Ways to leaflet safely and avoid letterbox injuries

The answer to John Rushton’s leafletting problem (Letters, 26 June) is the “Odell baton”. Refined through many years of campaigning for Labour, modestly named after its inventor, and licence- and royalty-free, the Odell baton deals with difficult letterboxes every time.

As one approaches a letterbox, one rolls a leaflet into a tube to form a baton. Lift the letterbox cover with one hand and bring the leaflet baton up to the opening with the other. No bristles? Fine, just launch the leaflet through. If a draught excluder has been fitted, position the baton between the bristles, then tap sharply on its end to send it sailing into the room.

Apart from the knowledge that the leaflets will unroll face side up, the other main advantage is that no campaigners’ fingers need be poked through any letterboxes. Draught excluder bristles are not the only things that may be waiting on the other sides of doors to snap at unwary leafletters.
Nick Odell
Huddersfield

• I was leafletting for the Green party at the weekend and was issued with a “postie mate”. This is a plastic device designed to deliver leaflets through letterboxes without taking the skin off your knuckles. Not only can I recommend this device for its effectiveness, it is also made in Britain. We may have lost our steel industry and vehicle manufacturing, but we lead the world in postie mates.
Tony Cima
Winstone, Gloucestershire

• I recommend a wooden kitchen spatula, preferably one with a broad blade and a slight wedge profile. Wrap the leaflet around the front edge of the spatula, push the blade and leaflet through the letterbox, and withdraw. The leaflet is delivered unmangled, and it even protects against nippy dogs.
David Harper
Cambridge

• May I recommend toast tongs for Labour leaflets?
Mark Ellis
Huddersfield

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