# Junk Mail retaliation: can I get in trouble for this?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 31, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257 "2005-05-31T19:20:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/1 "2005-05-31T19:20:13Z")
I once heard (very long ago, can’t remember exactly) that Junk Mail people don’t have to pay for the postage on what they send out, only what they get back. For years since I heard that I will remove the insides of junk mail, rip them into little pieces, then seal them in the “no postage necessary” envelope they provide and mail them back to whatever junk mail warehouse they came from, forcing them to incur the cost.
I was telling a friend of mine about this the other day, and he said that they could probably sue me, and there’s a chance I could get in trouble for mail fraud.
Nonsense, I say. But I’d rather be safe than sorry, and since this is too silly to hire a lawyer to check out, I defer to the SDMB. Is there any way I can get in trouble for this?
(FYI - my junk mail has slowed down to a trickle since I started this little hobby).
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/2 "2005-05-31T19:23:51Z")
How the heck are they gonna tell who it came from if you don’t put a return address on it? Besides, it would cost them a bundle to sue you to recover “harms.” If you have that amount of time to spend entertaining yourself this way, then go ahead. There will be no retaliation.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/3 "2005-05-31T19:30:02Z")
You might be interested in this classic Straight Dope Column:
**Can I mail a brick back to a junk-mail firm using the business reply envelope?**
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_356.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_356.html)
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### Author:  [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/4 "2005-05-31T19:37:48Z")
I have this hobby too. I send back the “you have already won!\*” prize card in the postage paid envelope provided. I usually write in red ink “I’d appreciate it if you did not send me any more junk mail” or variations thereof. Never fails. They get the message because like you said they are paying for it. On occasion I even receive a letter back thanking me and assuring I won’t be bothered again!
- (pending purcharse of the crap we sell)
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### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/5 "2005-05-31T19:38:50Z")
Most return envelopes have some dot-matrix printer style bar codes printed on them - I’ve always figured that was my information.
As I usually write whenever this comes up, I like to be more mellow about this. I scribble out all non-postage related looking barcodes, then put a funny local comic or whatever I have handy. Annoying credit-card offering companies take a hit, Canada Post gets more $$$, and the guy getting 7$/hr to open envelopes and type in information gets something they might like. 🙂
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### Author:  [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/6 "2005-05-31T19:43:08Z")
I’ve been doing this for quite a while, also, and I’m still roaming free.
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### Author:  [@daffyduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffyduck)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/7 "2005-05-31T19:54:48Z")
_…Junk Mail people don’t have to pay for the postage on what they send out, only what they get back._
This part is, of course, completely false. They pay bulk mail rates, which are lower than regular postage, but they still pay to send.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/8 "2005-05-31T19:59:54Z")
Damn straight.
As for the other…what matters is the ‘don’t send me stuff’ message.
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/9 "2005-05-31T20:03:14Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> How the heck are they gonna tell who it came from if you don’t put a return address on it? Besides, it would cost them a bundle to sue you to recover “harms.” If you have that amount of time to spend entertaining yourself this way, then go ahead. There will be no retaliation.
Oh, I’m certain there is some coded something or other on there that lets them know exactly where they are sending things, return address or not.
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### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/10 "2005-05-31T20:14:32Z")
Back when I was working at another bank’s operations department, we had a customer known as “the garbage man” as this character would stuff coupons in our BRM (business reply mail) envelopes to the bursting point. Not much chance of tracking these nutjobs, unfortunately. Or fortunately, if your intent is to cause trouble.
All we were ever able to find out is that the person was mailing the envelopes from Reno, NV because the facer/canceller machine stamps its ID on the backside of every envelope it handles.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/11 "2005-05-31T20:16:26Z")
> [@Dooku](#):
>
> Oh, I’m certain there is some coded something or other on there that lets them know exactly where they are sending things, return address or not.
On a return envelope? Not bloody likely. Those things are mass-produced.
My major peeve in this area is bind-in and blow-in cards in magazines. It takes forever to tear them out of all the magazines I read every month, and sometimes damages the magazine to boot. I spent $3 at a custom stamp place and had them make me a generic “Mr. Kiss Off, 1234 Fifth St., BiteMe, WI, 99999” stamp. I stamp the card, mail it, and add to their overhead by a fraction. 😃
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### Author:  [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/12 "2005-05-31T20:17:59Z")
I have to admit that the first time I did this I was kind of apprehensive. I was imagining junk mail boss at junk mail headquartes sitting at his huge desk, looking down on the sprawling metropolis with only his back visible, sucking his cigar, smoke billowing while uttering the fateful words “get him”. Then one night I would hear the helicopter noise somewhere in the sky and these men in black suits would take me away to work in slavery forever opening postage paid return envelopes for back massagers.
As it turns outs, they don’t mind it because they know we are the smart kind of consumers that don’t like having trees cut to flood their mailboxes with undesired junk and would never buy the overpriced crap they sell. So they spare on mail sent out.
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### Author:  [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/13 "2005-05-31T20:24:07Z")
Abbie Hoffman suggested this trick in [Steal This Book](http://www.tenant.net/Community/steal/steal.html#2.12.5). But the idea seems to have predated that great work.
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### Author:  [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/14 "2005-05-31T20:55:10Z")
I have been sending back postage paid envelopes almost daily for the past 12 to 15 years. It gives me a little satisfaction and has become a “hobby”. From my office I send anywhere from one to ten envelopes each day. I often wonder how much money I have cost the junk mailers.
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### Author:  [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/15 "2005-05-31T21:01:41Z")
> [@vetbridge](#):
>
> I have been sending back postage paid envelopes almost daily for the past 12 to 15 years. It gives me a little satisfaction and has become a “hobby”. From my office I send anywhere from one to ten envelopes each day. I often wonder how much money I have cost the junk mailers.
> [@](#):
>
> Once upon a time, they tell me, things were different. Years ago, it seems, postal regulations required that all business reply mail be delivered, whether the cards were affixed to bricks, 2x4s, or hand grenades. Furthermore, the recipient was required to pay full first-class postage (a good buck, in the case of a brick) plus 18 cents handling per piece. However, the direct-mail firms usually worked out a deal with the local postmaster whereby unwanted building materials and whatnot (believe it or not, Win, you’re not the first person to think of this) somehow became “lost” (heh-heh), getting the mailing firm off the hook.
>
> The current regulation makes it unnecessary to resort to this subterfuge. **But most people don’t realize the mailing firms won’t get stuck with the tab,** so a fair amount of oddball junk still finds its way into the nation’s mailboxes. The postal service regards this as a major pain in the neck, and therefore I have been implored to convey to the Teeming Millions the following message: putting bricks in the mail could bring American civilization to its knees. (That’s the impression I came away with, anyway.) Also you might be charged with “abuse of the mails.”
(Emphasis added).
According to [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_356.html) , nothing.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/16 "2005-05-31T21:11:22Z")
I used to do that all of the time. I would take everything that they sent me, including the envelope it was sent in, and then throw in a few other random pieces of paper into the return envelope and send it on its way. This was over a decade ago though. I can remember my Mom doing the same thing to political mail that she didn’t like in the 1970’s.
Now curbside recycling is everywhere and I think that the greater good is served by putting the mess into the recycling bin.
Haj
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/17 "2005-05-31T21:13:25Z")
> [@Gfactor](#):
>
> (Emphasis added).
>
> According to [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_356.html) , nothing.
Cecil’s comment was relating to “attached material,” not the envelope itself. They still have to pay postage on the cards and envelopes that are returned sans junk.
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### Author:  [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/18 "2005-05-31T21:14:50Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Cecil’s comment was relating to “attached material,” not the envelope itself. They still have to pay postage on the cards and envelopes that are returned sans junk.
Please excuse my cerebral flatulence. 😃
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### Author:  [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/19 "2005-05-31T22:29:09Z")
I tend to be a combination of pig-headed, patient (when it won’t kill me) and “Let’s see if the system works as designed” so I’ve taken on several junk mailers (and junk fax operations) before - resulting in the AG of the USA being sicked on one and an enormous fine from the FCC on another. Anyhoo, my experience & understanding:
1. Those return postage mailers are prepaid. The company has already paid for them and won’t pay another penny no matter what you do - use them as intended, burn them for heat, or fill them with sheet steel and drop them in the mailbox.
2. Prepaid mailers are only good up to the weight allowed based on the prepaid postage. Too heavy and it gets sorted out by the USPS.
3. A lot of those companies will in fact abide by a request to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) to quit sending you stuff. Go to the DMA’s website, fill out the forms and have a little patience (takes X number of months for your name to get off the lists).
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### Author:  [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/junk-mail-retaliation-can-i-get-in-trouble-for-this/306257/20 "2005-05-31T22:48:07Z")
From **Gfactor** ’s link:
> [@](#):
>
> If you have a friend working in a large corporation, you can run your organization’s mail through their postage meter.
Translation: “If you have a friend working in a large corporation who hates his job, help him get fired by running your mail through the company’s postage meter.”
Like I’m going to let one of my buddies give me his junk mail to feed through the meter, at _MY_ work, on _MY_ time. :wally
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