Thursday, March 16, 2006

Junk Mail

So, while the husband's out of town, I have had to take over his job of sorting through the mail and sending bills out. I have a new appreciation for this dreadful task, especially the part that includes opening the junk mail and shredding the sensitive material. What a waste of time! And precious electricity to run the poor shredder! Today the shredder jammed, and I stood there for a good five minutes, cursing the credit card companies as I picked wads of shredded paper from between the blades. Ugh.

However, upon the advice of an email forward I received recently (one of the few I actually read. I was bored at work.), I found a way to make this tedious bit of drudgery a bit more fun.

You send them their crap back in their prepaid envelopes. Supposedly, since this costs them money, it will deter them from sending you crap. However, I wanted to keep the gifts anonymous, so I kept all the pieces containing any identifying information, which I'm sure will rob me of the hypothetical benefit of seeing a reduction in my junk mail. But it certainly did not rob me of the joy I experienced as I undertook this little chore-turned-delightful-game.

I was done before it occurred to me to shred the contents of their mailings before putting it back into the prepaid envelope. Imagine the surprise/shock/dismay/mess for whatever poor sap gets to open that particular little prize! Maybe next time. I can't wait for tomorrow's mail!

1 comment:

Dena G said...

I have a friend who is an Avon representative AND and avid proponent of the "make 'em pay!" philosophy you're talking about.

In addition to sending back all the "crap" the companies send, he also stuffs an expired Avon catalog in the envelope to add to the cost of postage.

I LOVE the idea of an envelope full of "shred", though...I'm going to share that with him. :-)