Envelope Stuffing Jobs From Home [Scam-Free Alternatives]

If you’ve seen job postings for envelope stuffing jobs from home that pay up to $1,200 per week or up to $3 for each envelope, I am here to tell you that without a doubt, those are scams.

Yes! Every single one of them is a scam.

It is advertised that your job is to stuff envelopes with the provided material and mail them to a specific address.  The task is so simple and easy that anyone body can do it.

For such an easy task, you get paid up to $3 for each envelope.

You have to ask yourself – why would anyone pay you $3 per envelope when there are machines that can do them faster and for a lot cheaper?

I do have some personal experience when it comes to envelope stuffing jobs and I will tell you about it in a little bit.

What Is An Envelope Stuffing Job?

It is exactly what it sounds like – stuffing envelopes.  Your job is to fill envelopes with the materials provided by the client or employer.

The job sounds pretty good, right?  You get to work from home, doing mindless, repetitive work.  It is unfortunate that most of these envelope-stuffing jobs are work-at-home scams.

You may see envelope-stuffing jobs from home ads claiming to pay $1,200 a week or even up to $3 per envelope!  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  If it was this easy, everybody would be doing it already.

Let me tell me about my little experience of stuffing envelopes.  I got paid $25 to write addresses on 500 envelopes and stuff them.

It took me over 4 hours to do and by the time I was done, I had muscle aches from neck to fingers on top of a headache. That’s how you know the job is legit – lots of pain and little pay.

How Does Envelope Stuffing From Home Scam Work?

Stuffing envelopes sounds easy and requires very little to no skills.  Only if it was legit.  Here is how the scam works:

1. Upfront Fees

This should be the first and only warning sign you need.  Scammers will encourage you to pay a fee upfront for a number of reasons.  It might be for a starter kit, work material, a list of assignments, or a list of companies looking for envelope stuffers.

The fee could range anywhere from $20 to $50.  It might not sound like a lot of money and that is how they’re able to get a lot of people to fall for it.  Not only that, but now they have your personal and banking information.

Legitimate companies do not demand upfront fees for giving you a job.

2. Refer-a-Friend

Refer-a-friend is how the scam really begins.  After you have sent the fee, you might be provided with a starter kit guide that would ask you to refer friends and relatives in exchange for a commission.

In the end, nobody gets paid to stuff envelopes, but to recruit more people and make the scam even bigger.  You can think of this as a multi-level market or pyramid selling where nobody really makes any money except the ones on top.

How To Identify Envelope Stuffing Jobs From Home Scams?

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is and always trust your gut.  Here are a few red flags to help you determine if it is a legit envelope stuff job.

1. Upfront Fees

As I’ve mentioned before, no legitimate company will ever ask you to pay upfront to work for them.  Whether it’s for a background check that they will reimburse once you’re hired or anything at all, no matter how small the amount is.

2. Outrageous Earnings

They will claim that you can earn over $1,000 a week or $3 per envelope!  I can tell you right now that I spend a few seconds looking at the ads I get in the mail before throwing them away.

No company is going to pay anyone $3 per envelope just so they get thrown away within seconds.  Not only that, but why would they pay you a ridiculous amount of money to do something that machines can do faster and a lot cheaper?

3. No Physical Address

This is usually a good indicator that a company can’t be trusted.  A legitimate company should have a physical address – how else would they conduct their business or meet with their clients?

Most companies should have a website nowadays, you can read about their business model.  Additionally, you can also check to see if the website has a privacy policy.

4. Negative reviews

In case you come across an offer that seems interesting but you’re unsure if it’s legit, Google is your friend.  If the results are mostly negative,  it’s best to ignore the opportunity.

No matter how great the company is, there will always be negative reviews.  The key is those negative reviews should be far and few in between and shouldn’t be anything too concerning.

Alternatively, if a company has thousands of 5-star reviews only, that is also an indicator of a scam.  No company or product can be that great.  I had purchased items online from a Chinese website where every single item had thousands of 5-star reviews.  After receiving the items, I knew those reviews were mostly, if not all, fake or bot reviews.

Are There Any Legit Envelope Stuffing Jobs From Home?

Yes, it is possible to earn money through envelope stuffing but the pay is ridiculously low.  I got paid $25 for writing addresses on 500 envelopes and stuffing them.  It took me 4 hours of working nonstop and my hands were in so much pain by the end of it.

I know what you might be thinking.  Why not just print the addresses on the envelopes instead of handwriting them?

Well…because we get tons of advertising letters in the mail every day and most people just throw them away without opening when they know it’s an ad.  By seeing a handwritten address, they might think it’s personally addressed to them.  That’s how those advertising companies get you to open their letters.

I have opened a few ads when I saw it was handwritten – only to find out it was an ad.  So the trick does work.

BBB Envelope Stuffing Jobs

Both Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Better Business Bureau (BBB) have warned people to stay away from any stuffing envelope jobs.   In their respective articles detailing job scams, they mentioned envelope-stuffing scams detailing job scams.

According to BBB, an estimated 14 million people are exposed to employment scams every year, with $2 billion in direct losses annually.  Since the pandemic, people started to look for more work-at-home jobs, the door is open to even more job scams.

If you think you’ve been scammed, report it to the FTC as well as the BBB.

Best Envelope Stuffing Jobs Alternatives

1. Data Entry Jobs

Data entry work is a legitimate alternative to stuffing envelopes you can do from home.  It’s a task-based revolving around entering physical documents into digital platforms.

Typically, data entry is an entry-level position that doesn’t require a higher degree of education or any special skills.  As long as you can type at least 40wpm with accuracy, are well-organized, and detail-oriented.

You also need to be proficient with data entry platforms like Microsoft Word and Google Spreadsheets.  A background in admin or customer service is also helpful.

According to Indeed, the average hourly rate for an independent data entry contractor is $17.50 per hour, but experienced workers can make $20+ per hour.

Related: Companies Offering Data Entry Jobs From Home For Beginners

2. Transcriptionist

Transcription is another work-at-home job that requires you to be able to type fast with accuracy.  Your job is to listen to an audio and transcribe it into text.

According to Salary, the annual average salary for a transcriptionist is $49,000 with a range of $39,000 to $60,000.   However, most sites pay by the audio hour or per word transcribed, so the faster you can transcribe the audio file, the more money you will make.

Related: Companies Offering Transcription Jobs From Home

3. Website Testing

Testing websites and apps is another great alternative to envelope stuffing jobs.  It is not as intimidating as it sounds – you don’t need a computer degree or anything to do this job.

Basically, when a business is started, they need a website and they need to make sure that it is user-friendly for an average user.  Your job is to give feedback or as simple as choosing between 2 formats of the same website.

Related: 18 Sites That Will Pay You to Test Websites and Apps

4. Search Engine Evaluator

A search engine evaluator’s job is to provide feedback on search engine results and measure the accuracy and quality of these results.  Depending on the assignment, you might rate how useful the top search results are or if the search results are what you were looking for. 

Appen and Lionbridge typically hire search engine evaluators.  Not all Appen jobs are available in every country, but the tasks are updated on a regular basis on their site.  Lionbridge will hire search engine evaluators and typically need people who are bilingual.

According to Glassdoor, the average annual salary for a search engine evaluator is $48,000.

Envelope Stuffing Jobs – Final Thoughts

The bottom line is most envelope stuffing jobs are scams.  The legit ones are extremely low in pay that it is not even worth it.

There are tons of alternatives to envelope stuffing jobs that you can work from home.  Other than having a good internet connection and some affordable equipment, you won’t need to pay anything for these jobs.

Just remember that any jobs that require you to pay an upfront fee are scams, no matter how small the fee is.  If you’ve fallen victim to envelope stuffing job scams or any online job scams, you can report it to the FTC as well as the BBB.