I just recieved a most curious peice of mail. The return address was marked J. [MY LAST NAME], Somewhere in FL. It appeared to be handwritten, and the ink even ran when it was spattered with raindrops, something I’ve only seen happen with ink from a pen, though I’m not 100% certain if it was just a handwriting font (most of the letters were nearly identical, but some of the i’s started below the other ones). At first I thought it was perhaps a letter from a long-lost relative (even my long lost half-brother, even though I hear he lives in MI, and goes by a diff. last name), but when I opened it up, it was an advertisement for a local car lot.
Obviously the car lot has employed the services of a junk mail sender to send mail to everyone on their list who lives within X miles of them, but did they also pay a little extra to have the return address share the surname of the recipient, or is that part just coincidence?
Return address could have been handwritten. You never know what these guys will come up with, and it wouldn’t cost much to pay someone whose greatest talent is to write a name. There are also automated ways to print using regular pen-type ink; some politicians use autograph machines to sign letters. I think the setup is too expensive for a one-time use, though.
I once received an advertistement that had been hand addressed, and even had a handwritten post-it note inside but no names written for me to identify the sender. I’m 99% sure it was just a junk mailing dressed up to look like a note from a thoughtful colleague.
I can’t see why you’d have to pay any more for a return address. It would be the work of moments to get adressing software to put “J. [addressee’s surname]” as the return adress. It would cost maybe a few bucks more to write the software to do that and less than cent to get it to print it.
Well, I’m assuming that the car lot hired a spamming company to send letters out for them. And also assuming that the [addressee’s surname] feature would be an extra feature. Usually, extra features cost money.
Heh, that reminds me of the letter that a car dealership sent out, thanking me for buying my car from them and listing telephone numbers I might need. I threw it away, since my ex worked in the same building as the dealership and I didn’t have a need for the list. About a week later, I got the same letter sent to me, all crumpled up, with a post-it on it telling me that it would come in handy and I shouldn’t throw it away again. For a split second it gave me a weird feeling, but my ex confirmed that it was just something that the dealership always did.