Wednesday 21 February 2007

Letter boxes

The petition is entitled improve letter boxes, and the explanatory notes read
"Delivering to the public is an important part of political engagement. We call for legislation to make it easier for voters to be engaged by requiring all letter boxes to be:

*Located at a clear height *Easy to post through *Designed to allow leaflets to be posted without destroying them *Designed to protect people's hands when posting *Dog proof

In addition we call for doors to have the number clearly displayed and doorbells to be easy to find (with defunct doorbell buttons removed)."

It must be said that the first thing I noticed about this petition was the creator: Tim Roll-Pickering. Back when I was a student officer, he was a notorious activist from the University of Kent at Canterbury - one of the comparatively-rare Conservative Future student activists. I'm not sure I ever met him and I certainly didn't know him well (I think we posted to some of the same mailing lists, that sort of thing), but his name has continued to crop up from time to time in the six years since, and of course it's rather memorable. So I was amused to see a barking petition from him here.

Then I looked at the title and wondered. I mean - even for Tim, it was particularly barking. Very limited. Was it, I wondered, someone spoofing him? Taking the mickey? Then I read the explanatory notes.

No, it probably is him. I quite agree (I was a papergirl, after all, and I delivered Sunday papers, which are too big for most letter boxes) that I wish people would have sensible letter boxes. On the other hand, I can't quite see that it's worth legislating about ...

(Mind you, some student friends of mine are currently renting a house where the doorbell is too high for me, at 5'2.5", to reach. That's just silly.)

2 comments:

Tim Roll-Pickering said...

Maybe the petition is a little barking but then numerous letter boxes (and dogs behind them) are biting! ;-)

But on a more serious note, as you say, I think anyone who has ever had to post things through lots of letter boxes will totally agree with the sentiments behind the petition. (Indeed I first drafted it on the train back from a day's leafletting, completely with a well scraped hand.) But whilst this is a problem well known about amongst deliverers, it's often forgotten that many others never notice this. Highly telling was the account by one person who signed the petition who is normally a rabid libertarian but whose parents for a long time could never understand why their mail and newspapers were always ripped, or why postmen and paperboys/girls were always swearing outside. Then a friend worked in the sorting office one summer and discovered that their letter box was considered one of the worst in the district.

Most boxes are positioned when homes are built before anyone has taken occupancy and it would not hurt for architects and builders to always ensure that if nothing else the box is positioned at a sensible height and there's enough space (and perhaps even design it to be naturally draft proof without needing very strong springs or brushes that are impossible to penetrate).

The problem is often overlooked and sometimes it feels something needs to be done to at least raise awareness and get people thinking about the issue - something that the Downing Street website is good for (indeed the number of signatures has tripled in the last few days - possibly because of your very own post). Maybe there are other answers than legislation but certainly doing something about it would be beneficial for all.

Anonymous said...

In the U.S.A. such requirements have been regulated and in place for more than 40 years. It is a boon. And it is simple. And it would get our post through quicker, particularly from part-time, unqualified employees of the "royal" post who have trouble getting even the house numbers right. Tim is not that barking on this one!