Life through the letterbox : A snapshot of 21st century living

• A unique insight into the nation’s changing social and consumer habits
• 20 million items of mail analysed between 1995 and 2005

In the first study of its kind ever conducted, Royal Mail has delivered a unique insight into the nation’s social and consumer habits by analysing more than 20 million items of mail sent and received by UK households over a decade.

The ‘Life through the Letterbox’ study reveals the impact of changing demographics and social trends on the UK population and uncovers fundamental differences between the regions’ postbags.

Analysis of 40 different categories of mail received between 1995 and 2005 reveals:

• The nation’s appetite for the good things in life resulted in deliveries of alcohol, food and hampers to homes in the UK increasing from 9.5 million to 39.7 million
• Sales of clothing and shoes were subdued on the High Street*, but home shopping boosted deliveries from 52.5 million to 173.5 million
• People were more likely to speculate to accumulate than a decade earlier, with mail regarding shares increased from 32 million to 40 million
• The DIY generation took to their gardens with gusto as deliveries of gardening equipment and plants soared from 24.8 million to 67.4 million
• Deliveries of sports equipment were up from 4.1 million to 11 million as efforts to stay active increased
• More people look to be saving for a rainy day, with mail regarding savings and investments increased by 110 million – from 243 to 353 million
• The 21st century mantra buy now, pay later resulted in an 98 per cent increase in credit, bank and store cards hitting our doormats
• Keeping up with new technology boosted deliveries of computer equipment from 16.8 million to 39.8 million
• Lottery and pools related mail dropping through the letterbox increased from 10.8 million to 23.9 million
• Armchair shopping became more popular, as the number of home shopping and mail order catalogues landing on doormats doubled from 336 million to 737 million
• With people dreaming of far flung places, mail regarding travel and holidays increased from 102.8 million to 183.5 million
• The advent of email and texting was no substitute for putting pen to paper with substantial increases in birthday cards (25 per cent) and greeting cards (77 per cent) received over the past ten years

Antony Miller, Royal Mail’s Head of Media Development, said: "We deliver mail to every single address in the UK, which puts us in a unique position to provide an insight into the nation’s social and consumer habits by analysing the contents of the UK postbag.

"Our study reveals some fundamental differences between the regions, but comes together to provide a fascinating snapshot of 21st century living. House proud or health conscious, self indulgent or reluctant to spend, Life through the Letterbox provides a rare glimpse into the lives and loves of the British public."

Royal Mail delivered 22 billion items of mail across the UK in 2005 and analysis of the quantity and type of mail delivered across also gives a rare insight into life within each region:

• Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium seems to have raised the Welsh appetite for all things sporting. Last year the Welsh received 1.21 million deliveries of sports equipment, twice as much households in South East England who only received 0.6 million
• Scots live up to their reputation as being financially savvy, with households there receiving 4.8 million items of mail regarding share information, three million more than the Welsh and more than any other UK region
• Fashion conscious shoppers in the North East received 11.4 million deliveries of clothing and shoes against the national average of 8.1 million
• Yorkshire revealed itself to be the book loving capital of the UK with 14.8 million books landing on doormats, twice as many as households in North West England which only received 7.5 million

Dr David Lewis, social and consumer psychologist, commented: "This study offers a real insight into the way we live now. Royal Mail’s unique data is of considerable sociological significance in offering an understanding of how our lives have changed, and are continuing to change, in the new millennium."
Equally, analysis of the type of mail sent from households across the UK during 2005 revealed marked differences between the regions:

• Sentimental Londoners sent more birthday cards than any other region – 26 per cent above the national average – making the city birthday card capital of the UK
• People in the Midlands were more inclined to have a flutter than anywhere else in the UK sending more pools and lottery related mail – 108 per cent above the national average

Ends
Issued on behalf of Royal Mail by Leila Bateman, Cohn & Wolfe, 020 7331 5372, e-mail: [email protected]

Notes to editor:
* ONS Retail Sales Enquiry October 2005
Analysis of 40 different categories of mail received in 2005 reveal the following differences between the regions:
Items received in 2005 Per cent above national average Per cent below national average
Alcohol, food and hampers North West 23% South West 47%
Clothing and shoes North East 41% Midlands 16%
Gardening equipment / plants Wales 56% Central 34%
Sports equipment Wales 71% North East & South West 41%
Credit card statements Wales 37% Scotland 9%
Savings & investments statements London 37% Anglia 35%
Birthday cards South East 22% North East 16%
Books Yorkshire 27% North East 50%
Records / cassettes / CDs South East 69% North East 49%
Postcards South West 50% Wales 51%

Royal Mail’s Consumer Panel was established in 1985 to capture a weekly analysis of Britain’s mail habits.

The Consumer Panel is a diary-based household survey carried out by TNSofres on behalf of Royal Mail. The study is based on diaries completed by panellists, who are representative of Great Britain’s age and social class and geographic spread, and record the post their household receives on a daily basis.

Since 1985 over 100,000 households have been invited to record the mail they have received and TNSofres has punched over 20 million completed data records.