Comments on: Enveloped

By: kathy

kathy — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:33:25 +0000

You could mix them up. Send applications for VISA cards (still blank of course) to Mastercard & vice versa.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 18:18:24 +0000

There’s no bad karma if you sent nice “re-humanizing” notes (which could be subversive of the soul crushing corporate environment).

You could actually be performing a valuable public service!

By: Helen Sargan

Helen Sargan — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:47:12 +0000

* Use them to send stuff into school with kids – money, forms, etc or to milkman or paperboy – anything needing an envelope but not anything special
* Acquire some labels and re-use them (most offices have a drawer full of sheets of labels they can’t use)
* Functional recycling is better than recycling them as paper

I’m no fun, am I?

By: Andrew Vit

Andrew Vit — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:34:10 +0000

I say do a bit of cross-media promotion and mail them a printout of your spam.

By: Brett Peters

Brett Peters — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:49:37 +0000

As much as I enjoy the mischief, just recycle them. The payoff’s not worth it.

Many municipal recycling progams will take both the inner and outer envelopes. Shred anything personal and recycle the rest.

By: JZ

JZ — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:19:24 +0000

I do exactly what Dan Guy does. I stuff as much as I possibly can into those envelopes and send them back. I can usually get all of the weekly sales circulars and credit card offers each week into the business reply envelopes I receive. I tend to remove my personal information, but getting a call is hilarious. I blogged about it a few years ago, including a photo of a typical envelope.

By: Someone

Someone — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:58:36 +0000

In the Netherlands, postage paid envelopes work with special addresses, like free phone numbers start with a special ‘area code’. Obviously you only pay for the letters sent to them, just like the phone company only charges for the calls that were made to the free number.

By: David

David — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:18:37 +0000

BIG LOL @ Dan Guy ^^^

By: Dan Guy

Dan Guy — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:23:46 +0000

from bash.org (QDB):
1. Save every Free Credit Card Offer you get, Put it in pile A
2. Save every Free Coupon You get, put that in pile B
3. Now open the credit card mail from pile A and find the Business Reply Mail Envelope.
4. Take the coupons from pile B and stuff them in the envelope you hold in your hand.
5. Drop the stuffed to the brim envelopes in your mail and walk away whistling.
I have now received two phone calls from the credit card companies telling me that they received a stuffed envelope with coupons rather then my application. They informed me that it they are not pleased that they footed the bill for the crap I sent them. I reply with “It says Business Reply Mail” I’m suggesting coupons to you to ensure that your business is more successful. They promptly hang up on me.
Now, I did this for about a month before it got boring, so I got an added idea! I added exactly 33 cents worth of pennies to the envelope so they paid EXTRA due to the weight. I got a call informing me about the money, I said it was a mistake and I demanded my change back. After yelling at the clerk and then to the supervisor they agreed to my demands and cut me a check for the money. I hold in my hand at this very moment a check from GTE Visa for exactly 33 cents.

By: Eric Wiley

Eric Wiley — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:43:09 +0000

I have two unopened quarts of shredder oil. One from our first dearly departed machine and the other for the new. Hmm, 2 + 2…hey, you’re supposed to oil that thing!

By: Joshua Allen [msft]

Joshua Allen [msft] — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:42:21 +0000

We shred all of ours as well. I created two stacks of form letters; one which says (summary), “I received unsolicited mail from you; I am registered on the do not mail list already, please stop sending”; and another which says “You have already been told to stop sending me mail, if you refuse to comply with my request I will be forced to take legal action”. I use a stack of the 1st letter for 1st and 2nd offenses, and the second letter for abusers.

Packaging these letters takes only as much time as shredding, and makes a dramatic difference in the number of card ads I receive.

I often rip off and save the address labels for the ones that don’t have postage-paid, so then I can print return envelopes in batches of 10 or more (since it’s too much work to print a single envelope at the time of shredding, but in batch the total time sink is small).

It’s a never-ending battle though, and some places even ignore the “I’ll sue you” letters. I am sure I could sue and win, since I have meticulous records; but it’s not worth it.

By: Ximena

Ximena — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 04:37:47 +0000

Opt out at the 1-800 number listed on the offer (I think it’s 1-800-OPT-OUT or something like that) works. You can do this online too.

By: Anna Vester

Anna Vester — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 02:29:30 +0000

This is incredible. I have heard of people sending unsolicited mail back to sender, but I’ve never actually really thought about doing something like that myself. Now after reading all of those wonderful comments, I feel a bit mischievous (or shall I say inspired?!?). :)

By: Carol S.

Carol S. — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 09:41:53 +0000

Enclose an excuse in them and send them out one per day.

I actually enjoy things like that.

By: Anabella

Anabella — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 03:30:22 +0000

Try opting out at OptOutPrescreen.com — it seems to work, at least for a while…