Where did this come from?
August 16, 2012 1:50 PM   Subscribe

USMAIL Filter: I received an envelope, with one blank sheet of paper inside. Any way to identify exactly where it came from?

Details: No return address, the lettering was printed by printer, not by hand. The sheet of folded paper had nothing!

I think, it may have been supposed to hold some concert tickets I bought as part of a fan presale, but can't be sure.

Help me MeFi!
posted by thatgirld to Law & Government (8 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Is the stamp canceled? The stamp that they use to stamp the stamp (great sentence there) should have the city it was mailed from?
posted by brainmouse at 1:53 PM on August 16, 2012 [1 favorite]


There is no information from which to determine where that came from.
posted by HuronBob at 1:54 PM on August 16, 2012


Agree on the stamp canceling thing.

Also, unless this was some kind of weird ninja sword and dagger fan presale, wouldn't they have used some kind of return address?

Can you get in touch with the fan presale people and see whether they've been mailed out, what the envelopes looked like, etc?
posted by Sara C. at 1:56 PM on August 16, 2012


Best answer: Is there a stamp at all? If it was mailed by a presale company, they more than likely would use a postage meter; that would include information that can be likely used to identify who the company is (by the special USPS number printed in/on it, iirc they can then use that to find the postage meter license and the snder/holder of that license.).

Was the envelope sealed, or damaged? When the PO receives damaged/open mail, they seal it in a plastic bag with a note. If someone pulled it out of your box and took it ... :(
posted by tilde at 1:57 PM on August 16, 2012 [1 favorite]


Companies who prepare bulk mailings (and thereby get their clients bulk mail rates) often use machines that fold the inserts and put them in an envelope, moisten the gum strip and seal it. I'll put forth the only slightly far-fetched hypothesis that if your envelope has presort-class metered postage imprint to send it, you ended up with a rogue piece of paper that remained blank rather than the printed matter intended for you.

Of course, if your envelope was posted with a gummed paper stamp, this scenario is less likely, but not out of the realm of possibility (small batches ineligible for bulk rate will still need to carry first-class postage).
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 2:59 PM on August 16, 2012


Best answer: Have you checked the paper for common "invisible ink" tricks? I mean, it's probably not intrigue, but hey...more fun that way.
posted by stevis23 at 3:30 PM on August 16, 2012


Response by poster: yeah. completely sealed. it was done with a meter, so i might be able to track that down.
thanks!!
posted by thatgirld at 5:14 PM on August 16, 2012


Who'd you buy the tickets from? I buy a lot of concert tickets, and the ones from the big guys--Ticketmaster/Livenation, Ticketweb--always come in one of those envelopes with the clear plastic address window on the front, and often no other identifying marks. If you're concerned this might have been an error in mailing your tickets, you can usually call the issuer and ask if they've been printed/shipped yet.
posted by rhiannonstone at 8:28 PM on August 16, 2012 [1 favorite]


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