Paper trail: P.E.I. man frustrated by messy flyers

Harold Dixon says cleaning them up is a big job

Image | Flyers on lawn - Rose Valley - 6/9/17

Caption: Harold Dixon says every week, paper flyers are delivered to his property in a bag, but more often than not, it breaks open, causing the flyers to spread over his lawn. (Harold Dixon)

An Island man is fed up with flyers delivered to his home, saying they cause a big mess every week.
Harold Dixon has lived in his Rose Valley home for about four years and says every Wednesday morning, like clockwork, a bag of flyers is delivered to his property.
The problem?
Dixon says the bag holding the flyers breaks open, causing the flyers to literally do just that: fly all over the place, leaving him to clean them up.
"It takes about a half hour to go walk down the road and gather them all up," he said. "Depends on how hard the wind blows."

Image | Harold Dixon - Rose Valley - 6/9/17

Caption: Dixon says he often spends up to 30 minutes cleaning up the paper flyers off his property. He says the flyers usually just end up in his garbage bin. (Nicole WIlliams/CBC)

Dixon said the problem is made worse during the winter, when the flyers spread over his property and get buried in snow, only to show up again come spring when the snow melts.
"It's a big job in the spring cleaning them all up," he said.

Use the mailbox

He said the delivery company should at least use his mailbox.
It's just a nuisance and you can't read the flyers after they been flying all over the yard. - Harold Dixon
"I enjoy the flyers, but if you want to put them out, put them in the mailbox, or supply a mailbox or do something with them other than throw them on the side of the road," he said.
It's not just a problem for Dixon. He said the same think happens to his neighbours, who are also fed up with the mess.
More often than not, the flyers just end up in the garbage.
"It's just a nuisance and you can't read the flyers after they been flying all over the yard," Dixon said.

Nothing has changed

Dixon said he's called the delivery company several times in the last year, asking them to use the mailbox, but said so far nothing has changed.
CBC reached out to Saltwire Network, the parent company for Island newspapers The Journal Pioneer and The Guardian, who are responsible for flyer delivery on P.E.I.
CBC did not receive a response.