Pre paid envelopes

Becles

Sending junk ripped into pieces and other such rubbish is pointless to be honest.

I used to work in a mail processing centre. When they were short staffed, I used to help out on the post opening machines. Envelopes whizz past you having been opened by the machine, and you just take the stuff out, give it a quick glance and put it on the relevant pile.

Sending rubbish back means a mail opener gives it a quick glance and bins it. It's hardly worth the effort just to waste a few seconds of a junior staff members time.

Mikeyorks

Astaroth wrote:

they are charged for having printed them irrespective of if people actually use them or not. Actually junk mailing them back doesnt cost them anything at all just increases the burden on Royal Mail.

Well ....you're obviously right that they bear a printing cost for producing them in the first place, whether used or not. But they bear a significantly higher cost for those posted back - how could they not do so?

Glad

this question has been posed a number of times on MSE and it has been agreed that to use the envelopes for any other than their original purpose is fraud

ampersand

Junk mail which hopes to engage your wallet or bank account often includes Postage Paid Reply envelopes as a sweetener.
Having failed to stop such billets doux arriving in the first place, I now open them and re-address the aforementioned envelopes.
Another option is to swap the bumf about, before returning it in the wrong envelope, overwriting 'Affix Stamp', with Postage Paid and Return to Sender.

Sillychuckie

Just dont use them for personal use to send elsewhere...
u'll often find that royal mail reject them and then charge the recipient upwards of £2 to receive the letter.

But, if you are intent on making the banks poorer and royal mail richer, then just return them empty...
Don't be tempted to add talcum powder or pet droppings.

[Deleted User]

Hi folks,

oh drat, you can't use them for personal postage, thought there would be a catch.

Would it not be better to send everthing back, with name and address, hoping that they would eventually get the message, the worst ones seem to be credit cards.

thesaint

I just write 'Gone away' on junk mail that comes with my name on. Some companies do not take notice, but, if they want to pay postage forever more, that's there choice.

Andy_L

Alternatively register with the mail preference service & the problem goes away after a month or 2
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/

LittleVoice

BTW, though companies often say the envelopes are "pre-paid", they are not. They are BRS (Business Reply Service) envelopes. There is a licence number included and the licence holder pays only when the envelope is returned to them - so the post is "post"-paid not "pre"-paid.

ampersand

Andy_L wrote:

Alternatively register with the mail preference service & the problem goes away after a month or 2
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/

As above Andy L, but thankyou for the suggestion. All the same ones, and others, keep coming.