We came across a blog post from The Work At Home Woman that discussed if stuffing envelopes is a legitimate source of income or if stuffing envelopes is a scam. For side hustlers, stay at home parents or others who want to earn income from home be wary of the long-standing stuffing envelopes scam.
You can find the full post here, but we wanted to highlight a few of the interesting call-outs listed in the article:
Stuffing envelopes as a work from home opportunity has been around a long time
The Work at Home Woman highlighted that she had once fallen for this scam years ago. Before the internet age, scammers posted classified ads in the newspaper claiming high profits stuffing envelopes. To get started, you needed to send in a modest fee for the training and instruction. These days, scammers are charging would-be envelope stuffers larger up-front costs.
Not surprisingly, there was no real work to do or income to be made, unless you wanted to pull the same scam on others.
Stuffing envelopes is still an active scam today
The article highlights that this scam is still widely circulated among work from home blogs and online resources. The Work at Home Woman post cites the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau still field numerous complaints about these scams.
Do your homework people!
If something is too good to be true, it probably is. The blog post noted some really important points to consider:
- Google the prospective employer. Scammers are prolific and frequently change their names, numbers and addresses, but their approach will usually be consistent. Do a quick Google search of their e-mail address, e-mail pitch, web address or other contact details and see if they have negative reviews or have trustworthy claims from multiple sources.
- Do the claims sound reasonable? The author noted that one envelope stuffing offer was going to pay $2.00 per envelope..and this was before the age of the internet! If you think about this, who will reasonably pay you $2.00 per mail piece when the cost of the letter, the stamp, the paper and the envelopes combined cost less than $2.00. It just does not add up and should raise red flags.
- Why hire a human when machines work longer and can do it faster and cheaper? Even if you’re not promised $2.00 per mail piece, why would a reputable organization have a person do this work manually when mail sorting equipment exists that can help customize mailings and operate 24/7 with very little human intervention. It sounds like common sense, but asking why a few times can help you identify what sounds real and what sounds like a real scam.
Thanks again to the team at The Work At Home Woman for their awesome article highlighting envelope stuffing as a well-traveled work from home scam.
Our Rating: 0 of 5 WFH Forever score
Sad to say, but stuffing envelopes rates a solid zero out of 5 on our WFH Forever scale. There have been too many stories where potential workers have been scammed out of start up costs with no real envelope stuffing work arising from it.
Plus, factor in the growth of digital delivery over mail delivery and the increasing use of automation in mailing, and the need for people stuffing envelopes is very low.
I know we all want to find ways of having meaningful and financially rewarding work from home opportunities, but some unscrupulous folks do not have your best interests at heart. These groups want to prey on your eagerness or desperation to make something work so bad, but do your due diligence and please be careful out there!
