It doesn’t take much, send in a small contribution to a charity and the address labels start coming. I think all of these charities communicate with each other because one time, I sent a small gift to a charity and address labels soon came. Not only that, more address labels from other charities started coming in as if they send them to me, I’ll send a check in return. It’s almost as if my charity contribution is buying address labels. It’s as if my charity contribution is an advertisment that I need more address labels from other potential money seekers.
We once donated a little bit to an Indian school and since then, not only do we get address labels, we get wrapping paper, cd’s where the school children are singing, we got gift tags, pictures of the kids, “letters” from the kids. It’s all a bit too much. We can’t pay them enough to leave us alone now. It’s a vicious cycle. It’s a waste. If I wanted to buy this stuff, I would. I don’t need to hear from the organization 100 times a week in my mailbox. Ok, maybe 100 is a stretch but, trust me, not by much. I get as much junk from these charities as I do credit card offers every week. It’s a lot. I felt so bad for my mail carrier that I bumped up her Christmas gift card amount this year.
Often, my kids were playing with these labels but that had to be limited because, really, their dresser doesn’t look very attractive with all those sticky address labels. I guess if we ever lose the dresser, somebody will be able to drop it in a mailbox and it will get back to us. Maybe it’s worth a test just for kicks. I mean, my poor mail carrier almost can’t be inundated much more by the mere fact that she is unfortunate to have us on her route delivering all these things anyway.
At least they come in a variety. Some have flowers, birds, puppies, kittens, some are shiny, you name it, they send them. Big ones, little ones, square, rectangle and circles. I just imagine somebody in a cubicle crunching numbers on the probability that I’ll send a check and think maybe the cuter the labels, the more I’m inticed to send money. It’s not a one time deal either. Don’t send money the first time? You’ll get double the address labels the next time with a letter asking if their first envelope got to me.
What’s really funny about this is that a large chunk of the population, our family included, pays most bills by electronic transfer or debit card. Rarely do people even send checks anymore. Perhaps the number of address labels given are the number of contributions one should send back to the organization. I might be on to something here.
I get a lot of magazines every month and this month’s Family Fun magazine even went so far as to suggest putting your kids on a mailing list by sending a contribution in their name so they get their very own flurry of address labels coming in the mail. It’s good for their self esteem to get their own mail you know and it promotes creative play. They are kidding, right? Sadly, no, they aren’t. Call the social workers because my kids will not be enjoying this little slice of self esteem building.
I guess being the optimist I try to be, I should interject some positivity here. If one needs address labels for very cheap, this is the way to get them and for years on end to boot. Just send $5 to a charity and they’ll start coming from everywhere! A charity is getting some money allbeit small amounts from the expense of sending these free gifts.
Now, if I could find a 5 star restaurant who would send me free dinner vouchers for the next 10 years just for purchasing an appetizer or a car dealer who would send me free cars just for a test drive, I’d be set. Since I’m sure that won’t happen, I guess I could stuff furniture with the mountain of address labels I’ll likely continue to get probably for years to come.
