I really hate the half dozen business reply cards that fall out of every magazine I pick up or that is delivered to my door. They're nearly always inserted next to an ad for the same damn thing, and the ad encourages you to visit the website anyway, making the card a useless waste of paper. However, since they're pre-paid, postage-wise, I toss them back in the mailbox with a message about wasting trees. (I do the same thing with junk mail from credit cards and the like, though the envelopes I send them are much heavier than what I can do to a postcard.) I think of it as good for everyone -- my annoyance is translated to the companies, and they pay the postal service to transport my message. I firmly believe that if everyone dumped every pre-paid envelope or card they came across back into a blue mailbox, the USPS would be well on its way to good financial footing.
Hadn't made any of the dozens of cards I've returned this year into mail art yet, somehow, until now. Problem fixed!
162/365, mail love is heading to Martha.
163/365, mostly just testing out my new fountain pen. Also going to Martha, because there's at least four of these in every issue.
164/365, figuring out line widths with the fountain pen. Heading to Baltimore, in Iowa. Ugh.
165/365, lots of places one could live for Dwell.
166/365, one place one could live, plus a monster for Dwell. (See what I mean about multiple cards in every magazine?)
167/365, free advice and waves for Coastal Living.
168/365, fun with fountain pens for Outside.
May 10, 2012 at 2:30 PM
Ooooo ... I like this idea! I am going to take up this practice! Thank you :-)
May 10, 2012 at 2:58 PM
YOU are brilliant! I am shaaring this!
May 10, 2012 at 4:25 PM
You can do this with these types..
Be aware tho - the credit card ones have a warning about improper use & are tracked by barcode.
They can have you prosecuted for the misuse of their property.
Be sure to sharpie the bar-code completely on any credit card envelopes prior to sending.
May 10, 2012 at 7:50 PM
Thanks PostMuse and Rebecca! I highly recommend it -- it's much more satisfying than tossing them in the recycling bin.
Ashraf, the credit card ones that come to me are usually the kind that are mass produced and not specific to my name or address -- but you're right, sometimes they are obviously printed on after being made, with your return address already on there or the like. When that's the case, I just cut the name or unique serial numbers or bar codes out with an xacto knife and send it with tape over the holes. No problems yet. :)
This guy did a whole video on the mailing back of business reply envelopes as a protest move for Occupy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JlxbKtBkGM My husband had forwarded it to me last fall with some note about me not being the only crazy person out there anymore. :)
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