If you want to stay at home and engage in a money-making activity that allows you to do it on your own time and pace, then this might be for you. Stuffing envelopes in your own home might prove to be the opportunity you’re looking for to be productive within the comfort of your home.
If this money-making opportunity raises alarm bells for you, it is not surprising.
There have been scams going on in the internet and offline that have a lot to do with envelope stuffing. These scams normally ask you to pay a certain fee up front to get the information and supplies you need to stuff envelopes and start making money quick. Only you generally don’t get what you expect for the money you paid, and the money you paid for it vanishes.
There is a legitimate way to make money stuffing envelopes, but to avoid making people leery of this opportunity, it may be best to call it a different name. Direct Mail Service entails stuffing envelopes at home for a company that wants to send its regular offers to potential customers.
These are legitimate companies that provide you a mailing list and engage your services to do the stuffing and mailing job for them so they can focus on more important business matters and activities.
All you need to get started would be a computer to print out envelope labels and to store your mailing list and other related data you need. You can opt to buy supplies that would make your task easier like paper and envelope folders as you earn along the way.
There is a big difference between this direct mail service and the so-called get-rich-quick-stuffing-envelopes scheme. First of all, you do not have to pay the company to start their mail service for them. Second, while you may work for the company, you are simply providing them your services; you own your direct mail service business. Third, you can choose the companies you want to offer your services to.
You can start by advertising your service through your Facebook or your Twitter account. You can also surf the internet for companies looking for direct mail services. Your friends and relatives may even know someone who would appreciate your service. Small to medium sized businesses in your local area are a great place to start.
Once you’ve found your prospective client(s), call on them and present the services you have to offer. You can go the extra mile of designing the inserts, envelopes and mailing labels for your clients. Take inspiration or ideas from the mails you get yourself by critiquing their presentation, layout, and design.
You can also offer potential clients with additional services such as maintaining and updating their mailing list database. The point is not to simply satisfy their present needs, but to go beyond what they need at first glance and anticipate and offer other value-added services that can really help them. Delight your clients and there will be a big plus for you in terms of rewards.
To protect yourself from potential scammers, get to know how these frauds operate.
Typically, you’d receive a mail or read an ad that entices you to earn by stuffing mail but asking you to first send money (generally just $1 bills) to get started. The ad would probably dangle the idea of you making money if at least 10% of the people you send the mail to reply. But in truth, a.5% response rate is already considered excellent for direct mail ads. A 10% response is nearly impossible.
A few days or weeks later, you receive a letter containing a one-page set of instructions to “start making money”. You will then be asked to make copies of the same instructions and then to place the same ad you responded to previously in your local paper, the internet and other possible means. Pretty soon, you begin receiving self-addressed stamp envelopes containing one dollar bills just as you had done yourself.
Sadly, the only one who truly makes money is the original source of the ad. Succeeding respondents to the ad can only get their investment back if others reply to their own ads as well. What’s worse, if you are found out by the local or other post offices in the U.S. you could face jail term and hefty penalties under the United States postal service chain letter laws. There are different ways provided on the MoneyConnexion blog to find genuine Envelope stuffing opportunities.
To protect yourself, consider the following:
Don’t pay for a set-up package or a proposal for you to send out mail to get others to buy a package or to also send out mail. When you receive a business proposal in exchange for a fee, it’s best to ignore it. If its sounds too good and too easy to be true, it probably is.
Make sure the company you’re dealing with is duly registered. Look them up over the internet. Personal blogs will also help you decide whether their offer is legit or a scam. Bloggers who’ve dealt with them also give true feedback on the product or service.
Legitimate companies always indicate their contact information in all their communications to you. Beware of those who will ask you to send any kind of funds to get started and give a P.O. Box number; these are indicative of a scam.
Direct mail service only applies to those types of mail that need to be individually customized and sent out in limited quantities, not by the hundreds or thousands. Those that are sent out in volumes are usually “generic mail” that will be more cost-effective for a company to be prepared using a machine rather than availing of an external service.