Thursday, July 03, 2008

Make Them Pay for Sending You Junk Mail

Annoyed by the never-ending credit card offers filling your mailbox?

Wouldn't it be great to make them pay for sending you all that junk?

You can!

Inside every credit card offer is a return envelope - postage to be paid by the credit card company. Mailing this envelope doesn't cost you anything - the credit card company pays for the postage. And depending on the envelope's weight, the more you send them, the more they pay. (My research says you can send up to 70 pounds!)

Here are a few ways to increase their cost:
  • Stuff the envelope with their entire bloated solicitation, and a note saying "please do not mail me anything".
  • Stuff the envelope with other junk mail that you think they may be interested in: Publix fliers, Penny Savers, or fifty Cabela's catalog pages...whatever you can fit into the envelope.
  • Stuff the envelope with an advertisement for your business. Of course they won't be buying anything, but the irony is sweet.
  • or get nuts with the idea, like this guy, and tape the return envelope to a box with something heavy inside.
The credit card companies will likely keep sending you offers.

But maybe one day, if enough people do this, the credit card companies will relent and leave our mailboxes alone.
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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've done this 3 or 4 times a year for 30+ years and still enjoy the feeling of stuffing envelopes with junk. At christmas time I often send a cookie or small piece of fruit cake (all unwrapped) in each envelope. I also draw christmas card greetings on the pieces of paper I stuff in the envelopes.

Anonymous said...

this is awsome...and may even make me feel better in the long run. but the ramifications could be increased interest rates and the chance that the the credit card companies will accutally recognize the loss as part of the direct mail advertising may or may not be realistic. Can I white out the return address and send a letter to my grandmother with the pre-paid bar code?

Cayo Dave said...

Can I white out the return address and send a letter to my grandmother with the pre-paid bar code?

No - that is illegal and a punishable crime.

But the satisfaction of making the credit card companies pay is, what I'll call, micro revenge. Now I look forward to the credit card solicitations. ;-)

Anonymous said...

I like to take small rocks and put them in the envelopes.

Anonymous said...

I also like to take pennies and nickles and stuff them in the fundraising envelope (works great with causes you don't like), make the postage greater than the coins' value. When they open it, they have the change which they either don't know what to do with or they have to make a small deposit and it costs more in postage than the change and then add the wages of the people opening them. It costs them a lot more than the 50 or so pennies!

Anonymous said...

its ironic to see all the envelop stuff jobs being advertised in the column to the right !

Anonymous said...

HELLO!?!?! Doing this just causes your interest rate on the cards you have go up. If you really want these offers to dry up, go here and sign up to be removed from the lists. http://www.the-dma.org/index.php