As I walked down the drive way for my daily walk, I stopped in my tracks; the mailbox had caught my attention. Stuck between the flag and the mailbox was a piece of paper folded in half. I was pretty sure I knew exactly what it was, yes; it was another real estate flyer.

I do not live in a fancy upscale neighborhood but most of the homes are kept nice by the hard working folks who own them. These flyers become an eyesore when you drive down the street. Often homeowners leave them there for days. Sometimes they are taped to the mailbox so when you try to remove the tape, a big chunk of paint comes off too. If they aren't affixed, they blow off and litter the streets and yards of the neighborhood.

I for one care about my neighborhood and do my part to keep it clean and neat. On this particular day I covered parts of 5 different streets, all of which had these flyers either stuck between the mailbox and flag or blowing around the yards and streets.

I know this is going to get worse before it gets better. The area in which I live is experiencing growth from much needed business development thanks to a new bypass connecting this side of town to the interstate highway that runs through the area. We are also a military town that is expecting growth in the local military population. Local agents are hitting the neighborhoods that are expected to be hot.

I have no problem with agents farming an area. I know how important it can be to growing their business. But I do have a problem with agents who, in the interest of saving a few marketing dollars, skirt the rules and regulations.

I was shocked at how many professional people (marketing professionals, coaches, VA's etc) I found online who suggest this practice to their clients. This is something I learned not to do 11 years ago when I took the sales licensing course. I also learned it from the agent I worked for and her broker. I learned it again recently when I took the REPA course. I know most agents know this or at least should know this, it's plain ol' common sense in my book. And often these flyers border on unethical behavior according to Article 12 of the Code of Ethics. These kinds of seemingly inconsequential actions give the whole profession a bad reputation.

I recently read that mailbox rifling is a leading way identity thieves obtain the information from their victims. I for one do not appreciate people opening my mailbox to put in a flyer because who knows what they may see and be tempted to do.

One agent, who decided to go this route, hired a seemingly homeless man to distribute the flyers in our mailboxes. I too had seen the man pandering for days at the local businesses. I admire the agent for wanting to help this gentleman but don't think this was the wisest way to go about it. Another agent had her kids walk the streets stuffing the mailboxes while she followed along in her vehicle.

I have taken to writing the agent, the agent's broker in charge, the local Board and the local Postmaster. I send each a letter of complaint along with the flyer and copy of the USPS regulation. I also do not single out just the real estate professionals. I also turn in the local pizza and Chinese restaurant delivery, the lawn services, the contractors and beauty consultants.

I realize the USPS does not have the time or money to go after every offender but I feel if I just stand by and let this go on, pretty soon, we'll all be paying $10 per stamp and we'll have tons of flyers stuck in and on our mailboxes each week because people will think that they don't have to pay for postage when they want to advertise.

As I recently told one of these agents, it only costs $39 to send some really nice postcards through ExpressCopy.com and for about $25 more a VA would design the card, gather the mailing list and order the cards for them. Or hire a local high school student to stuff your flyers in door hanger bags and go around and place on door knobs of houses.

For the USPS regulation visit http://tinyurl.com/2hmgsr