| Envelope Stuffing: What You Need To Know |
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(c) 1999 Christine Jones, www.MomJobs.com
We've all seen them at one time or another. A typical envelope
stuffing ad might read as this: "Help Wanted: Mail order
company seeking people to stuff envelopes from home. $1000
weekly."
Ahhh. The pleasures of working at home, sitting in front of the
television with your kids, while stuffing envelopes for a
company who can't do it on their own. Five dollars per envelope
you stuff ... just think, if you stuff just 30 envelopes during
your soap operas, that's an easy $150, right?
Now before I excite you enough to make you go out and actually
find one of these ads on the Internet or in a local newspaper,
let me first explain a thing or two about this 'wonderful
opportunity' that we've found. Turns out it's not so wonderful
as you may have thought.
First of all, the description of 'stuffing ads' is misleading.
When you read an ad for a typist, you mentally picture someone
hunched over a computer (or, if you can remember this far back,
a typewriter!). What they are typing is provided to them. For
instance, if they are typing a book, the book's pages are
already there for them to use. That just makes sense, right?
Well, not so in the 'stuffing envelopes' deal.
Right away, I imagine a relaxed atmosphere in my living room,
with a large box full of envelopes sent from the company, and
my toddler playing by my side. I also imagine a small box
filled with the information needing to be 'stuffed' inside the
envelope itself. Maybe they are 'thank you' letters to the
company's clients, or maybe they are even invoices that need to
be sent right away. I mean, when a company is in need of hiring
someone to stuff envelopes for them, this is the kind of
material that they need to get out in a hurry, right?
You agree, right? Don't worry, this is what I originally
thought too. Anticipating the arrival of my first child, I was
desperately searching for work to do from home. I had seen
similar 'work at home ads' every place I went. On the grocery
store noticeboards, stapled on the pole across the street. I
never paid much attention until the need for me to work from
home was so important.
I admit it, I fell for it. The ad was too appealing to turn
down. An ad in the classifieds section of my local paper
promised me a guaranteed income by helping them stuff their
envelopes. Hey, I had time to spare! Why not give it a shot?
They asked for a deposit of $40.00 to 'be sure' that I was
serious about working for them. They even said that they'd
refund it if I changed my mind.
I sent in my money. I waited. And waited. Just as I was about
to give up on the whole deal, a small package arrived in the
mail. This is it!, I thought. The company finally is ready for
me to start working!
No sooner did I have the package open that my eagerness turned
to disappointment.
I could almost hear my poor little heart sink when I found out
that this 'company' didn't, in fact, need me to stuff envelopes
as they promised, but instead, wanted me to advertise the same
exact ad that I had responded to in the first place!
Confused? Let me explain. A fine manipulation of words, these
people use. Technically, you DO stuff envelopes for them. But
not how you may think. In my package I received three things.
The first were a set of instructions. The second article in the
package was a sheet of paper that advertised a book that the
company was selling. The third was a poster that read "Work At
Home! Stuff Envelopes! For More Information, Send A Self-
Addressed Stamped Envelope To ____". They let you fill in the
blank (how thoughtful!).
So what did all this mean? In order to make any money 'stuffing
envelopes', I had to advertise for them. Yep, you got it. I
would be the one responsible for posting those ads we see on
grocery store noticeboards, the posters on the light poles, and
the ads in the newspapers. An unsuspecting victim would send
their self-addressed stamped envelope [SASE] to me, I would
stuff their envelope with the flyer for a Work At Home Book,
and then I would send this company the original envelope that
was sent to me. If all went smoothly, they would pay me for
each person that sent me a SASE.
Did it work? I couldn't tell you. I didn't do it. But many, in
fact, have gone ahead and done this, with less-than-desirable
results. It's amazing to me when someone actually receives
enough envelopes to get their money back from companies like
these.
According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, "In
practically all businesses, envelope stuffing has become a
highly mechanized operation using sophisticated mass mailing
techniques and equipment which eliminates any profit potential
for an individual doing this type of work-at-home. The
Inspection Service knows of no work-at-home promotion that ever
produces income as alleged."
I have saved the materials that I received that day, simply as
a reminder of what the Internet can allow us to fall for,
whether by word manipulation and exaggeration or straight-out
bogus work-at-home schemes.
# # # # # # # # # #
Christine Jones is a work-at-home Mom who spends her time
researching work at home scams, and compiling home-employment
resources within her network of sites, located at
www.bizmoms.com.
Christine can be reached by emailing bizmoms@gmail.com
This article may be reproduced as long as it is published in it's entirety. For a text version via autoresponder, send a blank email to envelopestuffing@sendfree.com
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Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 @ 00:00:00 CST by Site_Admin |
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