Junk mail revenge--return to sender!

• Do you get several unsolicited credit-card applications in the mail every week?
• Does it bother you that, in the middle of an economic crisis partially brought on by out-of-control lending, banks are begging us to borrow still more?
• Do you mind that "more than 62 billion pieces (4 million tons) of junk mail are produced each year, wasting 28 billion gallons of water between production and recycling," and that "44% of it goes to the landfill unopened"?
• Does it annoy you to have to tear up those credit-card applications or put them through a shredder in order to avoid compromising your identity?
  
• Have you tried repeatedly to get off the junk mail lists, and yet the flood continues unabated?

Well then, how about a little revenge? Here's what I do--and it feels so good. When I get a credit-card solicitation, I quickly tear it into two or three pieces, stuff it into the envelope (most of which look exactly like the one in this picture), and drop it in the mailbox.

That's easier than shredding the application, and it makes the credit-card companies pay double for the privilege of stuffing my mailbox. I'd love it if hundreds of thousands--or several million--people would join me in doing this. If enough of us start returning our unwanted junk mail, we might actually change some marketing practices ... save some trees ... maybe even encourage some banks to be less predatory, or some consumers to refuse to be prey.

There's got to be a way to spread this idea electronically--virally. Feel free to copy this post and e-mail it to your friends, as a start, or send them a link to this web page. Or create a more effective plea yourself and launch it into cyberspace, or come up with a better way to stem the tide of unsolicited credit-card applications.

And enjoy your little act of sabotage each time you return one of those envelopes--or, if you're more high-minded than that, enjoy preserving the environment while improving banking practices!