Those of us who are trainable immediately run our fingers along those non-descript envelopes to see if there is a card inside. If not, then it’s a live check which can go in the shredder.
Did you tell them it wasn’t a big deal? 
I’ve ripped in half replacement cards I was expecting because it looked like so much of the other crap I’ve gotten.
BUT, maybe they do this on purpose so no one can go “Ah-ha, a bank card mailer!” and nab them.
I think they’re fairly recognizable. When I get a plain envelope with only a P.O.Box on the return address, it’s one of three things: a replacement (or new) card, a live check from a current card, or a mailer from Philadelphia for a car dealership in Lakewood. Only one of those needs my attention.
Jesus, Frank, how many cars do you need?
Personally, the thing that generally tells me how much attention to give an envelope (aside from external indicators) is how thick it is. If it’s just one page, I generally open it. If it’s thicker, then it probably holds order forms or brochures something like that, and that goes bye-bye.
Usually works for me.
I do this also. I usually open most of the crap from the companies I actually do business with. But it is a lot of trouble sometimes.
I actually like the nondescript white envelopes.
95% of junk mail is noisy and loud and obvious.
The remaining 5% is sneaky, masquerading as official notifications, and even including a bogus cardboard CC inside to give the “feel”
However, one common thing I have noticed is that virtually all of the stealth junkmailers quote postal laws on the envelope. Of course, these laws apply to all mail, but junkmailers like to tell the world what the punishment is for messing with their junk.
These days, when some nondescript letter arrives, my eyes zero in on the “$XXX fine and XXX years of imprisonment if you tamper with this” message and then I tell my wife “It’s junk” and hand it to her. She always seems surprised that I knew.
Interesting - the “$XXX fine…” message must be an American habit - I’ve never seen that up here. However, another method which works fairly well up here is to simply glance at the type of mail - credit cards don’t come in “Addressed Admail” envelopes!
For my part, I finally got tired of dumping my shred can once a month so I’ll open everything and shred only the “live” pages. The return envelope, filler junk, and main envelope just go in the garbage. And every now and then there will be an offer that I’ll take a second look at.
Once I almost tossed something that turned out to be very important. Since that day I open up everything. It really doesn’t take that long and it keeps me from mistaking something I want or need for garbage.
I’ve gotta go with the mob on this one. When you get several letters a day from credit card companies that say, “important information about your account” or some other dire warning that turns out to be complete bullshit, and it’s just another solicitation, you pretty much stop reading them. Ever hear of a little story called “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”?
I’m with you, velvet. It really doesn’t take too much time to open up each envelope and look inside while I’m watchinh the news after I get home from work.
And Otto, you have my sympathy for dealing with these rude louts. Maybe this will convince these credit card companies that targeting college students, while initially profitable, isn’t such a good idea in the end.
Credit card companies: get the signal-to-noise ratio in your mailings to us up, and we’ll be better about reading our mail from you. Oh, and we don’t want any more of those fucking fake checks, EVER. And we don’t want your “credit insurance”, thankyouverymuch.
Feeling a card in the envelope isn’t even a reliable indicator that it’s something important. Too often, they send those stupid fake cards in junk mailings to get our attention.
I read somewhere about a punishment someone would have liked to implement for spammers. Put them in jail, and they don’t get fed or get bathroom breaks until they find the email vouchers that allow them to do these things, in an inbox full of spam. I’d like to do the same thing to the jackasses who send out all the crap for the credit card companies, only they would be paper vouchers, and buried in a mailbox full of junk mail.
Agree with the sentiment that cc companies send far too much shit. In addition to their marketing schemes, I get hit with Congress mandated crap such as privacy policy statement and confirmation statements/prospectuses from every single stock/company I trade. Every time Congress passes one of these consumer protection laws, I swear an entire forest is wiped out.
slight hijack
**Otto, ** If someone was to call you and ask to not receive the mounds of bullshit that cc cards mail could you put a stop to it ?
Yes, dudes- and OP - riddle me this: In “The Boy who Cried Wolf” who was in the wrong? You CC companies cry wolf at a ratio of 10:1 real wolves. :rolleyes:
Great question. Can we “opt out” of the bullshit and just receive the fucking statement? Hello? Hello?
Ditto. How much mail do you guys really get? I probably spend an average of 1-2 minutes a day opening mail. It only takes a few seconds glancing over it to decide if it is junk or something that actually may need my attention. But I always at least open it.
DITTO. I get one envelope a week from my credit card company. My bill comes around the 20th of the month. The rest I ignore. The rest I can guarantee are “checks” that go straight to the shredder, or “urgent notices” that the speical offer for a great rate on life insurance is going to expire soon.
My bill comes with a fistful of admail that also goes straight to the shredder.
Luckily, for really important stuff, my CC company prints a quick note at the bottom of the bill itself. Many of these notes are more upsell crap, but I do scan that part quickly.
Sorry you’re stuck with the aftermath of that Otto.