Has Anyone Tried This?

I recall reading an article in Gibbons Stamp Monthly sometime in the 70's that set my heart racing as a kid. One entrepreneur approached a legal firm that he knew was one of those "messy" ones, with paper everywhere. The firm had been in business for 150 years.

He offered to completely review, renew and update their filing system for nothing, AS LONG as he could keep any covers he could find. He got a deal.

The article mentioned at least a dozen penny black covers, and covers right through to the 70's.

I've wanted to try this ever since.........

First,
What about chicks and guns???

Next, do you have a recycling center near you? If you do, you have several options.

1. If it is an unmanned drop-off location find out from the owning entity if you may go through it. Tell them exactly why and just be upfront about it.
2. Post a sign at the recycling center of what you want. I think you would be suprised how many people will save them for you.
3. If it is a manned station tell them what you want and see if they will let you come in and sort.

As far as asking a government entity or private business for the envelopes, go for it! They will let you know if they have a privacy policy against it. Some of the places will even set them aside for you. Offer to sit at their office to remove the stamps you want so you are not taking the addresses with you.

Go armed with knowledge. Here in the US if the envelopes are normally thrown in the garbage without being shreaded, there is no reason why you can not have them. If you feel froggy, dumpster dive. Once a place or person puts their trash/recycling at the curb or in the dumpster (as long as you are not tresspassing to retrieve it) you can take all the garbage you want. The business or the person has given up their reasonable expectation of privacy once it is "abandoned" to be collected.

In the 1960s and 1970s, I collected envelopes from several companies to aquire the stamps. I got thousands of used commemorative stamps and many more regular issues. For some time I advertised and sold mixtures of on paper stamps and earned a few dollars. Then the fun began. In the envelopes from an insurance company, I found over $4,000 in checks. When I returned the checks along with the associated bills, I was promptly investigated by a team of private detectives. They accused me of stealing money. I finally told these idiots to quit wasting my time but that was the end of this source for stamps.
At another company, I found a smaller amount of checks and got a $75.00 reward.
At another company during a huge premium campaign for boxtops, I got over 1,000 pounds of envelopes on several ocassions. At the time this occured, I was able to sell the paper to a local papermill.
At many of the companies where I collected the envelopes, I noticed that employees would very often keep all the uncanceled stamps.
Sometimes interesting foreign stamps turned up amd these made the whole project more worthwhile.
Try to get the stamps and see what happens.

The issue with the cheques is precisely why many covers that I have are opened on three sides. It's standard practice in most banks and many businesses, to ensure that the envelopes are, in fact, empty!

Once again many great ideas and replies. I'll print this and highlight all the info. Thanks, yous guys/gals are great.

I actually did do this. At our local SPCA. I got all the covers that came in with the donations sent to them. I separated them by definitives and commemoratives. I actually had to say no more because it was getting out of control quickly. Now I have tons of envelopes and boxes of used stamps that I got there. You just talk to the director and tell them what you are doing and you would like to make a donation. They saved every envelope that came in for me. They might do the same for you.

Always great to read posts about people who care!

k