Don't be afraid of a deluge of junk mail. Postcodes will mean a better quality of life, writes Alex Pigot.
An Post decided in the early 1990s not to introduce postcodes in Ireland. Why? Because it did not want anyone else to compete with its business.
Fair enough. That was its commercial decision, and in my view the correct commercial decision for it at that time.
But that time is now past, and that decision must be reviewed. A modern state in the 21st century needs postcodes, not just for post but for its everyday quality of life.
The recently published Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Postcode Working Group (PWG) report presented to Noel Dempsey, and now accepted by Government, tells us that An Post says it does not need postcodes and that the costs will be onerous if it is forced to use postcodes. However, by adopting the PWG recommendations Mr Dempsey has made the right decision and come down in favour of everyone else's general interest (and arguably even An Post's in the long run).
Why? Because for citizens, consumers, businesses including utilities, local government and central Government departments, a postcode system is a useful thing. Postcodes minimise wasteful mailings, identify locations quickly in emergency situations, identify locations when we want a pizza delivered or to go fill in a pothole, or build a hospital or water scheme, so providing all of us with a better quality of life.
So even if An Post does not want to use our Irish postcode there are enough good reasons why we should use them anyway. And I disagree with An Post that it does not need postcodes, or that the cost of using them will be onerous.
The EU-commissioned WIK Consult report from July 2004 tells us that postcodes mean increased volumes, so if An Post uses postcodes it should relieve the pressure on its reported losses.
And regarding the costs of installing an Irish postcode system, I believe that the cost (of computer programs and other system changes) to An Post will be minimal and paid in no time by the reallocation of existing resources in the sorting centres because of the efficiencies postcodes bring.
But who will bear the cost of maintaining the postcode system? The answer is businesses, as they have so much to gain.When postcodes are introduced in Ireland it will be businesses which will ask, as you open a bank account or check into a hospital or order a taxi or pizza or telephone line or order a delivery over the internet or an emergency service, "What is your postcode?"
And so it will be business, and not An Post nor the State, which will bear the cost of maintaining the Irish postcode system. And it will be business and the people of Ireland who will truly gain by their introduction, including having a more sustainable affordable postal service and more efficient and economic delivery of goods and services required.
But will postcodes lead to vast amounts of junk mail? Will they lead to virgin jungle forests being torn down in Third World countries only to end up as mountains of landfill in Ireland? The answer is emphatically No. First, all European mail is produced from paper that comes from farmed forests across Europe, just as our milk, bread and meat come from farmed animals and crops.
Second, all mail is recyclable and when put in a pile outside your back door beside the bottles, newspapers, cardboard, plastic (of all types) etc the difference that mail items make in terms of volume of recyclable materials is virtually unnoticeable.
Third, junk mail is advertising mail sent to addresses where the people at that address have no interest in receiving it, and this is a waste of everyone's time and money (and at 70c approximately per mail item it is real money), and businesses, like consumers, do not want this wasteful mistake to repeat itself.
So if you get advertising mail you don't want then deal with it as follows: send the mail item back to the company that sent it.
Use the reply envelope provided, or the freepost address provided or the return address on the envelope and ask that you be taken off their marketing mail database.
Even though they may have to pay An Post for the return postage, they will be delighted to receive it.
Alex Pigot is managing director of TICo Group Ltd, a bulk mail producer, chairman of the Irish Direct Marketing Association and a member of the Minister's postcode working group