I thought I’d share with you this morning’s post bag of seven items. I quite enjoy opening post, so this lot has fallen to me since we’ve moved in. Today’s haul fell into two categories (neither of them involving cheques, lovenotes or cards for the family):
Real church business
- An invoice from the vestry photocopier supplier for £6.96
Unsolicited church mail
- Advert for Oberammergau passion plays trips from Inter-Church Travel
- Publicity for Oberammergau passion plays trips (costing over £1,000) and some other holiday expeditions from the local First Choice Travel shop
- Appeal from Build Africa
- Retail essentials magazine
- Marketing from a local supplier of mobility equipment
- Mailing from Agape, looking for professionals to serve in their operations and human resources department.
I am trying to cut back on the straight to bin filing method by cutting mailings off at source. Just opening these things takes time and I reckon I must have recycled at least one tree of junk mail by now. No-one at all in our church would have the money or the inclination to go to Oberammergau, so I am returning these to the sender, with a note on the front asking them to remove us from their mailing list.
I am doing the same with the Build Africa mailing. Worthy though they no doubt are, our small church cannot support them as well as the other fourteen charities we give to on a regular basis. Retail essentials is getting the same treatment. I think they started sending it when the church hall kitchen was refurbished.
I think I will put the Agape brochure in the back of church, but I am not sure what to do with the mailing from the mobility shop. I’m tempted to return it to sender too. It’s tricky to handle these things with grace. A church is not a marketing agency, but we obviously want to be compassionate towards those trying make a living during this tricky economic time.
When the Vicar and I moved in here, we registered with the Mailing Preference Service, but this sadly doesn’t seem to work for items addressed to the church. I guess the church must count as a business. If you’re a Vicar or Vicar’s wife, how much church junk mail do you get and what do you do with it? How do you avoid drowning in the stuff?
The Vicar's Wife 
Bizarre – we got 4 of those same items this morning too. Do you think the church can be registered with mail prefernce service too – or do you have to be a person!
Which four Kate? Are Church House selling clergy mailing lists? I think we should be told!
Completely unrelated, re your latest twitter & the sink problem, you could see calling a plumber as a local networking / witness opportunity… albeit an expensive one.
Good idea étrangère, but the diocese are meant to pay as it’s (sort of) their house, so they choose the plumber. I think the Vicar will have a go first though.