Social
Innovation
Camp
Nov 2008
Submission
support
presentation

Meet Joe.

?
He oen
gets post he
doesn’t
really want.

But not
enough to
call
companies,
and ask
them to stop
sending it.

So he throws
it away.

He knows
it’s wasteful.
But hey.
He’s busy
and he has a
life to live.

This story
keeps
happening
across the
country.

The Result?

Sixteen
billion items 16,000,000,000!
of junk mail
each year.

More than
137 million
tonnes of 137,000,000!
junk mail
waste each
year

25% of
household TWENTY FIVE
paper waste PERCENT - oh, you
get the idea.
is junk mail

Won’t
someone
think of the
children
trees?

(ahem)
It’s enough
to make you
to go...
Postal

Postal is an
app
designed to
stop this Postal
story
happening.

Here’s how
the new
story is now Postal
different...

Joe gets
direct mail
from
NiceCorp.
He doesn’t
really want
it.

He can’t be
bothered to
stay on hold
with an
0845 line.

He’s too
lazy to sign
up with the
UK Mail
Preference
Service

But he can
just about be
bothered to
send a text
message to
a SMS
shortcode.
(i.e.68604)

Whenever
Joe gets 3G
Carrier Name
Th 04/17/2008
mail he POSTAL
NICECORP NOKIA N95
240 X 320
doesn’t Soft Button Soft Button
want, he
texts Postal
[company
name]
(thanks twitter!)

Postal sends
a polite
email on his
behalf
asking for no
more
junkmail.
(thanks, thenag.net!)

Postal
follows up
each week
for Joe...
(thanks mySociety!)

...until he
gets
confirmation
that he has
been
removed.

Postal tells CO2 saved Paper saved
him how (tonnes) (tonnes)
much paper Just you 0.5 0.15
and CO2 he You and
and other everyone
else on
5670 3000
users are Postal
saving by
doing this.
(thanks AMEE!)

Postal also Nicecorp NastyCorp
lists publicly Response
4 days 26 days
how time
responsive CO2 used
(tonnes)
400k 1.8bn
the company Paper
is, and its used
(tonnes)
150 45,000
impact.
(thanks getsatisfaction.com!)

He feels
smart, green
(and slightly
smug).

Doing this
gives other
benefits.

When he
moves
house,
updating his
address with
Postal
updates it
everywhere.
(thanks openid!)

Postal
provides a
dashboard
for his postal
mail - he
can switch
mail on and
off at will.
(thanks oAuth!)

Why would
NiceCorp
play ball?

Carrots, not
sticks.

Joe may not
want direct
mail form
NiceCorp...

...but he
might up for
.ical
for switching
to their
podcast,
email
newsletter,
rss feed etc.

Postal gives
Joe a way to
control how .ical
he hears
from
NiceCorp in
ways that
suit him
best.

This means
he’s more
.ical
likely to
actually care
about what
he’s sent,
and act on
it.

Old and
busted:

.ical
Brand new
hotness.

Go
Don’t let
junk mail
drive you
mad. Postal

Feedback?
Say hi on twitter:
See you on chris_d_adams
the 19th! derfred
willustration
kiran255