🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <5ecjpp$kq3@nnrp1.news.primenet.com>,
sigvid  <sigvid@primenet.com> wrote:
>Curtiss Martin <curtissmartin@hotmail.com> wrote:
>: What I really HATE about all those clubs is the fact you have to send
>: back a card that says no I don't want anything. I feel it should be on
>: a If I want anything I will send in a card and order it.
>As someone previously posted, you can apparently request a 'positive
>response' card, where they don't send you squat unless you request them
>to.

     Yes.  Every club I've ever been a member of has given me that _upon
request_, as long as I'd completed whatever minimum order I needed to make
to "fulfill my membership".  Also, every club I've ever heard of will
happily suspend your mailings if you're going on a long trip or something.

>However, some years back, I discovered a way to save the postage and
>bother of sending back the reply card. I got a CD in the mail because I
>forgot to return the card. I called BMG or Columbia (whomever I was with
>at the time), they said to just take a big black marker and write,
>"REFUSED - RETURN TO SENDER" on the UNOPENED package (opening it is
>verboten, you can't return it postage-free if you do). Apparently, you are
>not obligated to accept any piece of mail, letter or package. You just
>write those 4 magic words on it, and back it goes to the sender.

>So from then on, that's how I handled it. And the beauty of it is, the
>only people who really get screwed, is the Post Office (OK, the cd club
>gets a minor screwing because they have to restock it) because they have
>to ship the thing twice but only get paid once for postage by the club. I
>would get a little form letter (more of a note) every time, reminding me
>to use the reply card next time. I carefully placed all of these notes in
>the round file...

     Ummmmm, just for the record, you're way off on the details of this.
Here's the basic rules for how this works, just so somebody doesn't get in
trouble by refusing something that won't go back to the sender.  (I'm an
ex-postal employee, not a current one, so forgive me for using the old terms
like "First-Class", not the new postally-correct terms like "Expedited." :-) ) 
     If something is sent first-class or higher (Priority Mail, Express Mail,
etc.), and it's refused, it will automatically go back to the sender at no
additional charge.
     For the lower classes of mail, it doesn't work that way.  If you receive
a bulk-rate package, and you refuse it, it is _not_ necessarily sent back to
the sender; basically, the post office can dispose of it as it sees fit.
The exception to this is if the package is marked "RETURN POSTAGE GUARANTEED"
by the shipper, as almost all shipments from clubs are; then, the refused
package will be sent back, but the shipper will be charged for the return
postage.  The USPS doesn't wind up eating the postage in this case; the
shipper does.
     Forwarding works much the same way.  For higher classes of mail (second-
class and above in this case), the USPS will forward at no charge for a certain
period of time (12 months for first-class and above; 2 months for
second-class); for the lower classes of mail, somebody else has to pay for
the forwarding postage--either the shipper (by marking the package
"FORWARDING POSTAGE GUARANTEED"), or the receiver.  If nobody pays, and if
it's not "RETURN POSTAGE GUARANTEED", the package is dead mail, and the USPS
can do what it wants with it.
     So when you refuse a package from a club, they have to eat the postage
to send it to you, eat the postage to send it back, and eat the handling.
Therefore, most clubs have a very low tolerance for people doing this 
repeatedly, unless you're making them a lot of money.
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