Mail in the 21st Century – how mail is consumed

Chris Czarny: Once the mail’s come through the door, I normally shift through it and separate it.
 Janet Hagen:  ...take it through to the kitchen.
 Paul O’Sullivan: ...into the dining room. 
 Rosemary Starling: ...come back here in the hall.
 Jo Papa: ...upstairs into a music room.
 Heather Beckwith: ...up here to the computer.
 Brian Hufton: ...brought into the bedroom.
 Natasha Buttivant: ...over the breakfast bar.
 Jo Papa: But we never leave post just hanging around.
 
Jermaine Hunter: I come in the front door and if it's on the floor then I'll probably just come and place it on a table, which is in this room.
David Howsley: ...brought in and basically placed near the door so that when I walk in from work, I can sort out what mail I want.
Heather Beckwith: I pick up the post, have a quick flick through as I walk to the bench or over to the table because I usually open it here because Syd’s watching television and I can keep an eye on her at the same time. Just flick through.
Gemma Price: The first thing I do is flick through each envelope, sort of in a way sort of guessing what’s in them,
Judith Birkby: Take it straight along into the kitchen.
David Slaughter: Organise it into piles.
Jean Bianchi:  If it’s interesting I open it straightaway.
Janet Hagen: Usually I use it as an excuse to have a cup of coffee, sit down and sort it all out. 
David Slaughter:  ...then judge where it should go.
Matt Herbert:  Bills. And they'll go into my sorting box, which is there. The magazine that's come through, I take into the kitchen and put it on the table
Maureen Howes: If it’s something I need to pay, or, I have a little basket here, where I tend, very messy system, throw everything in there.
Matt Herbert: …when this box is full it comes over to the table, then gets put out and then sorted.
Helen Clark: The vouchers are something that I will look at, sat at the table later. The bill, I'll just make sure that's right for Severn Trent. And that really can just be recycled. It’s just information about saying when my next subscription will start.
Matt Herbert:  I have a quick look at it. If it’s something like a credit card bill, oh no, it’s an Orange statement but what I'd do is I will either put it in one pile ready to go upstairs and filed away. Or, if it’s a credit card statement then it will go over onto my computer desk and that will get sorted out with my internet banking.
Helen Clark: And then this I will take through to the sunroom to the computer and pay it online
Janet Hagen: This is the later pile or the pile to go upstairs to be put in the study and it’s under his wallet just because that’s where it’s always kept. 
David Howsley: So the mail that I don’t use, I’ll leave here for Charlotte to sort out. If it’s something that Charlotte’s got to do because she’ll deal with it in the day.
Natasha Buttivant: I would sort my husband’s to one side unless there's anything that looks interesting and then I sometimes open it.
Paul O’Sullivan: Any material or post for my kids ends up on the stairs in advance of going up to their rooms.
Joshua Sheridan: Usually when I get post I'll come in here into my room and sit on the bed and open it.
David Slaughter: This is my room. As you can see, usually I just sit down here, put my main mail here.
Joshua Sheridan: So, this has just come through today. This is from the bank and it’s a bank statement.
David Slaughter:  This is my main area where I put my mail. I’ll keep it there so if I am on the computer I can see it in the corner of my eye so I will know to look it up. 
Brian Hufton: This is my wife’s side and I, so anything that she’s going to be dealing with I put there. I know for a fact, without opening it, that’s an appointment for, she gives blood. And this is a magazine that she subscribes to, Woman and Home, so that’s obviously all there.
Pat Parish: This is my pleasure pile. This is the stuff that I really, really like to browse through.
Jim Wilson: I get a lot of this through the post from Foxtons and people like Keatons. I sit and drink a cup of coffee and read that, you know.
Polly Symes: ... sit down and have a relax, and open it and read it so I'm not sort of on the move, rushing doing it, to give myself time with it. 
Pat Parish: I will sit and read this for ten minutes with my cup of tea when I’ve got time. I really enjoy this, it’s pleasurable downtime for me.
Jo Papa:  This is my usual seat, I’ll stick anything of interest under there which I’ll browse through either when I’m watching the television or just sitting here having a cup of tea.
Gemma Price: I might usually then sit down and I would go through something like I said, have a cup of tea and I sit here. It’s nice and quiet.
Jim Wilson: If I’m particularly enamoured by something, I’ll fold it up and put it in my diary and take it out with me during the day, to refer back to it.
Heather Beckwith:  Pinboard's in our kitchen and I’ll put it there to sort of remind me because I tend to look at it quite a bit, it’s got the calendar on it as well.
David Slaughter: This is my bit, with a classic example, basically a school letter about a trip that needs to go up so I put it there to remind myself in the mornings.
Natasha Buttivant:  This is the drawer where we put vouchers or special offers.
Paul O’Sullivan:  Money-off vouchers, which are quite useful. This one’s from Waitrose, stick it in my wallet and then it's just a question of whether I remember it when I get to the shop.
Rosemary Starling: Occasionally, if I have a row with my husband, I watch television in there, he’ll watch it in here and if I want him to see any particular piece of mail and I don’t want to talk to him, I’ll just come along and I’ll shove it behind there and he'll know he’s got to deal with it and that’s it really.