Mark Roy, REaD Group chief executive, said the delay was caused by the threat of a strike by Royal Mail workers. The Communication Workers Union this week said it was prepared to ballot its members on strike action and set July 31 as its probable voting deadline.
"Launching a site to consumers at a time when they are receiving no mail at all would be unwise," he said.
The service's launch was announced in March, but Itsmypost.com, the website through which consumers will access the service, is still not up and running.
The site will allow consumers to communicate their mailing preference to the 100 companies responsible for sending the biggest volume of direct mail, as well as others they can nominate.
It will offer them free help to do this themselves in the form of template letters or a "less hassle" option in which it does it for them electronically at a cost of 拢4.95 a year.
REaD Group is trying to attract mailers to show their responsible side by sponsoring the site for 拢800 a year. This means their name will show up in the list in green whereas other companies' names will show up in red with a warning message to consumers that the service is unable to guarantee their removal from these companies' mailing files.
Roy said it was not possible to reveal which companies have signed up as sponsors, but he was encouraged by the initial take-up.
Roy recently recruited direct marketing industry veteran John McGlone as a consultant to attract sponsors and generate support from the industry.
McGlone, who is a former director of list broker HLB and managing director of syndicated database Data Warehouse, said: "Itsmypost.com for the first time bridges the gap between consumers and the direct marketing industry, which can only be a good thing."
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