By Chris Yow
Editor
ARGO — Argo Mayor Betty Bradley has been working for close to a year, even during her time as a councilwoman, to stop the problem of unsolicited sales papers being thrown into Argo citizens’ yards. Now, the city has taken action.
A city ordinance was passed Monday night making it illegal for a distributor to deliver publications to citizens who ask not to be included in delivery. A violation could result in a fine between $250 and $500 and not more than six months in jail. Each day a violation occurs would be considered a separate offense.
WHEREAS, this type of unsolicited publication most often is ignored, strewn by the weather, washed away by storm water, washed into drainage structures, and otherwise littered about the community in both public and private areas; and, WHEREAS, the perpetrators of unsolicited publications and handbills delivered throughout the City are not known to the City and methods to make contact with these individuals & companies is highly difficult for the average citizen and the City government; and, WHEREAS, there is no current effort by the perpetrators and/or the associated publishers to control or to manage the distribution of these unwanted publications; and, WHEREAS, the City Council as well as the citizens of the City consider the indiscriminate distribution of unwanted publications and handbills to be litter and a nuisance upon the City.
During the city’s recent clean up day, Bradley said she and other volunteers picked up several papers from ditches.
“We’re not the only city having problems with that. Basically, it’s littering,” Bradley said. “They’re throwing them everywhere, and (the city is) responsible for cleaning them up.”
Resident Eddie Fine said he has to pick up several publications in his subdivision.
“It’s a real nuisance,” Fine said. “I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that way.”
The City of Argo only has one maintenance person, and Bradley said when he is cutting the grass on the side of the roads, it makes that job entirely too difficult. The problem is the papers rarely end up in driveways.
“Instead of putting a stamp on it and putting it into the mail, The Birmingham News has the liberty to throw them into your yard or ditch or wherever it happens to fall,” Fine said.
Bradley began working on a compromise with Advance Central Services representative Tony Heaps close to a year ago while she was a councilperson after a delivery driver was ticketed for littering.
Heaps is the Regional Distribution Manager for The Birmingham News. In an email on May 31, 2016, Heaps said he was under the impression the city would not cite his delivery drivers as it was known the company was working with the city to curb the problem.
“We aren’t asking (police) not to do their job,” Heaps wrote in the email. “We just don’t want an independent contractor who is doing what we are paying them for delivering to get another citation.”
Later in the email, Heaps assured those copied in the email the problem was being corrected.
“If someone gets put on the (do not deliver) list (we will) make sure they aren’t thrown and to go back and do sweeps of houses that have multiple (papers). I can assure you this will be done.”
Bradley said that promise has not been kept.
“We met with (Heaps), and he assured us that if you do not want them they would not deliver it,” Bradley said. “And if they saw more than one paper in your drive, they would have them stop and pick them up. Well, that’s not the case.”
Messages left in an attempt to reach Heaps via telephone and email have not been returned.
Bradley said sometimes there are as many as a dozen papers in a single driveway, and delivery is not every day. She said the ordinance would give citizens a chance to opt out while also placing consequences on the delivery driver. The ordinance states the publisher must provide citizens with reasonable methods to communicate their wish not to be included in delivery. The publisher must provide, at the very least, communication means through telephone, email and postal service for occupants of the premises to opt out of the deliveries.
To opt out, residents must contact the publisher and follow their procedure. Once that has been completed, if the delivery does not stop, a complaint may be filed. Any resident or owner/occupant of property of the City of Argo wishing to make a complaint regarding delivery of an unsolicited publication in violation of this chapter to the property at which they reside, lease or which they own shall provide the following information to the city: the name of the requesting person, the address that was the subject of the request, the date of and method used to make the request, any the tracking number or other reference information provided by the publisher in response to the request; and the name and publication date of the unsolicited publication that is the subject of the complaint.
In addition to the opt out clause, according to the ordinance, the city would require distributors to “use their best efforts to place publications in proximity to the entrances of the property and/or units to which the distributor intends delivery.”
The city attempted to work on the problem months ago, but Bradley’s efforts stalled following the meeting with Heaps. Now as mayor, she said this has been among the things she would like to see passed in order to help keep the city cleaner.
“This has started to pick back up traction since (Bradley) became mayor,” Fine said. “Hopefully she will be able to get them to stop.”
54 Comments
Laura Tarrant Braithwaite
Oh my goodness Betty Bradley thank you so much I get so tired of all that in my yard!!
Pat Yarbrough Buzbee
Does anyone know the phone number you call to stop delivery on these. I get two or three a week it seems.
Drake Riley
I wish Trussville would follow
Sheila Isabell Wood
I so wish Trussville would do it.
Perry Seahorn
Would love for Clay to follow.
Desiree' Lane Ellis
I am so tired of them. We pick them up and send straight to recycle bin. Total waste
Scott Key
I hate those people! I wouldn’t buy anything from anybody in that plastic bag
Scott White
Will Trussville do this? So tired of getting this paper in the blue wrapping.
Janice Richardson
I am glad to see this… just leaves a mess in the neighborhood.
Janice Richardson
Who is doing this?
Peggy Wall
Clay, please stop them
Joni Waltner Ellington
I’ve tried stopping and calling does not help. They do it anyway!
Joni Waltner Ellington
I wish Trussville would do that!!!
Lindsey Larson
Ive called more times than I can count and I have stopped the people as they drive by and tell them stop….I still get them
Matt Coleman
Wish trussville would do this also .i consider it littering crap goes right in the trash
Gerald Hicks
I am requesting our Mayor and CC to consider the same ordinance. Trash.
Kathy Sills
Yayay..i wish trussville would follow
Mary Sue Stevens Landman
Trussville needs this also.
Ruth Breda
I drive from Clay to Trussville to work. If you live in route of my travel then I would be happy to pick them up out of your yard. I plan my shopping by the sales ads and clip coupons. They aren’t consistent with throwing mine 🙁
Chuck Biddinger
It is about time.
Chuck Biddinger
I hope they make you opt in to get the paper in your yard.
Glenda Gilligan
Come on Trussville do it! We’re up to two a week!
Gail Smith Wright
Great idea! Now let’s stop junk mail, and junk phone calls!
Jan Hudson
Way to go Argo!!! Trussville needs to do this! I have emailed 3 times and called the Bham News 2 times and told them to stop throwing the junk in my driveway!! Still happening! I’m about ready to sit in my driveway with a baseball bat! Lol!
Matthew Allen
Opting in or out does absolutely no good. I get two sales papers a week from them and I’ve asked multiple times to opt out, to no avail.
Kim Farley Street
Kevin Wilson
This is good thanks, but now can we work on the overgrown abandoned homes and junk cars in the yards with grass growing up thru them.
Jan Hudson
Kim lol! Yep!!
John Patterson
It IS littering. No other business would be allowed to do it. I do wonder why advertisers continue to buy space. Nobody reads it.. All this said, I do feel sorry for the Birmingham News. Their cheese moved and they didn’t follow.
Steve Turner
Trussville needs to do this as well.
Dave Green
Take notice City of Pelham and Alabaster!
Chris Yow
Hopefully this ordinance will be a way to curb the issue.
Jane Matlock Reeves
Can Clay do this????
Phillip Nelson
Thanks for taking action Mayor Bradley. It’s obvious how much you care for Argo and its citizens.
Philip Sharpe
Good!
Chuck Biddinger
I do NOT click on al..com links. Why give them a link that they can charge for more ads,
Steve Green
We have the same thing in Huntsville.
Richard Hitchcock
Believe me, if there weren’t enough people who wanted and looked forward to the paper, it wouldn’t be there. As one who advertises I constantly try to monitor the effectiveness of our advertising money (To the best I can. The old quip comes to mind, “Half my advertising works, I just don’t know which half!”)
As a consumer, I would like all my news sources to be ad free. Why have glaring advertising every time I read the Trussville Tribune, Birmingham News or Wall Street Journal? (Online or print!). But, that’s the engine which keeps my costs down for receiving information. Every time I turn on the TV, drive down the highway or open my mailbox I get unsolicited information. Most of the time I ignore or chunk. However, I consider it a fair part of living in a capitalistic society where businesses are jockeying for my money.
There is a lot of unsolicited information we receive that, at one point in time, does not impact 98% of the people. But the 2% who want and/or need that unsolicited information at that moment pay the bills. Think, no one pays attention to ads for new roofs until the day after a hail storm.
I’m going to assume most Argo shopping dollars are spent outside of Argo. So there won’t be any local complaint to stopping this form of advertising. But, take away all unsolicited advertising and we will be living in a different society. Watch what you wish.
Ya’ get a free newspaper in your yard? Throw it away. It’s not a big deal. And, there are enough who like it.
John Patterson
Thanks for the other view Richard. It did make me think. By the way, I know you are out of town. If you wish, I will run by your house and pick up those papers so it won’t be so obvious you aren’t home. 😉
Tim Cole
Trussville Mayor Buddy Choat – get this done! Tired of picking this crap up out of my driveway!
Richard Hitchcock
Thanks. Put them on my front door…my wife will be looking for them!
Ryan Jennings
People ask me all the time why the Tribune is in old classic newstand boxes, and the schools and city halls and chambers. THIS is the reason. Our print circ numbers may not be through the roof, but the ones we print get taken by choice which is better for the advertisers. The more I talk to people in Trussville Pinson and Clay, the more I realize we are becoming their number 1 source for local news. My HOA president told me 3 days ago about getting stuck in an accident on 59, and without hesitation he went to the Tribune Facebook page because he knew for a fact we would already be on top of it. This is one of many stories Ive heard from our residents. These papers being thrown in our driveways (in my opinion) are a huge hastle. If I stopped at the mailbox every day like people did 20 years ago, it would be easy to grab the paper while i was out of my car. Now all my bills are paid online, so i check the mailbox once or twice a week at random. So its even more frustrating having to walk out there only to chunk it. Also very selfishly, getting rid of this in Trussville would actually help our paper continue becoming more people’s number one source of local news. As always Mr. Hitchcock, you are very appreciated and your ad dollars are as well. The new building and location is a great benefit for our community!
Richard Hitchcock
Ryan, you are welcome and thanks for the compliment.
The Trussville Tribune is a wonderful addition for Trussville. And we like being part of what you’re doing. My comments had no quibble with it. My observations were to give another take on another paper (like you admitted, your competitor).
There are times when your coverage of news has to be very careful – like when you’re commenting on another paper. As one said it, “Truth is a fickle damsel; she may be wedded to accuracy but often consorts with legend”.
I should have also said that I’m a paid subscriber to the Birmingham News and have been for 27 years. I don’t receive a “free” unsolicited paper so maybe my opinion is jaded.
Again, thanks for what you do. Keep up the good work!
Ryan Jennings
We are working hard every day to take it to the next level! Thanks for your support and belief in us! And . . . . Was a pleasure to finally meet you weekend before last. Casa Fiesta is one of our favorites.
Maria Walters Guttery
Wish Trussville would do this
Nita Stabile Jones
Can Trussville do this too???
Scott Buttram
Just to clarify, I’m not sure these are actual newspapers being thrown in the yards. I think, for the most part, they’re just sales circulars wrapped in a single piece of broadsheet.
Ryan Jennings
Well Ive got 3 in my driveway right now. I’ll let you know.
Matthew Allen
There aren’t many true newspapers being tossed in yards that are unsolicited. Over the Mountain Journal is a notable exception, but of course, it’s not thrown north of Red Mountain. We get two throw each week from AMG, one in a blue bag and another in a pink bag. I just pick them up and throw them away. It’s annoying, but I’m generally not in favor of government regulations that adversely affect the newspaper industry (and, yes, I realize there are non-media companies that can throw crap in our yards as well).
James D. Dunn
Tuscaloosa News got on that kick a few years ago. I requested they stop , to no avail. i finally collected about twenty of these fish wrappers and went to the TNews office and threw them in the door. They got the message.
Kelly Gramling Till
The best part of my dog’s day is playing with the newspaper in the yard
Angie Foust
Can we Please Please get that passed in Trussville/Clay
Leslie Speakman
Birmingham news. Call them and tell them you don’t want it at your house anymore.
Leslie Speakman
Call the Birmingham news. They are the ones doing this. Tell them you no longer want the EXTRA paper.