Protesting the Publisac Nuisance

Publisac is a local Québec division of Transcontinental Media (to the best of my knowledge). Publisac, among other activities, delivers plastic bags filled with advertising to private residences. Publisac delivers these bags whether you want them or not–at least, that is true in my case. Publisac’s operations contradict the company’s statement of ethics, the Flyer Distribution Standards Association (FDSA) accreditation standards, Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) standards, and articles 6 & 8 of Montréal by-law D4.

In the following I will detail my experience with Publisac and explain why I will boycott the companies delivered in the Publisac advertising. I will provide some (I hope) useful and informative links to encourage anyone else being repeatedly subjected to unwanted advertising waste to raise awareness of the issue. I am only posting this after repeatedly asking Publisac to cease deliveries to me and then warning Publisac (on my fifth attempt to have deliveries stopped) that I would make this a public issue if they did not comply. 

Background

I live in a condominium. It is one of a total of four units in a building. My neighbours and I own the building through our respective units in a coproprietor coop arrangement. Publisac employees walk up and down the street every week affixing plastic bags (filled with advertising) to people’s doors or leaving them elsewhere on the property. I do not want what Publisac distributes. When I receive a bag of advertising, I immediately dump it into my recycling bin without even looking at the contents. It is a nuisance and worse, a great waste of paper, plastic, and other resources (more on the waste issue in a moment). All of my neighbours and I have put clear signs on our residences stating that we do not wish to receive advertising.

Publisac’s response is to come on to our private property and leave their unwanted advertising on the staircase which connects our individual condos, rather than at any one of our individual residences. My only guess is that they must believe they’re somehow not violating anyone’s statement against receiving the advertising. I think it’s clear however, that if all four condos in a building of only four condos have signs posted indicating not to deliver advertising, there can be no excuse to still deliver the advertising. Even if one condo did not have such a sign, it would not be acceptable for Publisac to leave the advertising in a private, shared space rather than at that one particular condo’s address.

I wrote to Publisac in October 2010, using their online contact form. I requested politely that they stop delivering their advertising to my residence (I included my full address). They responded asking me for my address again or to call them. I did. I wrote back with my address and received a response about a week later asking if the deliveries had stopped. They had not and I said so. Another week passed and I received another e-mail asking the same question. It seemed I hadn’t received anything. Another week passed and I received another e-mail, but this time I’d again received a Publisac delivery. After that it just went downhill and I continued to receive delivery after delivery. It’s now December and I’m still receiving their deliveries after telling them in frequent, no uncertain terms that I want them to cease delivery.

In the following, I’m going to detail the various organizations I contact to report Publisac to and request action. So far nothing has worked but I hope that one or more of these organizations will have an impact. My motivation in writing this page is provide other people with the same problem as me, links to helpful resources, and to publicly shame Publisac’s bad business practices. I am at the point where I’m ready to boycott any of the companies that advertise with Publisac and would like to urge others to do the same.

What to Do?

As you might imagine, the fact that I spent my own money to purchase a sign (and time to make an additional one), affix these to my condo (ugly signs, by the way, do little to help the appearance of our residence), and then have Publisac continuously come to my private property and ignore my wishes, is rather galling. I did some research to find out what, if any, regulations Publisac is breaking. I discovered Publisac is breaking quite a few. I contacted Publisac directly and asked them to cease deliveries to my address. Before I discuss my communications with Publisac, let me tell you about what they’re violating.

1) The Flyer Distribution Standards Association (FDSA) Accreditation

If you look at this page on Publisac’s Web site, you will see a section calling out Publisac’s accreditation with the FDSA, saying that it has met the FDSA’s seven steps of quality distribution. The notice links to the FDSA’s page explaining the accreditation program. The page states

“The FDSA audit methodology determines a distributor’s compliance with the FDSA’s Seven Steps of Quality Distribution. It is the distributor member’s responsibility to implement and maintain their quality control standards to meet these criteria. Distributors that meet the audit’s criteria will be awarded FDSA Audit Accreditation. Audit Accreditation must be renewed annually.”

Note how the audit requires annual renewal, well the FDSA listing of accredited organizations shows Publisac having last been accredited on 27 April 2009. The FDSA page was updated on 19 May 2010, so it will be interesting to see if Publisac still appears once the page gets updated. The accreditation process, as far as I can tell, is handled through another organization called BPA Worldwide. On their accreditation page for the FDSA, they post the e-mail address of a person to contact with inquiries, which I’ve done and received a speedy and informative response about some upcoming updates. BPA certainly seems to take this issue seriously. When I find out more, I’ll include it in this post.

You might wonder, what are the seven steps involved in an FDSA audit? They list the steps in this handy PDF file. In step IV it states

“c. Maintaining of “Do Not Deliver” Lists
1. Do Not Deliver requests are communicated to carriers within one week.
2. A list of Do Not Deliver addresses is maintained.”

Based on this requirement, the fact that the signs on our condos clearly indicate we do not want these deliveries, this information should have been updated on Publisac’s do-not-deliver lists. Furthermore, any one of my 6 repeated attempts over the course of a couple months, to explicitly ask for my address to be removed from their distributions, should also have been enough to address this item. Publisac has yet to satisfy this requirement, thus it is in violation of its FDSA accreditation.

I contacted the FDSA on at least three occasions to report this violation, unfortunately the FDSA never once responded to my complaints/inquiries. Thus I cannot say whether or not the FDSA has taken any action toward making Publisac comply with the accreditation it bestowed upon Publisac.

2) The Montréal By-law

We have a by-law (English/Français) concerning the distribution of advertising material (by-law D-4). To read the full text of the by-law, you can download a PDF (English/Français). The current version of this by-law has been in effect since 1996.

In brief, it explains the following. Article 6 says that it is prohibited to place or have advertising on private property unless the advertising is placed in certain areas. The by-law states which areas are acceptable but it does not state that a staircase between condos is acceptable. Article 8 explains that even the areas permitted in Article 6 are unacceptable if the owner or occupant places a sign refusing the material.

The following photos are of the signs my neighbours and I have placed on our residences. I don’t believe any of these are ambiguous in meaning–they all indicate that we refuse to receive the advertising (click them for a bigger image).

Anyone that does not obey the by-law is guilty of an offence and subject to fines. The by-law states that a corporation is liable up to $600 for the first offence, $1000 for the second offence, and $2000 for the third offence. Publisac has now incurred more than five offences in my case.

3) Transcontinental Media’s Code of Ethics

Remember, Publisac is a part of Transcontinental. They like to remind you with this little image at the foot of all the Publisac Web pages. Because of that, it seems to me that they ought to be operating under the principles of the parent company, namely Transcontinental’s code of ethics (PDF). I read the code of ethics and noticed several items, which I believe would apply to this situation. I’ll quote them below.

On page 1, under the heading of Purpose of the Code of Ethics, it says

“The purpose of the  Code of Ethics is to protect the reputation for integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality of Transcontinental and its Canadian and foreign subsidiaries by establishing rules for its officers, directors, and employees with respect to integrity, confidentiality, conduct and conflicts of interest. . . It is important for every officer, director and employee to periodically read the Code, because ultimately, correct conduct is everyone’s responsibility and familiarity with the Code enables proper use of its guiding principles in daily decisions and actions.”

This confirms that Publisac is expected to abide by this code of ethics. In which case, I believe there are at least two very pertinent sections, where Publisac has missed the boat.

On page 5, section 5.2 is titled “Respect for Laws” and says (emphasis mine)

“Transcontinental’s activities must be carried out in full compliance with the laws and regulations governing Transcontinental in Canada and in other countries. The person concerned shall refrain from directly or indirectly contravening the law through an act of commission or omission that could result in a violation of the law. The person concerned shall also demonstrate loyalty to Transcontinental by prohibiting any fraudulent practice and by treating all customers, suppliers and competitors fairly.

Compliance with Transcontinental’s rules, policies and internal procedures is mandatory. A professional working at Transcontinental must also follow the rules of conduct and code of ethics of his or her profession. A person concerned who knows of an event or situation that is irregular or could violate the law, this Code of Ethics or Transcontinental’s policies shall promptly inform one of the following: the Corporate Vice President, Human Resources; the Vice President, Legal Affairs and Corporate Secretary; or the Director of Internal Audit.A director shall notify the chair of the Corporate Governance Committee.”

“Transcontinental’s relations with its customers are based on honesty, credibility and mutual trust.The person concerned who comes into contact with customers shall act with integrity, diligence and competence and treat customers respectfully and courteously.”

“…To society and the environment

Transcontinental’s decision-making and business operations are conducted in a manner that respects the environment…”

“It costs the province of Quebec an estimated $1million a year to recycle all this junk-mail, which often arrives in the recycling bin straight from the mailbox un-read! And what’s more? According to our own McGill Marketing profs, unsolicited ads aren’t even an effective Marketing tool for many of the businesses who practice it. Considering most perpectives, these distributions are a waste and a nuissance.”

4) The Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) Membership

Let me say a word about the CMA in this situation. Transcontinental is a member of the CMA. In case that link stops working, I’ve put a screenshot on the right.

The CMA has a code of ethics and standards of practice page. It’s informative. After reading it, I found myself thinking that Transcontinental (by way of Publisac) was not taking this code very seriously. I just mentioned the environmental impact above, well the CMA says it’s concerned about that (emphasis mine).

“Marketers recognize and acknowledge a continuing responsibility to manage their businesses to minimize environmental impact.

This responsibility should include the use of: targeted marketing techniques to improve the efficiency of addressed and unaddressed direct mail, printed advertising, brochures and inserts; environmentally friendly product packaging and shipping materials; recycled papers and environmentally benign inks and other materials; materials recycling programs; and the active encouragement of environmental responsibility among members of the business community.

In addition, marketers must use CMA’s Do Not Contact Service for consumer campaigns to reduce unwanted mailings and faxes, and thereby reduce wasted materials.”

Transcontinental (by way of Publisac) fails to recognize and acknowledge its responsibility to minimize environmental impact. It knows that my neighbours and I do not want its printed advertising, yet it continues to deliver it, wasting resources.

I was happy to see that the CMA has an online form enabling you to remove yourself from its members’ marketing lists. I recently filled in the form. We will see if it has an effect. Regardless, I’d already made the request directly with Publisac and as mentioned in the FDSA guidelines above, Publisac was supposed to have removed me from its distribution. I should not be required to do this in multiple places. Here is the link to the CMA form. The CMA helpfully points out that this form does not cover telemarketing. If you want to be removed from telemarketing lists, you need to go to the national do not call list.

In section I. Universal Marketing Practices, the CMA code of conduct says

“I18 Complaints

Marketers must establish and communicate fair, effective and timely procedures to handle complaints from consumers or businesses.”

Considering I’ve made multiple complaints to Publisac and the problem is not resolved, I don’t believe Publisac can claim that it has handled my complaint effectively.

I’m not sure whether section J4 Opt-Out Opportunity applies in this case but it seems like it ought to.

“Recognizing that a consumer can opt-out of receiving marketing communications at any time, marketers must present consumers, including current customers, an easy-to-see, easy-to-understand and easy-to-execute opportunity to decline further marketing use of their name or other information at least once every three years.”

I do not see how Publisac has provided this, there were no explicit forms on its site. The most that I’ve seen is a generic contact form or phone numbers.

5) Advertising Standards Canada (ASC)

The ASC lists Transcontinental Media as one of its members. The ASC is a not-for-profit body made to self-regulate the industry. The ASC offers an online complaint form, which I’ve submitted in this case. The ASC has a code of ethics too but these seem to apply mostly to the content of ads.

6) The Better Business Bureau (BBB)

Last but not least, I contacted the local Better Business Bureau. As you can see in this listing, Transcontinental is not a member of the BBB. According to the Québec BBB‘s site

“The Better Business Bureau’s mandate is to promote and maintain ethical relations between businesses and consumers. The BBB’s complaint process allows both companies and consumers to save time and expense with regards to resolving disputes.”

So fortunately, even though a company is not a member of the BBB, you can still fill in a complaint form, which the local BBB will communicate to the company. I did this, explaining the situation. The form has a desired resolution section, which is simple–all I want is for Publisac to stop its deliveries. Thank you BBB.

A Few Additional Resources

• Consumers’ Association of Canada
• CMA’s consumer protection page
• Printable image to show that you do not want to receive advertising
• Pétition contre Publisac
• Boycott Publisacs Facebook Group
• Un Geste Simple

Others’ Publisac Problems

• Green514.com – Publisac Nuisance
• Green514.com - publiS!(*#*&^!

Finally, out of respect for the individuals I’ve been in contact with at the organizations discussed above, I am not posting their e-mail addresses or contact information publicly. Many of them are available on their respective web sites. If you need to get ahold of someone and are having a difficult time, I will share the contact information I have with you. Just contact me in the comments of this post or send me a message through this form.

I hope this information sheds light on Publisac’s business practices and is helpful to anyone experiencing similar problems. I registered the domain publisac.net to direct problems and protest to this post, not to confuse anyone. If you have additional information, insight, or tips on this subject, please comment below.