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Thread: Who are they trying to kid?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Wayland, MA
    Posts
    3,654

    Who are they trying to kid?

    Just got a faux bill in the mail for $49.95 for a subscription to Wood magazine. It says in big letters, "OFFICIAL BUSINESS, Penalty for Private Use" on the envelope, and "Your Prompt Attention is Appreciated" in large red print on the inside. (bad capitalization is theirs, not mine). It teeny tiny print down at the bottom it says "this is not a bill", but the dead giveaway is the fact that it didn't come first class.

    Just for the record I hereby publicly proclaim that I am going to use their envelope for a "private use", and I invite "PMB Pacific Magazine Billing, LP" to come after me with all the legal force available to them to enforce the promised penalty for private use.

    I guess there's a reason I should continue to drop anything without a first class stamp into the recycling bin unopened on my way back from the mailbox.

  2. #2
    I mail 100% of every post-paid return envelope I received back into the mail empty, just to cost them money. If I have to take the time and effort to shred their crap, they can pay for an empty envelope in the mail. In fact, I have about 100 of them to drop back into the mail next time I go by the post office.

  3. #3
    Many years ago, I frequently received junk mail that included a postage paid return envelope. I would cram as much stuff into the envelope as I could and send it back.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    In the foothills of the Sandia Mountains
    Posts
    16,619
    They’re hoping your significant other will mistake it for a bill and pay it. DAMHIKT
    Life’s too short to get spun up over it. I just recycle them.
    Please help support the Creek.


    "It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone."
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  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Kreinhop View Post
    Many years ago, I frequently received junk mail that included a postage paid return envelope. I would cram as much stuff into the envelope as I could and send it back.
    I still do that.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Carrollton, Georgia
    Posts
    1,815
    I got a similar payment request from Popular Woodworking magazine some years ago. They threatened to send my account to a bill collector if I didn't pay up. I decided then and there that Popular Woodworking was not the kind of business I would ever do business with and I have never forgotten (obviously).

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Tasmania
    Posts
    2,162
    Even sending back empty envelopes is providing them with data. Advertisers prefer any response to no response. The best revenge is recycling. They get nothing which costs them as well. Cheers

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Monroe, MI
    Posts
    11,896
    People still open stuff like this???

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    Pepperell Ma.
    Posts
    93
    Got the same exact thing, for Woodcraft Magazine today. I like the magazine, don't like the wording on the envelope, doesn't seem like it should be legal.
    Last edited by Bruce Page; 08-12-2017 at 8:47 PM.

  10. #10
    Fill a box with sand or bricks, and tape postage paid envelope to it. They pay by the item, plus by the ounce to retrieve these ($$$$.) If they don't pay up, post office goes after them. Be sure and put your return address on it, so they will know who it's from.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Wrenn View Post
    Fill a box with sand or bricks, and tape postage paid envelope to it. They pay by the item, plus by the ounce to retrieve these ($$$$.) If they don't pay up, post office goes after them. Be sure and put your return address on it, so they will know who it's from.
    I don't want them to know who it's from. Many years ago, we bought a car and the salesman used their mailing list to send out a ton of personal spam mail, on the dealership's stationary. I called to complain and all they would say was "tell us who you are and we'll take you off our mailing list". Don't take me off the list, STOP DOING IT AT ALL! It is completely inappropriate. I ended up calling Ford and wow, it stopped right away.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    New Westminster BC
    Posts
    2,981
    Can't remember ever receiving that kind of thing by snailmail but I get a dozen or so by email annually. If just one of them was real I'd be a multi-millionaire (not that I'm not) but of course I would have had to respond to them (which I don't). Maybe I'm missing out on millions of dollars by not responding...... NOT

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