more than 87million flyers were delivered by the company in the year following its privatisation  royal mail has stepped up the amount of junk mail it stuffs through our doors since it was sold off by the government, new figures show more than 87million flyers were delivered by the company in the year following its privatisation – sparking fears that it risks becoming a ‘leaflet distributor’ in the 12 months after privatisation, postmen pushed almost 50,000 more leaflets and advertising letters through our doors every single day, compared to the previous year it means almost 32bn items of ‘unaddressed’ junk mail were delivered in just one year – almost double the 17bn delivered annually five years ago these figures do not even include the vast quantities of ‘addressed’ junk mail also delivered, which have the names of occupants on the envelope the rise in unsolicited mail has proved lucrative for royal mail, which is struggling from increased competition in the parcels market and a fall in the number of ordinary letters being posted revenue from ‘marketing mail’ – addressed and unaddressed – has soared to £11bn a year, earning them £3million a day critics last night called for royal mail to reduce the amount of ‘nuisance’ junk mail it delivers or risk becoming a ‘leaflet distributor’ royal mail admitted junk mail had become an ‘important component’ of its business, and insisted many households found advertising flyers ‘useful’ but much of unwanted junk mail is never opened and ends up being thrown straight into the bin – causing an environmental headache while some households recycle takeaway menus and pamphlets, many tonnes of junk mail end up in landfill – costing councils tens of millions of pounds to dispose of a spokesman for the local government association said: ‘junk mail is a blight on the nation’s doormats ‘not only is it a nuisance to pick up and throw away, it adds thousands of tonnes to the waste councils have to pick up creating additional costs for tax payers ‘royal mail and its direct marketing clients have to do far more to reduce the torrent of junk mail’ robert rijkhoff, of the stop junk mail campaign, said marketing mail was ‘the worst form of advertising’ because it was foisted upon households without their consent he said: ‘royal mail needs to make money but, if they deliver more and more junk mail as a source of income, in the long term i am not sure it is a sustainable business ‘royal mail is delivering less and less letters they are risking that, in time, they will become a leaflet distributor’ critics claim that some junk mail contain scams sent by fraudsters from overseas critics said the company was running the risk of being labelled a 'leaflet distributor' with fewer letters being posted every year  in 2011, the national fraud authority claimed the royal mail logo was seen by some victims as a stamp of legitimacy, making the scammers appear more trustworthy at the time, mike haley, director of the national fraud authority, royal mail and other delivery firms needed to ‘understand the terrible consequences of delivery of this mail to some people’ royal mail said the rise in marketing mail was due to the improved british economy, as companies found they had more money to advertise their goods and services a spokesman said: ‘marketing mail is mail like any other – it is our job to deliver the mail companies use direct mail because it has proven results ‘many households find the information useful three in five people have acted in response to a piece of advertising mail in the last 12 months as a direct result of receiving door to door marketing material’ as people increasingly stop posting letters in favour of email and text messages, royal mail said marketing mail was an important source of income it said profit from this junk mail was important to ensure the survival of the universal service – its obligation to deliver to every address in britain, six days a week, for the same price they added that revenue from marketing mail helped to ‘keep uk stamp prices among the best value in europe’ despite this claim, first and second class stamps will rise by a penny to 63p and 54p respectively on march 30, sparking claims that loyal customers are being forced to prop up flagging revenue the news sparked accusations from mps that royal mail had taken the ‘easy option’ to raise stamp prices instead of fighting for new custom by improving its services adrian bailey, chairman of the influential business select committee, said royal mail must invest in new technology and focus on efficiency, rather than simply increasing prices to boost profits
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