Junk Mail

Trix

ANYONE READING THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME:This thread started out as a complaint about chain letters and how they could be posted without a stamp, it then turned more into comments on junk mail and what to do about it, hence the thread title and topic content change.

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My daughter received a chain letter from a friend claiming to be an attempt to get in the Guinness Book of Records. This chain letter tells you to write 'world record for children, guinness book of records, FREEPOST' where the stamp should go. Sure enough - these letters are arriving at their destinations franked with no request for payment!

I have a suspicious mind so checked the Guinness World Record site. Surprise #1 - they don't include anything to do with chain letters!

I then contacted the Royal Mail as the letter said they were supporting it. Surprise #2 - they're not.

My question to them was 'why are you delivering these letters WITHOUT STAMPS ON then?. Apparantly they are 'monitoring the situation'. Considering I remember getting one about 15 years ago the same way - they're doing some serious long term monitoring!

I thought when something was freepost for a customer it was because the companies were paying for the postage in some way, but in this case NO-ONE has paid postage!
While I don't know the legality of this, and would not encourage anyone to break any laws - what is to stop me posting all my mail in this way?

AndieJ_2

Not sure if this should go on  freebie/tips/vent board.

FREEPOST for ANY letter  ???

My daughter received a chain letter from a friend claiming to be an attempt to get in the Guinness Book of Records. This chain letter tells you to write 'world record for children, guinness book of records, FREEPOST' where the stamp should go. Sure enough - these letters are arriving at their destinations franked with no request for payment!

I have a suspicious mind so checked the Guinness World Record site. Surprise #1 - they don't include anything to do with chain letters!

I then contacted the Royal Mail as the letter said they were supporting it. Surprise #2 - they're not.

My question to them was 'why are you delivering these letters WITHOUT STAMPS ON then?. Apparantly they are 'monitoring the situation'. Considering I remember getting one about 15 years ago the same way - they're doing some serious long term monitoring!

I thought when something was freepost for a customer it was because the companies were paying for the postage in some way, but in this case NO-ONE has paid postage!
While I don't know the legality of this, and would not encourage anyone to break any laws - what is to stop me posting all my mail in this way?

Feel free to move this post / tell me off for putting it here as it's only a 'freebie' if you've got the nerve to use it as such :-[.

No I know Royal Fail can be slow at the best of times, but thids one's been around since I worked there, which was over two years ago, and they're still only 'monitoring the situation', any wonder they're in the financial sh, erm, trouble!.

and no, you can't just stick 'freepost' on any letter, officially, but if there's a dumb postman at the other end you might get away with it!, not that I'm advocating you try.

System

I work at the Post, and I would have to agree that certain items of mail will obviously slip through the net. I must say though generally (99.9%) items are usually caught as Freepost items are sorted in a different manner. If an item is underpaid it will cost you 99p then the price of a stamp, so the benefit (or fraud) of trying to use a freepost would not be beneficial.

AndieJ_2

I work at the Post,

you have my sympathy

and I would have to agree that certain items of mail will obviously slip through the net. I must say though generally (99.9%) items are usually caught as Freepost items are sorted in  a different manner. If an item is underpaid it will cost you 99p then the price of a stamp, so the benefit (or fraud) of trying to use a freepost would not be beneficial.

99p now?, they must be cracking down then, it was only about 30p a few years back!!

raeble

I can tell you for a fact they are cracking down. It must be because they are so skint. I can't believe that people are so stupid or blatant to send stuff through the post and not pay for it. What is wrong with them? The recipient ends up paying for it, you can refuse the post so you don't have to pay. Which is what we did in the end. It was getting up to twenty pounds a month that we were paying for the idiots without the correct postage. We sent out about ten thousand postcards that people had to send back if they want to subscribe to a free magazine. Now there was nothing on the cards to say that postage was paid but yet some idiots didn't bother to stick a stamp on the card. I had to pick two of them up it was £1.20 a go. >:( My boss and my bosses boss both saw it an immediately said we weren't going to collect post from the post office any more.
Besides not putting enough postage on people have a habit of using other people's business response envelopes, that will cause the recipient to pay as well. Business response envelopes are only licenced to go back to the address on the envelope. The licence does not pay out if you attempt to send it to another address. Sorry to go off on such a rant but they people really irritate me, they seem to have no consideration for anyone other than themselves. Is it really that difficult to go into the post office and buy a stamp? ???

lee__48

I posted a post card a few months ago. It had my address on one side and the to address on the other. it was freepost and had a massive " 2 | | " in the corner. Every time I posted it, it was returned to me even though it was obvious to anyone looking at it that it was supposed to be sent to the other address! In the end I wrote a big TO on on side and an even bigger FROM on the other side and it finally got to its destination.

@Trix - I also received that chain letter a few years ago. I had to go to the sorting office and pay 56p for it! Can't say I was best pleased.

Lee.

trafalgar_2

Do you think businesses got annoyed when the junk mail they send us with the prepaid envelopes for replies get sent back empty?

And does it cost them money when this happens?


Answers on a postcard please ;D

Only kidding they are serious questions

AndieJ_2

Do you think businesses got annoyed when the junk mail they send us with the prepaid envelopes for replies get sent back empty?

And does it cost them money when this happens?


Answers on a postcard please ;D

Only kidding they are serious questions

you send them back empty? I cram all the cr*p they sent me back in them!!

and yes it does cost them!.

also, am I the only one who dislikes credit card company's & other bills providing a return envelope without prepaid postage?. I never add a stamp to these, if they want my cheque, thay can damn well pay the postage.

System

Yes it cost's them £1.20 for your item. I also thinks it's a cheek that they don't put postage on the envelopes. They can well afford it. That the reason I do internet banking or telephone banking. However the later was working out more expensive as the amount of time you were on hold.

stub451

Don't forget if you don't want junk mail - you can stop some of it at source:

http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist

Some WILL still get through - and it's best sent straight back to them, noting that you have registered with MPS.

Trix

About sending junk mail back to who sent it as in...

you send them back empty? I cram all the cr*p they sent me back in them!!

...I usually swap the junk around so they all get each others cr*p  ;)

I have a friend who encloses a letter thanking the company for their interest in his business along with an administration bill for his reply for anything from £5 to £25. Apparantly 8 out of 10 companies pay up...........and never send anything again ;D