Stuffing envelopes - what's the scam?

Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

I'm usually on call with my job on fridays...leaving me alot of free time where I can't really do anything. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif Anyway, I saw a classified ad a few days ago about getting paid to stuff envelopes, and called for more info. Now, I know most of these are scams, BUT...this one seems different to me. The letter they sent me says:
- No selling required
- No placing classified ads
- Receive free supplies

It goes on to talk about all the other envelope stuffing scams, saying this isn't one of them. It says "What you will receive with this particular job includes postage, information needed to be mailed, envelopes, and address labels. Your task is to simply fold the fliers, stuff and process envelopes according to the simple instructions provided to you. You will be paid $1 per envelope directly from the company. This means you will be paid regardless of how many sales your mailings produce"

Then there's a bunch more about how great they are, and then they ask for $16 before they send you any more information.

Sounds too good to be true to me, but it's only $16. I wouldn't think they would bother scamming people for that small amount. What do you guys think the scam is? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

Goodness. That sounds awesome if its legit. $16 aint too much if it is a scam. Do more research on the company. There are always other ways to make some money thats totally safe.

Cameron

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

There isn't really any research I can do, I'm guessing it's probably just a guy running this out of his house. The return address on the envelope is only about 20 miles from me though, I could allways go "say hi" if it turns out to be a scam. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif It just doesn't make much sense to me; they could pay any kid $7 an hour to do this. I'm sure I could stuff alot more than 7 envelopes in an hour.

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

The scam...... likely the $16.

Run a small ad in several papers across the country. Rake in suckers for $16 each.

Retire.

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

[ QUOTE ]
turbodog said:
The scam...... likely the $16.

Run a small ad in several papers across the country. Rake in suckers for $16 each.


[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
BatteryCharger said:
The letter they sent me says:
- No selling required
- No placing classified ads
- Receive free supplies


[/ QUOTE ]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

Legitimate work-at-home offers always mention the following:
* What you'll be doing, without ambiguity
* What company you'll be working for
* The qualifications for the job
* state compensation

Legit offers do not:
* Charge money for "information"
* Promise tremendous income for trivial work

...

"Envelope stuffing" is the classic scam. If you could make $1 per envelope stuffed, don't you think there would be, uh, more people doing it? I could make 10x my current income at $1 per envelope - without breaking a sweat! I'd love to make that kind of money doing something so trivial!

Here's an article that might apply to the situation, even if you don't live in Arizona

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

[ QUOTE ]
idleprocess said:
"Envelope stuffing" is the classic scam. If you could make $1 per envelope stuffed, don't you think there would be, uh, more people doing it? I could make 10x my current income at $1 per envelope - without breaking a sweat! I'd love to make that kind of money doing something so trivial!


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You're right, but normally they want like $50 and promise you $10 per envelope. Doesn't seem like it would be worth it to me for them to try and scam people out of $16, and they'd get alot less hits only offering $1.

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

I tried stuffing envelopes about 10 years ago. The people I did it for were legit. Every envelope stuffing opportunity I've seen since then has been a scam.

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

has to be a scam because they can hire people from a temp agency to do it a lot cheaper. If there was truly $1 for each envelope in profit the guy posting this offer would purchase a machine to stuff them for himself and keep all the money.

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

This sounds much too good to be true. So it is.

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

I know I have seen the stuffing the envelope ad since way back in the 70s when I was a kid.

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

See this.

Basically, this article says what I was about to post-namely that most work at home jobs started out as regular jobs and the employee was later able to work at home some or all of the time after proving themselves to their employer. The best route to a work at home job is to become an independent contractor. Of course, you need some good or service to sell which is in demand and which you can mostly do from your home. Some people sell on eBay for example. Others like myself do technical work. Just keep in mind the obvious-if you become an independent contractor your income won't be steady whether or not you work at home. The big advantage of a home-based business as opposed to owning a shop is that your fixed expenses are usually very little. You usually have no employees (or the hassle involved employing people) and no housing expenses beyond what you would be paying for housing anyway. My only expense is for supplies. However, unless I'm doing a job I won't be purchasing supplies so I'm not spending money unless I'm making money. I already own my PC so no extra expense there either when I design boards. Some home businesses may require substantial upfront outlays for supplies and equipment. In my case since electronics and computers are my hobby I already had everything I needed. If not, I may have needed to lay out well over $10,000. My suggestion for anyone wanting to start a home-based business is to try to turn a hobby into a business. Since you already may own much of what you'll need you minimize startup expenses. And if you're successful you'll get paid for something you enjoy doing.

As an aside, if you start earning much more than $10,000 per year you might want to consider incorporating yourself. This shields your other assets from any liabilities, and if you're an S-corp you avoid the 15.3% Social Security self-employment tax as a bonus. The downside is that maintaining a corporation usually costs a few hundred in state fees annually so unless you make about $10K or more you'll pay less in taxes by just paying into Social Security.

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

call the BBB for whatever state they are in. They won't give you details but they will tell you if there are complaints against the company and I guarantee you that there will be plenty of them.

there is no company that will pay you $1 for stuffing an envelope. Fliers can be folder by a cheap machine and stuffed into an envelop by a minimum wage teenager in the office. I know because at one point I was that minimum wage teenager /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

do some google searching on envelop stuffing scams. First article that comes up for me is here at about.com the FTC is getting involved with these guys, even though they have been around forever.

What you're getting from them are instructions so that you too can place more adds to try to get more people to join up and stuff envelopes for YOU and then you get to steal their signup payment and convince them to continue to scam others.

Enjoy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

My Dad thirty or forty years ago sent $10 to a small ad in the paper that talked about stuffing envelopes... Got back a sheet of paper that said to place ads in papers all over the country asking people to send $10 for the information...

Scams are as old as humanity...

"If it sounds to good to be true--it probably is"...

-Bill

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

Like I already said twice....this one says NO placing classified ads and no selling. I know what the usual scam is, this one is different. It's either real, or some sneaky scam that we haven't figured out yet. (or they just blatantly steal the $16)

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

[ QUOTE ]
BatteryCharger said:
You're right, but normally they want like $50 and promise you $10 per envelope. Doesn't seem like it would be worth it to me for them to try and scam people out of $16, and they'd get alot less hits only offering $1.

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Look - I know someone that's been through this crap. This person had real difficulty holding down a job due to chronic illness and didn't really have the money to be investing in bogus "kits." They never saw a dime, but pissed away well over $100 on information kits, a goat-hair cleaning starter kit (allegedly hair for dolls), a bead-bracelet kit with cheap beads and a labor-intensive pattern that ensured poor income at $15 a bracelet, and some genuine scams that took the money but didn't even respond.

There is an entire industry of semi-legitimate businesses that target people with this junk. Either it's a straight-up scam, or they make their money selling "starter kits" and assume that 95% of their "contractors" will give up after getting the kit and discovering that there's work involved and/or it's not such easy money after all... and those that do turn in work have trouble getting paid.

If you want to make some extra money while on-call, look into some sort of contracting... or sales - the original home-based business that's traditionally open to anyone and everyone.

If you really believe in this opportunity, do some research. Just because they say they're not a scam doesn't mean a thing. Contact them, contact the local DA, state AG's office, and the BBB. It might be worth more than $16 to you.

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

I agree this is probably a scam...but the question is, what is it? Like I said, this one is different than all the others.

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

[ QUOTE ]
BatteryCharger said:
You will be paid $1 per envelope

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How many invelopes can you stuff in an hour? 200? Do you really think someone is going to pay you $200/hour, when they could pay someone $7/hour to do the same thing?

Come on! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

Maybe they have a limit...you can only stuff so many envelopes in a week/month/year/whatever............

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Re: Stuffing envelopes - what\'s the scam?

If they're 20 miles away, drive out and ask some questions. That should sort things out a little bit. .