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AIBU

Unsolicited Mail with request to pay

(53 Posts)
NanaTuesday Thu 30-Oct-25 12:26:07

Has anyone else recently received these mailings?

Today we received a set of 5 Christmas cards plus a tiny calendar 📅, for a fee of £12 :00
with a letter & various payment options .

This is cold calling by mail in my mind from a charity’Mouth & Foot Painting. Artists’
You can pay by DD or return !!

The questions that come to mind are 5 cards plus a tiny calendar 📅 is not worth £12:00
So , do you send back or do you keep them but not pay ??
While I appreciate the fact that a lot of effort plus talent has gone into these the fact is I didn’t request them .
Also , how many people are literally either not going to open the envelope or not pay .
A waste of money is my thoughts , I’m sure GNetters will have lots to say on this .
The other question is ‘WHY’ would a charity send these out ?
The cost of printing , Posting plus the £12:00 is in my pov ludicrous!

What’s the feeling of others ?

Babs03 Thu 30-Oct-25 12:31:47

We would get these in the past can’t remember what we did. Would send them back but does this mean you have to pay postage?
If you have to pay look if this charity has an email and tell them you don’t want their items and also don’t want to pay postage but the charity are welcome to pick up their stuff.

Babs03 Thu 30-Oct-25 12:34:43

Btw I do buy charity Christmas cards etc., but do not want them foisted upon me.
A quick note here, don’t buy charity cards from any shops other than charity shops, if you do part of he money goes to the retailer whereas with high street charities all of the money is sent to the names charity.

Babs03 Thu 30-Oct-25 12:35:07

Correction - named charity

62Granny Thu 30-Oct-25 12:36:33

I have had these sent to many years ago, I did not pay or return them, I think I may have kept them for while in case there was any follow up but there wasnt. I binned them after about 6 months as they were not to my taste.

WelshPoppy Thu 30-Oct-25 12:39:25

I get these twice a year. Never sent a payment but they still keep coming. I keep them and often use them. Haven't had any yet in the lead up to Christmas but I usually receive 10-12 cards, a small and larger calendar and a few notelets.

Septimia Thu 30-Oct-25 12:42:18

I've had them in the past but not yet this year.

I did get, the other day, some raffle tickets and address labels from another charity. I disposed of them because, as is frequently the case, my title (less important) and address (very important) were incorrect and so they were unusable.

Usedtobeblonde Thu 30-Oct-25 12:48:12

We used to get these year after year but not for a long time.
I just ignored them.

Cabbie21 Thu 30-Oct-25 13:27:00

I used to get these. I neither paid nor returned them. I object to unsolicited goods with request for money. I choose my charities.

keepingquiet Thu 30-Oct-25 13:33:53

Yes, this charity is well-known for doing this. Like others I have sometimes kept them but never sent them...if I get one this year I'll put it in my recyling...

lixy Thu 30-Oct-25 13:40:23

This, along with the raffle tickets and the address stickers that I do not want, drives me potty. I really mind being guilt tripped like this. I put the whole lot back into the post box, unopened, with ‘please return to sender’ on the envelope.

I do buy charity cards, and I choose which charities with family significance in mind.

Chocolatelovinggran Thu 30-Oct-25 15:19:35

Can anyone answer me - is it possible to put in a post box with " return to sender" on them?

NanaTuesday Thu 30-Oct-25 16:23:44

Lixy ,
That’s the thing isn’t it you feel ‘ guilt tripped’ exactly .

I do also ,always without fail buy Charity Christmas cards every year .

I’m glad that it isn’t only me that feels this way , reading through the responses.

JamesandJon33 Thu 30-Oct-25 16:25:30

I light the fire with those unsolicited things. Last one we had had three raffle ticket books included. No thank you.

MaizieD Thu 30-Oct-25 16:31:06

We've been getting those for years. Sometimes we pay for them, sometimes we don't.

I have to say that I'm quite in awe sometimes at what some of the painters achieve. though some are a bit naff. I suppose if they didn't do this very few people will have heard of them.

It must be worth their while to do else they wouldn't continue to send them. It might be cheaper way to reach people than the cost of advertising.

Calendargirl Thu 30-Oct-25 16:32:53

Well, I keep the cards and calendar, use them, and send them a cheque.

Have done for years.

Expensive, yes.

But I feel very grateful I have the use of my hands and feet, and admire the talent of these painters who haven’t.

BTW, the accompanying literature states quite clearly you are under no obligation to purchase.

lixy Thu 30-Oct-25 16:35:07

Chocolatelovinggran

Can anyone answer me - is it possible to put in a post box with " return to sender" on them?

That’s what I do. I also write a note on the back requesting to be removed from their mailing list.I still get some unsolicited mail though.
I haven’t been chased by the PO for payment (yet!)

Retroladywriting Thu 30-Oct-25 16:59:55

I either put them straight into the recycling bin or, if I can be bothered, return them - without paying return postage. I'm perhaps going to be told off for that but obtaining donations by stealth, which this is, is just wrong and does whatever charity it is no favours.

BlueSapphire Thu 30-Oct-25 17:00:12

I'm afraid I plead guilty to receiving, keeping and using them too.... Not had any for years though.

butterandjam Thu 30-Oct-25 17:00:16

Mouth and foot painters have done this for many decades.

You could put them back in the envelope with a note inside instructing the sender to delete your name and adress from their data base. Make sure their address is on the envelope, write "return to sender" and post it. With no stamp.

I do this to all unwanted mailshots. They will be charged for the missing postage on delivery. It works.

AmberGran Thu 30-Oct-25 17:07:41

We used to get them from a number of charities, most of them just went in the bin. We still have a couple of coasters that we received - not sure why they never made it to the bin at the time and for some reason I never get around to throwing them out. Probably because they are under ornaments, so out of sight and out of mind.

I'm sure some people do pay for them but I have noticed that we don't receive them anymore so maybe we've been struck off.

CariadAgain Thu 30-Oct-25 17:56:27

Cabbie21

I used to get these. I neither paid nor returned them. I object to unsolicited goods with request for money. I choose my charities.

Way back I found out the legal position re unsolicited goods sent through the post - from memory (ie we're talking about 35-40 years back now) one doesn't have to pay for goods one hasn't ordered. The law - as I read it then - was the sending company had up to 3 months (if my memory serves me aright) to claim their goods back and if they didn't = they became yours.

I found that little gem out because of a pair of awful lodgers that were friends with each other that I had in. At the time one could send off for goods to some firms and they wouldnt expect payment until after you'd had the goods. So the two "little darlings (not)" were in the habit of stealing goods for themselves by doing that (unbeknown to me). After they left under a cloud they decided to be nasty and order some goods under my name and I got 2 or 3 lots of goods I'd not ordered coming through in my name - one of which would have cost a noticeable amount of postage to send back to the firm (ie it was a box of books). I told each of these firms what had happened and requested them to send me postage money to return their goods to them - and none of them did so. So - after three months the goods became legally mine and I just hung onto them for that length of time to see if the firms did arrange to get them back - and I disposed of the goods once that 3 months were up.

It was annoying to have had them do that - and it included some porn with comments written on it!! All I was able to do was tell a firm they had made an order from for themselves what address in Hong Kong the little darling had given me at one point and wish them luck in chasing her. I was very thankful they had Chinese names - so were obviously nothing to do with me with my English name.

FriedGreenTomatoes2 Thu 30-Oct-25 18:01:08

Must be 20 years now since we had any posted to us.

Sadgrandma Thu 30-Oct-25 18:07:37

Chocolatelovinggran

Can anyone answer me - is it possible to put in a post box with " return to sender" on them?

This is exactly what was going to suggest that NanaTuesday does .

CariadAgain Thu 30-Oct-25 18:38:39

Sadgrandma

Chocolatelovinggran

Can anyone answer me - is it possible to put in a post box with " return to sender" on them?

This is exactly what was going to suggest that NanaTuesday does .

I can't see why not.

I remember this was a common tactic for returning junk mail to sender - to tell them off about having sent junk mail in the first place and so they knocked you off a junk mail list (eg because you'd attached a heavy brick to their junk mail before you sent it back).