How to get back at the Credit Card Companies

Do you get way to many credit card offers. Here is a way to have fun with them.

Step 1:

Open offer. You can read if you like or not.

Comments

[peetar_webster]

it is better to paste the "business reply mail" envelope onto a cinder block to a box of dead weight so the credit card company pay's to receive a "box of debt" as I call it

[jtmax24]

i rather take all the shreds and use for confetti during the next party.... I thought you might have actually ways of getting back at the credit card companies. oh well... Love your shredder. reminds me I need to do some shredding. :)

[bfarm]

This is way old. The credit card companies have no idea and don't care since their mailing is all outsourced to postal handling companies.

The only way this would get attention is by filling the envelope with some white powder but you will get a lot more attention than you want.

Also "junk" mail is subsidized by the postal service.

In the end, we are all paying this postage.

[ryan97128]

The post office does not subsidize junk mail. Companies pay postage twice to send you junk mail if they include a postage-paid return envelope. The postman I knew who delivered to my business stated that he loves junk mail because it is easy to deliver and it is easy money for the post office.
I usually save up postage paid return envelopes and send the companies each others offers, along with some added material. I don't feel bad about it because these companies are generally annoying and I'm not impressed with unimaginative marketing tactics.

[richardsan]

no we aren't... 'all paying this postage'.

[BarginsTech]

You obviously dont understand what they meant by that. But this is an old and waste of time technique. As Bfarm said they dont even see the mail lol.. and im sure huge companies dont even see what they send out anyway lol ...

[david5300]

I do this when I get crap mailed to me from aarp. I pack as much weight I can into the return prepaid letter and send it off. I never thought of this jamming up their opening machines.
that only makes me want to do it more.

[georion]

All great comments and ideas***
Why not just be thankful for the raw material
AND RECYCLE- make fire bricks or add to compost ,paper beads
stuffing for carboard ottoman ,Whatever ?????????????

[giike3]

I'm gonna do it in a while

[GreyBaroness]

I like this very much! I often mail the offers from one company to another in each others' envelopes, but this saves waiting for another offer to come through the letterbox and looks just as satisfying!
One piece of advice - some of these credit card offers are personalised and may have your name and other details on, so just make sure that nothing remains readable that could identify you!

[triumphman]

Been doing this for a long time! Someone, somewhere has a job opening these. He or she is happy to be working! Guess I am helping the jobless rates! I don't shred, I just put the junk mail in the prepaid envelope and send it back. Easy! (of course I took my name off ! )

[nerd1701]

This is a pretty good idea. My grandfather used to tape them to bricks, so that they had to pay the postage back. To bad you cant do that now, it became illegal a couple of years ago.

[Bruce P]

Steven. You are an evil geinius, next step world domination!!

Rgds Bruce P

[steven.davis.w]

I'm working on it.

[Chiana_Rei]

As this is a site for ideas here's a simple one, shred the junk mail, soak it in water and compress into a bread pan once its dry place it in a small paper bag, If kept dry makes great firestarter logs. You can either soak it with fluid at the fire site or saturate it and seal it in a ziplock, on spark and your on your way.

[Rosilin]

Plz do an instrutabule! :)

[jdwaynes1980]

I remember reading somewhere, or watching a video a long time ago where someone took the prepaid envelope, and taped it to an old tire, and sent it in the mail.

[Jislizard]

Credit card applications usually come with other junk mail. I usually stuff the junk mail inside the prepaid envelope and send it back. For all I know they may enjoy receiving pizza menus.

[heathbar64]

Best way to get back at them is to accept all the offers and run up a huge balance. then never pay the bill. Your credit will be ruined, but hey! people with bad credit dont get nearly so many credit card offers.

[xray88]

Anyone that wants to can easily opt out of credit card offers online at optoutprescreen.com. There's no need to "get back" at anyone.

[useraaaaa]

you didn't read small print

[waldosan]

of course there's no need to get back at anyone, just like there's no need to send unsolicited mail: email or otherwise once someone gets a decent credit score or turns 21.

when i want a credit card i'll personally shop around and find one that doesn't have more than 25 percent interest after the first year.

[xray88]

I didn't "just" say there's no need to get back at them; I gave a reason why. By not opting out you are indirectly agreeing to receive the offers. You know what's a whole lot easier than getting kicks sending shredded offers back to credit card companies? Visiting the website I posted and clicking a few buttons.

[Thrasym]

"By not opting out you are indirectly agreeing to receive the offers. "

That's like saying "because you didn't opt out of a painful death this week, someone is allowed to stab you in vital organs until you die"...

Also, all the opting out just puts you on more lists. Yes it does. Don't argue, look into it if you don't think so. You opt out of phone solicitations and you start getting charities and surveys calling you ten times as often...you opt out of credit card offers and you start getting ten times the magazine and drug store and pizza and a hundred other types of junk mail.

Advertising is a plague, it will soon die off, it's wasted money and eventually the advertisers will realize it. Hopefully.

[gmh5760]

xray88, waldosan never said that you did "just say". I believe just about everyone gets a little irritated with unsolicited mail occasionally... except you, Oh, and since you never sent me a message requesting that I don't correct you, you actually indirectly asked to be corrected.

[waldosan]

that defeats the principle of the matter, yes it'd solve the problem but only temporarily and for one person. this kind of action where credit cards are freely available and the companies actually hound the people down to get them to accept them is irresponsible on two accounts.

1.) america's youth has already showed stunning ability at being fiscally irresponsible, and that's just the future added to the irresponsibility of my generation and it's predecessors.

2.)it's been proven many times over that not only is the ease of using a plastic card allowing people to spend easier but the actual interest and debt programs that these companies enact for these policies are specifically designed to encourage you to keep a running balance on the card.

i equate credit card companies and the banks that run them as lower than parasites, out to make a quick dollar at the expense of the ignorant. they are a good percentage of the debt problem the world is facing and if i had any say in the matter i would outlaw them from the bloody country.

[the cat expert]

Unsubscribe after you send back the postage.

[webman3802]

By wasting the credit card companies' money, you are not getting back at them, you are getting back at all of their customers that they pass their excessive costs along to. These legal "drug dealers" of the financial world might see a slight increase in their postage costs if a lot of people started doing this, but they'll just raise their rates. You wouldn't think it would cut into THEIR profit margin, would you?

I agree with xray 88. We did the opt out several months ago and hardly receive any credit card offers anymore. When we do, I get a kind of perverse pleasure in sending it back to them in their envelope with a note, "You are in violation of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act." I've only had to do this about three times in the past six months.

[BuffyMay]

SO FUN!!! I want to try it ASAP!!!

[r-philp]

Flat pieces of scrap metal that will still fit in the envelope will *dramatically* increase their postage cost on those business return envelopes.

Years ago I cancelled my Amex, and was subsequently inundated with applications, and pleas to re-enroll, sometimes more than one a week! Eventually, I included a flat block of metal scrap (nearly 1 pound) with a note explaining who I was, why I cancelled, and informing them that I have an inexhaustible supply of this stuff, and they can expect to get one with every business reply envelope I receive.

Their junk-mail stopped instantly. It was a beautifully satisfying win.

[TurboSnail]

My personal favourite version of this is to glue the envelope shut...
:D

[the cat expert]

Although they might sell the scrap metal and get some of there money back. Maybe something like dirt or worms would be better.

[paraxion]

Better yet, try this one :P
http://bash.org/?127039

[the cat expert]

Genius!

[louisw]

just don't send white sand (or any white powder) like a prospective bride did to announce her beach wedding as it caused an anthrax scare ultimately costing a lot of $$$ and almost causing the groom to back out of wedding. neat thought, or you could just donate to your wood burning friends.

[lime3D]

Nice idea. You could also dump a bunch of glitter in the envelope. That stuff gets everywhere!

[the cat expert]

Send a heavy box to a fried in another country w/ the envelope on the inside, along with instructions to use the pre-paid envelope to ship it back.
You have to pay some $ but then they have to pay international

[waldosan]

i would personally pay for the postage needed to send them a 300 page report on how credit card companies are destroying the economy and promoting bad spending habits among the youth.

[OpenSourceBrain]

This is funny!!! Good job.

[jrryan]

why not tape the business reply envelope to an empty box, with just a note inside saying no thank you. Large freight shipping goes by dimensions rather than weight alone.