Here's How To Handle Junk Mail...

=A0 =A0 ...Jim Thompson

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Who can mail a first class letter for $0.098 cents anymore?

Who can mail a first class letter for $0.098 cents anymore?

------------------------- Nancy Pelosi is obviously one. Art

Did you look at the return address? That's who.

Congresscritters pay $0.00 .

Here's what I do....

I carefully open everything, especially credit-card offers.

Anything containing a prepaid return envelope is gold. I take some of the contents (absent identifying info), sealf it into the prepaid envelope, and mail it back. The addressee has to pay something like First-Class plus $0.23. I figure they're paying for my time :)

Junk without a reply envelope just gets recycled.

=A0 =A0...Jim Thompson

Has anybody here decoded the 2D barcode on the envelope yet? I often wonder if, when I see those barcodes on envelopes containing credit card offers and the like, whether such barcodes are potentially exposing personal information.

I can see some idiot now in the I.T. department thinking how "useful" it might be to code the envelopes according to someone's Social Security number, or whatever... Given how much data those barcodes can store, they're ripe for abuse!

barcode = ZIP+4

Not as interesting as your friend would like:

Good idea! ...Jim Thompson

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

A better idea is hang a bag for all the junk mail - when its full cram the contents into the nearest mail collection box.

By far, the biggest bulk of junk mail is addressed "The householder", so nothing to identify the person disposing of it.

Any junk mail addressed to me, goes through the shredder.

That's not a 2D barcode. 2D barcodes can carry k-bytes of info, similar to a smart card.

Anway, the secret ZIP+48 code includes your exact address, SSN, birthdate, driver's license, dog license(s), and sexual orientation.

Junk w/o a reply envelope goes into anybody elses reply envelope. Art

Freepost adressesed envelopes are fun.

Cut them out and paste them onto concrete paving slabs and hand them in at the PO callers counter.

The congresscritter pays nothing but I believe the taxpayer does pay the USPS (that stamp on the subject junk mailing) for the franking.

=A0 =A0 =A0 ...Jim Thompson

e quoted text -

Are you sure that's not a 2D barcode? I thought that was a PDF417 (Maybe PDF471?) barcode. I'm not talking about the postnet one-liner (usually found along the top or bottom edge of the envelope lengthwise). I agree, that can't hold more than a dozen or so bytes.

-mpm

Pasting them on wrapped bricks is nicer. The recipient may well be suspected of drug running.

mike

=A0 =A0 =A0 ...Jim Thompson

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Looks like either Data Matrix or PDF417 Here's what one online 2D barcode decoder says is encoded in the barcode (next to the postage): I should grab some junk mail from the counter, scan those codes, and see what's really in them... (Yeah, like I have time to do that..!!!)

- Ok

- 268435456 =FF FF00E9CDAD21E4146A6200000000303044454D4F 0 15 129 13 19 348 21 354 128

..and the SECOND time you get junk mail from the same place, add plenty of scrap paper or a sheet of galvanized tin cut to fit the return envelope..they can wind up paying a few dollars in postage fees. Just do not add too much weight as they may refuse it.

Does adding some white powder (such as wheat) into the return envelope still cause a massive fuss in the USA as a few years ago ?

=A0 =A0 ...Jim Thompson

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Mail fraud is a federal felony.