paid envelope? ok, here's the deal. when i get credit card applications and loan applications in the mail, i usually tear it up, along with any other advertisment that was mailed with it, and the envelope it came in, and use the postage paid envelope to mail the whole mess back to the company.
that's legal, right?
BUT, what if i sent them some steel washers and things like that?
then what?
thanks,
colt

I doubt it would be illegal as long as you don't send anything with a sharp blade, hazardous materials, or any other thing that would require special markings to be mailed.

Just my opinion. You may want to browse around the USPS site to look at shipping regulations :)

Of course, in this day and age, I don't think I would go mailing ANYTHING that might catch someones attention in an x-ray machine ;)

You might get it back saying "NOT ENOUGH POSTAGE USED" if you put to many steel washers in there..

stick to returning the cut up apps and making them  pay the postage ..
I like that idea.. Im going to start that now.

No, it is not illegal.  Most likely whatever overthickness "item" you put in an envelope will not make it to the sender.  USPS uses high speed mail processing equipment to process letters.  Overthickness envelopes catch hell in the belts and rollers that force feed the "throughput" flow.  Most operators have a pair of needle nose pliers to remove jams quickly and resume production.  Your junk material will be shucked out of the envelope and later tossed in the trash or send to Dead Letter when the machine is cleaned.

 [img]http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/xeye.gif[/img]

COLT    I'm going to start doing just the same thing,quite novell idea if nothing else,good way to get rid of their spam.   It will probably go to their new account dept and give them somthing to do with their time.

 Bob [8D]      

I do the same thing but take it one step further. Anytime I get mailings from anti-gun organizations requesting donations I stuff the crap out of their return envelope with pro-NRA pamphlets and an NRA application and send it right back to them......Damn liberal NY organizations!!

THIS REALLY TICKS ME OFF!!!!!  I tried to get off the mailing list for all the credit cards.  If you go to the OPT-OUT website you will see its about 30 pcs of mail you have to print out and send to the various jerks.  Anyways I use to send them back with the torn up contents...THEN they sent one saying "they were sorry that my application was damaged".Duhh I forgot to tear the name part off...NOW I get the ones that have a barcode/customer number on the back.  This is suppose to keep you from doing what I did.  It also says there is some sort of offence you commit by tampering with it.  Total crock I say...Anyways I have seen in Texas that more and more people are taking companies to small claims court for calling them on the phone after asking for them to stop.  I am going to start contacting the CC companies who have sent these things and get it on record that I have asked them to stop. Then if I get one in the mail after a certain time I am gonna file a small claim case against them.  I think it is such a total crock we have to go thru such steps to keep from getting mail/phone calls we don't want.  

A little unrelated but still funny,
Lets say I have a friend and that friends bank closed his account for no good reason,and this fellow gets a saftey deposit box in that same bank and promptly deposits a dead fish into the saftey deposit box,how long before the bank would be able to get court orders to open more then a few boxes?

Don't forget to send back all the prepaid postcards that are stuck in magazines too.  I've been doing it for several years now.  I have this crazy dream about getting enough people to send postpaid envelopes/postcards back that the USPS would be able to pay off the national debt with the proceeds.

Sending back the pre-paid envelopes with trash in them has been an idea shared by many. I have never done this, since they may be able to stick some kind of interstate federal charge on you for misuse of the mail system (mail fraud)-- the envelopes had an original purpose, which you "technically" changed by stuffing trash in it... but then again, they sent you the trash to begin with, so if you return exactly what they sent, shredded, I don't see how they could do anything to ya.

Why bother sending anything back?  Do you think anybody at the spam-mail house really cares?

Isn't your time and trouble worth something?

[:|]

I usually rip up the other envelope contents and stuff it in the reply envelope (after removing my name).  Most volume mail rooms use machines to open the envelopes, so I hope this does not make a mess for them.

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SWS   Yes my time is worth something, but if I can vent this way maybe I won't go over the edge.  I know every body is just so tired of getting the phone call about 6:00 pm,just about supper time and the phone pauses so a recorded message can subscribe you to say SW Bell telephone .

 Which you allready have by the way, so I just hang up.  But every so often you get a live wire,so to speak and I let them get 30 sec into the speal then ask them if they have taken enough of my time to get paid for their telephone witnesing.

Then tell them thanks but no thanks.  Keeping my dignity,as I'm sure they have none.  But what the hell every body has to do something to try and make a living.

But I am truly going to send just what they sent me(and only that ) back, turn about of fair play.    

 Thanks again colt.        Bob   [50]

A few years ago a guy in remote Alaska bought a bunch of bricks to build a basement with, and paid postage on each one of them.

The Postal Service had to rent a barge and tug to deliver them to that address.  The rules changed after that stunt.

Like everyone else, I'm sick of junk mails (credit card application, magazine subscription, etc.) as well as telemarketing calls.   But think of it this way, if you mail prepaid envelopes with garbage inside, you are not wasting company's money, you are hurting the consumers.  We all end up paying more for products and services to cover for their operation cost.  If you think you are winning the battle, think again.

Cut the outline of a gun out of foil, and put it in the envelope.  No law against that, is there?

Balming

Why not request lots of anti gun stuff from the antis, this way they pay fro shipping to you, the cost of the materials, and then you can send back junk in their pre-paid envelopes. Even if they aren't paying postage back they are out the cost of the initial shipping and printed materials. I may start on this tuesday...for the children.

BrenLover