Fight junk mail with junk mail Print E-mail
Written by Laryn   
Thursday, 10 March 2005 20:16
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We've been getting a lot of junk mail. Much of it leaves me feeling pretty helpless about how to stop it--flyers, Valpack coupons, etc. (I'm sure there's a way, I just don't know it or haven't followed through with it yet). There is another variety of junk mail that I do know what to do about, and it's very easy--I say we fight junk mail with junk mail.


Fight junk mail with junk mailWe all know that sending bulk mail gets cheaper and cheaper for analog spammers (aka unsolicited bulk mailers), while the cost for 1st class postage keeps rising. Luckily, some of the worst offenders--like credit card companies--include postage paid business reply envelopes. These envelopes cost them nothing if they are not mailed back, but if they are dropped in the mail, they have to pay a fee.

There are a number of places online (like this one) claiming that the bulk mailers have special deals with the USPS and pay only pennies for each returned envelope. I decided to do a little investigation of my own. I emailed the post office to ask them directly:

I have a question:
I get a lot of junk mail from a wide variety of places, and many of them contain postage-paid return envelopes. I like to pack the junk mail back into their envelope with a note asking to be removed from their mailing list, and then mail it back to them in the hopes that they will have to pay substantially for it. (Perhaps in the process--if many people join in this effort--junk mailings will go down, paper will be saved, post office revenues will go up, and postage rates will not need to be increased as quickly).

My question is this: what is a standard rate that a large company (for example a large credit card company) would pay for their bulk mail return envelopes? What if it was packed very full of paper (is there a scale of weights and costs that I can see for something like this?) I don't want to know anything about a particular organization, just a general idea of how much each returned envelope would cost.

If you can help me in any way to get this information, I would appreciate it.

And they replied back, very courteously:

Thank you, Laryn, for visiting our web site in regards to sending the junk mail back. For further assistance, please contact your local Mailing Requirements office at xxx-xxx-xxxx. That office handles the various types of business accounts and may be able to provide you with more information on how they work.

I called the local number, who gave me another local number, who answered my question. It is possible that bulk mailers who send in such high a quantity can get a $0.02 mail-back fee for their business reply envelopes, but this fee is added on top of the regular first class postage rate.

So while it may cost them a penny to mail you the junk, it'll cost them at least 39? to receive it back. Multiply that by a lot of people, and it could start to add up. On top of this, I wanted to double check that adding additional papers into the envelope would increase the amount that they pay, since I've heard conflicting versions of that, too. It will. My advice: take all that other junk mail you don't know what to do with and stuff it in the business reply envelopes, along with a short note asking that they remove you from their mailing lists. I've printed up little strips of paper that I stick in the envelope, saying:

Please remove this name and address from your mailing lists and do not provide it to any other entity--either this person no longer lives here or (s)he no longer wishes to receive this type of mail.

I can't claim credit for thinking of this idea, and I can't remember where I first heard of it, but I think it's a great concept. I used to feel bad about sending back return envelopes from environmental groups (who ironically are pretty bad sometimes about sending bulk mail) or relief and development organizations and asking to be removed from their lists, but I figure that over time it'll probably save them money. (If it's an organization that you like and that is doing good work, you could just put a stamp on them and enclose your request to be removed from the mailing list.)

Just my 2ยข (plus the cost of first class postage).

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