I've been doing that for years. It is a surprisingly uplifting exercise.

"Ack! Today was the day we were going to lobby Congress, but we simply MUST deal with this issue of several hundred people abusing our reply envelopes first! There's just no time to come up with predatory maneuvers! They're putting shims in the envelopes -- SHIMS, I say! As of now, all lobbyists are on envelope-opening duty!"

Really, is that how this is supposed to happen? As if these envelopes weren't just going to some processing center far removed from any corporate leadership center?

Just get on all the do-not-mail lists you can. Contact the credit reporting agencies and prevent them from getting you pre-qualified for anything. Opt out of the system at every turn. Save yourself time and save trees, gas, etc. It sends the same message, with the added benefit that you'll probably come across less smug.

Nah, I like the envelope stuffing idea better. I don't have any problem with coming across as smug, or for that matter angry, indignant or vengeful. If it floats your boat, though, you keep right on rockin' the do not call lists.

@ Rich: Oh, like you don't fantasize about doing this every time you get a credit card solicitation... You and Todd may be taking this a *tad* too seriously. Lighten up, my man.

I would also add that the shlubs (as you call them) down in the mailroom probably don't have to deal with what's in the envelopes. That task will go to the cube workers who process the applications. If *they* don't like dealing with angry shim stuffed envelopes, well... they did, presumably voluntarily, sign on with an organization that targets their own with exploitive interest rates. And they can always pass 'em off to their managers ("Hey boss, here's another one"). I'll admit that stuffing return envelopes with shims and snarky notes probably won't change the world, but I really don't see an awful lot of damage being done to the common man, here...

I really enjoyed sending back my credit card offers with a friendly note that I'm not interested, but I don't get them any more. Apparently it worked!

Although my friends at Planned Parenthood were unable to deal with my request to stop sending me paper mail...even when I wrote a stern note that I would not donate to them if they sent me paper solicitations.

Another good reason to do this has to do with the extra postage involved when shims* are added to the envelopes: We all know that the banks will do whatever they can to get out of paying taxes, and that they use the post office to sucker us into using high interest credit cards. We also know that the post office is in dire financial straits these days. Why not force the banks into paying more in postage? And, as catbot noted, if it becomes too much of a problem for them, they may just stop sending us all those credit card solicitations to begin with. This just gets better and better. Bravo, Dennis, for posting this!

*Wrap the shims with all those advertising flyers and booklets that also come in the mail.

Oops, "Denis." Sorry.

There's another Todd on here? Crap.

Todd (Mecklem), don't worry, I'll try to be less witty, so as to distinguish between us.