I Have a Hard Time Believing They Need Money

My mail today.  Photo taken by and the property of FourWalls.
@FourWalls (61852)
United States
April 19, 2017 9:43pm CST
I picked up my mail on the way home before the golf tournament this evening (hey, I won!!). One piece of mail (in the included photo) had me a little upset. It's from some group called "Food for the Poor." I'm immediately suspicious because I have NEVER donated money to this group. So how did they get my name and new mailing address (I've had my post office box about four months)? They bought it. I know which charity I give, ahem, gave to they bought it from, too. Now, I'm an ex-postal employee (fear not, I'm gruntled, so I won't go postal ), so I know how much these mailings cost. They're sending me (and 50,000 others) six cents and a business reply envelope (dirty secret: USPS charges the postage PLUS handling [it was 7c per envelope when I worked there, 24 years ago] on business reply envelopes) and paying nonprofit postage (which is about 12c per letter). Spending all that money to get ten bucks? I have a hard time believing they need money (especially considering I get 4-5 mailings from them a month!). Oh, and there's another thing: about five years ago their founder was forced to resign over embezzling $400,000 of the charity's money to two women he was having affairs with. (Asterisk: he did repay the money, but if he had that kind of money lying around to repay them....) Thanks for the six cents, but I'll keep giving my money to the honest charities.
11 people like this
12 responses
@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
20 Apr 17
That sounds fishy to me.
2 people like this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
20 Apr 17
So they send you six cents and want you to send ten bucks back? You keep the six cents, or send that back too?
2 people like this
@mythociate (21437)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
20 Apr 17
a sign that the biggest scammers have you fooled
Rense.com The Money Game - The Greatest Scam Ever By Paul Bond nbond@bigpond.net.au © 2001 All Rights Resereved excerpted from Chapter XII of the book "Knowledge Without Wisdom" The Problem   "Whomsoever controls the volume of money in any country is absol
1 person likes this
@Telynor (1763)
• United States
20 Apr 17
Speaking of postal, my partner is a just-retired postal employee. You might enjoy Terry Pratchett's novel Going Postal, which has a lot of in-jokes about postal work.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (61852)
• United States
20 Apr 17
Thank you for the heads up about the book!
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (61852)
• United States
20 Apr 17
@Telynor -- I read the synopsis for the book on Wikipedia and laughed out loud (especially about the two old people still working there). I must get this book!!
@FayeHazel (40248)
• United States
20 Apr 17
Good for you, gruntled postal worker :-) For spotting the scam
1 person likes this
@Gunchie (69)
• Jakarta, Indonesia
20 Apr 17
Indeed something that is annoying if our goodness is misused or misunderstood. Hope you are happy always
1 person likes this
@scheng1 (24650)
• Singapore
20 Apr 17
Sometimes I think it is better to give to charities that are audited by the government. You can get tax relief or rebates and they will have to answer to the government for the way they spend money.
1 person likes this
@toniganzon (72285)
• Philippines
20 Apr 17
Now, I would have been fooled by such kind of mail as I had no idea how much is being charged in the postal service. I can't believe how these people extort money from others using the poor as an excuse.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 Apr 17
Without knowing any inner workings of the postal service? I have always thought that something just isn't right if they are sending change... I donate through work, and that is that.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325105)
• Rockingham, Australia
20 Apr 17
There seems to be so much of this going on it's no wonder people start getting choosing about giving to charities. Oh, and congratulations on having a win.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
20 Apr 17
That is like publishers clearing house, all that mail must cost.
1 person likes this
@diosabella (4789)
20 Apr 17
Sounds like a scam.
1 person likes this