# Free labels from charities **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 18, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388 "2004-11-18T00:48:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/1 "2004-11-18T00:48:24Z")
We all get them. Those envelopes of printed return address labels from VFW, American Legion, or some other group. They try to guilt you into sending them money because they sent you labels. So…what do you do with the labels? Throw them away? Send money? Use them and feel guilty? Around here, we use them and don’t feel guilty at all. 😃 What do **you** do with them? ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/2 "2004-11-18T02:29:14Z")
Mom used to throw them out, but since I’ve moved on my own, I don’t get any, sniff. I doubt I’d use them though. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/3 "2004-11-18T02:44:44Z")
I love them. Saves me from having to write return addresses on envelopes. I hope they keep sending them but they better not expect any money for it. And no, I don’t feel guilty at all. They sent them to me unsolicited. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/4 "2004-11-18T02:47:33Z")
I never get them. My grandma has a little baggie full, more than she could ever possibly need. She’d need to send about 300 letters to use them all up. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/5 "2004-11-18T03:28:34Z")
We use them all the time. I didn’t ask for them, but there doesn’t seem to be any point in wasting them. I’d just have to buy some. Or write my return address on things, but that’s time-consuming. And they make decent book labels and such, too. The only ones I’m feeling guilty about right now are the ones I just got from St. Jude. And not for using the labels, but for not sending them any money. I might yet, though. I kept the reply card and the envelope. Might be my Christmas gift to my mom this year, even though she’s gone. She supported them for years. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/6 "2004-11-18T04:24:32Z")
I chuck 'em. Not a damn one has \*ever \* spelled my name right. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/7 "2004-11-18T14:19:50Z")
How does one score unsolicited return address labels? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/8 "2004-11-18T15:07:05Z")
Heck if I know. I’ve always gotten them. Maybe they scroll through the phone books and bulk-mail to entire neighborhoods. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/9 "2004-11-18T15:15:45Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > How does one score unsolicited return address labels? Lots of places just started sending them to me after I got married. Sometimes, it seems like several charities are trying to see who can send me the best labels. Like I said, I love them and use them several times a week. Each charity sends me something like 50 or 100 labels at a time so they last a while. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/10 "2004-11-18T15:44:29Z")
They’re always of such poor quality. Since I think they’re pretty tacky, I discard them. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/11 "2004-11-18T16:06:31Z")
I was thrilled to get some so soon after we moved into our new house. We were planning on staying at the old place a lot longer, so we still had at least a hundred of the fancy expensive ones left over with that address on it (not to mention a hundred checks!). I don’t care one whit what they look like - I’ll use 'em! Especially since they always spell our name right (which is a miracle in and of itself - I bought checks from my bank right after I got married and those idiots spelled my name wrong!!) ---
**Author:** ![Cowgirl\_Jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Cowgirl\_Jules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowgirl_Jules)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/12 "2004-11-18T16:14:54Z")
I only use them if it’s a charity that I don’t dislike on principle. Right now, that’s the Ducks Unlimited ones. But I won’t use the religous nutjob ones (_how_ did they get my address anyway?) ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/13 "2004-11-18T16:47:32Z")
> [@UrbanChic](#): > > Since I think they’re pretty tacky, I discard them. Yes, the graphics on them are usually pretty cheesy. That’s why I snip that part off and just use the address portion. Wow…never really thought about it before, but that’s probably giving my karma level a serious whacking. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/14 "2004-11-18T17:21:28Z")
I use them on bills and stuff. Who cares if they look tacky? It’s not like the minimum wage worker they have opening bills at the propane company is going to think, “Tsk, what a crappy return address label! Bet they got it free from a charity they don’t even donate to.” Or even if they do, who cares? And you _gotta_ use the ones from Greenpeace and Nature Conservancy! They _killed a tree_ to send these to you! Throwing them away is killing Mother Earth! Right now I have some old-lady-lookin’ ones with flowers on them from the American Diabetes Association (who I buy Christmas cards from, so I don’t feel guilty) and some really goofy looking ones with some kind of an endangered duck or goose or something on them from the Nature Conservancy. For personal correspondence I always write out the return address, though. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/15 "2004-11-18T18:08:14Z")
But see, that’s just it. I don’t think there are any bills I pay via USPS mail anymore. All of mine are paid online or electronically. I’m only mailing cards and letters. I don’t use any return address labels, let alone tacky, free ones, when sending greetings and personal correspondence. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/16 "2004-11-18T18:23:48Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > How does one score unsolicited return address labels? Well, i moved to the US only a few years ago, so i might be a good case study. In my first year over here, i didn’t have any US credit cards, i had a single US bank account, i didn’t purchase anything online, and the only people with my address were my bank and my utility companies (telephone, gas, electric). What i did do, however, was subscribe to about eight different magazines, mainly liberal and left-wing. I took out subscriotions to _The Nation, The Progressive, Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly, Z Magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, National Geographic,_ and _Dollars and Sense_. Within about six months, i was receiving a whole bunch of unsolicited mail, including quite a few envelopes containing address labels. Unsurprisingly, given my subscriptions, most of the mail was from progressive, liberal, or leftist organizations. I think that Medecins Sans Frontiers sent me more address labels than anyone else, although a couple of environmentalist groups (oh, the irony) came close. I can’t really use the address labels, though, because they don’t have my home address on them. I’m a grad student, and in all my magazine subscriptions, i used my university mailbox address, because my departmental mailbox is a lot larger than the apartment mailbox i had back then, and it prevents the magazines from getting crunched up or stolen. As it turns out, it also prevents my home mailbox from being crammed with unsolicited mail. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/17 "2004-11-18T18:32:31Z")
> [@UrbanChic](#): > > But see, that’s just it. I don’t think there are any bills I pay via USPS mail anymore. All of mine are paid online or electronically. I’m only mailing cards and letters. I don’t use any return address labels, let alone tacky, free ones, when sending greetings and personal correspondence. Reasonable. A couple of business that demand money from me in exchange for their goods and services are mom & pop outfits, so I still have to use outmoded forms of transport. I look forward to the day when I can throw away my check book, but that day has not yet arrived. Plus, despite the electronic age, it always seems like I’ve got forms to fill out, sign and return. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/18 "2004-11-18T18:46:34Z")
> [@Uvula Donor](#): > > I chuck 'em. Not a damn one has ever spelled my name right. So, they spell your name “Vulva Donor”? 😉 For the OP, I used to throw them out. I’ve moved on to using them on bills and not feeling guilty. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/19 "2004-11-18T18:55:22Z")
I got a batch from The Heifer Foundation, which I do support, and they were various animals wearing Santa hats. I used them all year and loved 'em. The only others I get are from my insurance company and say “The gigi’s-last-name Household” as the name. They should know it’s just me, but I use them anyway because it’s fun to be a household. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388/20 "2004-11-18T19:28:47Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I got a batch from The Heifer Foundation, which I do support, and they were various animals wearing Santa hats. I used them all year and loved 'em. The only others I get are from my insurance company and say “The gigi’s-last-name Household” as the name. They should know it’s just me, but I use them anyway because it’s fun to be a household. Well, they didn’t want to slight any of your other personalities. 😃 I get tons of those little address labels from all kinds of organizations. I have no idea why. I subscribe to no magazines and all my charitable giving is limited to three specific local charities. I use em and don’t feel guilty at all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-labels-from-charities/275388.md?page=2)