• magnetosphere@fedia.io
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    23 days ago

    Note to anyone playing at home: if you send any trash, make sure it doesn’t include anything with personally identifying information on it.

    • mle@feddit.de
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      23 days ago

      Wouldn’t the “no postage required” business reply label link to the original mailing anyway, i.e. clould that not be linked to your address?

      • whatwhatwhatwhat@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        Unlikely, as long as you cut off any non-postage-related barcodes. But normally the label just has barcoded address information and the “business reply mail” postage permit number.

        Here’s an example, address removed.

        Business reply mail example

    • Th3D3k0y@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      I like to just mail the letter they sent me back to them in the envelope they sent, usually with a stick so it doesn’t bend and costs more due to hand sort

    • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works
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      22 days ago

      Why? It seems like the most effective way of unsubscribing to junk mail.

      Besides, “if you believe in something, you sign your name to it” https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GujKyNduy0c&t=69

      You don’t have to be an ass to the wage slave opening the return mail, but you can still send them a message. Print out joblistings for the return address area and return them. Maybe add a few Bible quotes. But make sure you are remembered by getting a stack of sassy stickers from temu and putting a few in there as a little gift.

  • Gravitywell@sh.itjust.works
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    23 days ago

    Mail carriers are not idiots, they just discard the thing as trash since its obviously not an envelope… Business reply mail will only ever be paper letters, so what you actually want to do is just send whatever it is back to them with useless information or if its an actual envelope you can stuff it with glitter or shred the paper inside, its still technically “improper use” but they won’t know that until its at the destination.

    • jabathekek@sopuli.xyz
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      23 days ago

      Maybe it’s fake, but I like to think each and every postal worker knew where it was going and decided to let it be delivered.

    • BigDaddySlim@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      This is not entirely accurate, business reply mail can be parcels as well. Brother and HP ink returns are 2 I can think of off the top of my head. So we see packages with those labels on there all the time. The company will pay the postage automatically through their account (if they’re large enough to do BRM they have an account) and just get the mail delivered. Honestly I don’t know of anyone at the PO that would say something about it, we’d just laugh like “well we’re getting paid for it regardless lol”

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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      22 days ago

      Congratulations, you just made a huge mess for some barely-above- minimum wage worker to deal with.

      They are going to have to take time to clean up all that glitter or they’ll get written up for keeping a sloppy workspace. But because it’s glitter and got everywhere, it’s gonna take a long time and they are going to miss their performance metrics. That’s a writeup.

      Now they are on the chopping block and their kid is starving and wearing rags to school because you thought it’d send a message to mail them glitter, and literally nobody higher than the mailroom boss even knows that it happened. Good work.

        • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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          21 days ago

          I don’t think “minimum wage worker gets penalized for something entirely outside their control and the workers innocent family suffers as a result” is that much of a stretch. Sadly.

      • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works
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        22 days ago

        Agreed, why not return low level joblistings for the area where the return address is. Add a few sassy stickers you got from temu as a gift and some information on starting a union.

        Don’t be an ass to wage slaves, they’re not your enemy, they’re your peers, show them the way instead.

        Arise ye pris’ners of starvation
        Arise ye wretched of the earth

  • henfredemars@infosec.pub
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    23 days ago

    Is that even legal? How far could this go? Could I overnight a pallet of bricks? I don’t think I need to provide a return address.

      • IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        You’re an idiot if you don’t think the USPS doesn’t has the capability to figure out who’s doing it if they care.

        • Khanzarate@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          So I have been unable to quickly confirm this on the post office directly, but the commonly cited rule online is quoted as 917.243(b).

          If we can believe the multiple sources and the rule hasn’t been changed, I recalled it a little incorrectly. Using such a letter as a label is legal but if they deem it an improper usage, like directly mailing a brick with the letter taped to it, they reserve the right to just dispose of it. No trouble for the sender though, so it can’t hurt.

  • sudo@programming.dev
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    22 days ago

    Sounds easier to opt out of those mailers entirely. There’s a website sponsored by the FTC to do it. But you can only opt out of 5 years online. To do it permanently you must print out and mail in the form.

    https://www.optoutprescreen.com/

    AFAIK it works but it reeks of bullshit. First its a .com but its what the FTC recommends. It seems like the feds forced the credit companies to make the website and their really upset that your missing all these credit opportunities. Maybe they lower your credit score if you actually fill it out.

    • Godnroc@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      I did it years ago. I never noticed any retaliation, but the lack of garage in my mailbox is noticeable. I swear some of those credit cards would send daily letters!

      Sure, vendors who already have my information still send me things, but I just call them and get them to remove me from the list. Now the only thing that remains is the political junk mail you can do nothing about.

    • zagaberoo@beehaw.org
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      22 days ago

      I did this over a decade ago and it’s still working. If I remember correctly I had to call to make it a permanent opt-out but it was totally worth it. My credit score was totally unaffected.

      Essentially the same scenario with free credit reports and AnnualCreditReport.com. Just look up the instructions through ftc.gov whenever you’re unsure about something. I still follow the link to the credit report site from ftc.gov these days even though I remember the actual .com as well, just for good measure.

    • Todd Bonzalez@lemm.ee
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      22 days ago

      Fake!

      The weight limit for prepaid postage is 3.5oz, which is why you should copy all the info from the postcard and print it onto lots of envelopes which you then fill with 3.5oz of garbage each and dump into a public mailbox.

  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    Whenever I get junk mail with prepaid envelopes I send them back with a note that says, “Thanks for supporting the Post Office, now fuck off.” I doubt this post is real, but if that’s actually how prepaid envelopes work, I’d love to waste even more of, “Auto-Warrenty Department’s,” money.