these are an increasing proportion of our D2D traffic, particularly in the retail sector that is seen as one of our growth areas. To exclude items of this size would only send potential customers to our competitors who most certainly welcome them, as evidenced by the A$ retail items that are often included in my two local free newspapers.

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Q. Perhaps it might also be worth adding a logo which suggests that rm 'recommends' the advertising material to the customer; it might make it feel less like the junk mail that my customers clearly (and vocally) consider it to be.



It would be wholly wrong for RM to endorse any of the customers for whom we deliver D2D. That is not how the Business works, and we would almost certainly fall foul of competition and regulatory law. However, we do allow our D2D customers to incorporate a logo (see below) to show that the item has been delivered by Royal Mail. This in itself may make the item more noticeable on the doorstep. The tag of ‘junk mail’ is easily used, not just at D2D but also to much Mailsort and nowadays DSA mail too. However, for D2D it has to be remembered that we have many customers that come to us regularly and pay us their hard earned advertising cash – so it must be working for them !



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Q. rm clearly considers d2d as an important part of the business, so making sure that the advertising material reaches the customer in top shape, rather than a ripped, scrunched up mess, must make sense.


A. We have every expectation, and requirement, that all mail gets through the letter box in a good condition. That includes D2D, so when walk bundles are being made up care should be taken to ensure the security and integrity of all the mail pieces. Of course changing the D2D specification wouldn’t take away the same issues that can be evident with addressed mail – i.e. poly-wrapped A4 magazines etc.

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Q. recent d2d nightmares i've seen include: a tiny booklet for direct line, which sits so low in the frame that it's easily missed, and ends up falling out of the bundle with monotonous regularity (especially when combined with a high-gloss virgin media leaflet); a4 leaflets for the co-operative, which if there is even a touch of moisture in the air turn into unmanageable pulp, and in any case shred when placed anywhere near a rubber band.



A. As above, we don’t try to tell our customers what to send, the market place will determine the suitability and success of any given creative. What we can do is to try to influence their choices when we have evidence of issues like the unsuitability of a paper etc. However, in the final analysis, the customer will make their mailing choices dependent upon their requirements – if RM can offer them a service within the stated specification then we will do so. If we don’t then there are other providers out there who will, and probably at a cheaper rate. Lost business is harder to recover than new getting new business – so the fewer obstacles that we have to put in the way of potential customers the better it is for all of us.

Hope this provides satisfactory answers to your enquiry and many thanks for taking the time to contact us.