ST : No quick fix for junk mail menace

Aug 16, 2010

No quick fix for junk mail menace

Pasting fliers on common property attracts fine, but flats' door grilles are a grey area

By Jamie Ee Wen Wei

THEY are here, there, everywhere. It's the invasion of advertising fliers, and Housing Board residents are upset as it seems that very little can be done to put a stop to the problem.

They are irked because the culprits, unable to drop fliers in anti-junk-mail letter boxes, now slip the sheets between flats' door grilles.

The accumulated paper can slip onto the floor and create a mess. The fliers at the door also show that a flat is vacant or the family is away.

While the authorities can fine advertisers for sticking fliers on common property, slotting these sheets into the grilles is a grey area.

Eunos resident Nadia Abdul Muttalib wrote to The Straits Times two weeks ago. The manager in her 30s came home one night to find a pile of ash outside a neighbouring unit which had been vacant for some months. She suspected that pranksters had set fire to fliers left outside it.

Her corridor has also been strewn with fliers from estate agents and home maintenance firms, among others.

The litterbugs should be stopped, she said in her Aug3 letter, which prompted at least 11 others to write in.

Sengkang resident Mark Chan, 32, travels once every three months, and is worried that an accumulation of fliers outside flats could be a telltale sign that no one is home, making them a target for burglars.

Advertisers have resorted to such tactics as a result of anti-junk-mail locking devices installed on letter boxes in HDB estates. These mean fliers cannot be slotted in.

MPs interviewed acknowledge their residents' complaints, adding that there is no straightforward solution to the longstanding problem.

Aljunied GRC MP Cynthia Phua says the town council there has fined businesses for sticking advertisements on common property in the estate, but not for leaving fliers at the door.

'It's neither vandalism nor littering because they are left at the door grille,' said the Aljunied Town Council chairman, noting that the issue is a tricky one.

It is an offence to paste fliers on common property without prior written approval from the town council. The maximum penalty is $5,000.

Madam Halimah Yacob, a Jurong GRC MP, said the town council there receives an average of five complaints a month about unwanted fliers left at residents' doors.

Jurong Town Council has put up noticeboards at the lift lobbies of 10 residential blocks and commercial buildings in the town centre for advertisers to use for free. She said this solution has been quite effective, though not wholly so.

The town council also advises junk mailers to advertise in its newsletter.

Ms Lee Bee Wah, an MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, flagged the issue of unwanted fliers in Parliament in May.

In its written reply, the Ministry of National Development said the town councils and HDB cannot stop businesses - estate agencies included - from distributing fliers to HDB households. It advised residents to refrain from responding to the fliers to discourage such marketing practices.

Mr Ben Ang, 29, who runs a printing and distribution firm, said his staff avoid units which carry 'No fliers' signs. 'If there is a notice outside the home to say no depositing of junk mail, we will respect the family,' he said.

Estate agent Albert Wong, 50, defended such door-to-door distribution, saying it is targeted, and it works. He is thinking of using telemarketing but feels fliers are 'less intrusive' because one can easily throw them away.

'Unless we go back to using the old letter box system, I have no choice but to distribute the fliers door to door,' he said.

jamieee@sph.com.sg


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DIFFICULT TO FINE

'It's neither vandalism nor littering because they are left at the door grille.'

Aljunied GRC MP Cynthia Phua, noting that the issue was a tricky one