Bumf: increasing exponentially

doi:10.1136/bmj.a2864

Published 10 December 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2864
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2864

Filler

Christmas 2008: Professional Considerations

Bumf: increasing exponentially

John R Kirwan, Rosmarie Kirwan

¹ Bristol

john.kirwan{at}bristol.ac.uk

Since 1998, we have collected all the bumf (unsolicited mailand leaflets) pushed through our letterbox each week, afterdiscarding any envelope or plastic covering. At the end of eachmonth we weigh the bumf, and then put it in recycling. Fromtime to time we add the weights to our bumf spreadsheet. Herewe report 11 years’ follow-up.

The distribution of the weight of bumf received follows a consistentmonthly pattern (fig 1). Twice as much bumf is received permonth in September, October, and November than in each of thesummer months. The weight of bumf received has been increasing(fig 2). In 1998 we received about 10 kg of bumf. By 2004, thishad doubled and seemed to have reached a peak. However, 2008is heading towards a record weight of more than 29 kg The bestfit curve is an exponential (Wt = 8055.e^0.01014year, R = 0.933,P<0.001).