free postage

veggienorah

Does anyone know if it is ok to use those envelopes with postage paid on them sent to you by companies wanting you business, but use them by sticking someones elses address over their address and just use the free postage? I don't want to do anything illegal but do want to take advantage of big companies who send me stuff I don't want.

AndyR_3

I don't think this would work - I believe the pre-paid thing only works to their address. Not 100% sure though but this is what I was told with regards to reply-paid envelopes we send out from work (although we don't send junk mail! We just include an envelope if we ever send forms out for signing etc). You could try sending one to your own address and see what happens - I bet it would either never arrive or the postman would ask for a surcharge when it was delivered.

culpepper

It is definitely not legal. They paid to get the post to you and if they have added a prepaid envelope,it is specific to them. I imagine if you wanted to send all their bumpf back to them in their prepaid envelope that would be okay though as the money they have paid to have their letters franked,is for that purpose.

hawkwinddotcom

Its theft, dont do it

code^express

I have tried it!!! and it doesn't work, the postman will ask for the surcharge before giving u the letter.

veggienorah

Great idea! I'll send them all their own stuff back! Or even better - send them some of my daughters illegible scribblings and pictures! (Although if we want to be eco-responsible I suppose it's better to just keep on sticking them in the recycle bin....)

culpepper wrote:

It is definitely not legal. They paid to get the post to you and if they have added a prepaid envelope,it is specific to them. I imagine if you wanted to send all their bumpf back to them in their prepaid envelope that would be okay though as the money they have paid to have their letters franked,is for that purpose.

lisyloo

Although if we want to be eco-responsible I suppose it's better to just keep on sticking them in the recycle bin....

It would be even better to

1) Register on the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) and possibly TPS if you don't want cold telephone calls.
2) Register with Royal Mail to opt out of "door-to-door" mail (these are the unaddressed leaflets that Royal Mail are paid to deliver).
3) If a company is persistently sending you stuff then phone then or write. It may help to look at their "privacy policy" which many companies have these days.
4) Don't enter lots of competitions or give away your details unless really interested. Always look for the box to opt out or in. You will need to read it because some you tick to opt out, some to opt in.
5) Recycle the rest.

I think trying to stop it at source is more environmentally friendly that recycling (which also takes your time and has to be transported etc.).

Elliesmum

veggienorah wrote:

Great idea! I'll send them all their own stuff back! Or even better - send them some of my daughters illegible scribblings and pictures! (Although if we want to be eco-responsible I suppose it's better to just keep on sticking them in the recycle bin....)

I send them the pizza lists I get through the door or if I get 2 in a day I swap the stuff over and send it back. I do also put stuff in the recycling bin - depends how I feel !

EM x

Pound

I did once read that Freepost envelopes have an account number on and using that on another envelope meant that company would be charged for the postage and you could post it to any address. This was years ago though and RM might have fixed this.

It's almost certainly illegal though.

johnjp

I use them. Just get a roll of `typewriter address labels` from Tesco. I even put them through the printer. Never need to buy envelopes again. But I do attach a stamp. You shouldn`t use their free postage. When I was at school we would just cross out the address and re-address it to whoever, I believe the Post Office are obliged to deliver `redirected` letters at no cost.

willo65

When I was younger (about 9 or 10) I put stickers over all the markings on the envelope apart from the actual stamp type thing printed on it. I then wrote on them to make it look like I had just stuck messages on the envelope, it got delivered. Not sure if they seen it was a kids handwriting and thought it was sweet or whether it actually worked