Deal of the year...$1500 windfall

[rennigade]

Due to a lazy mailman...I was able to score $1500 in coupon/gift cards to a big box electronic chain.

Here's how it went down. Mailman was supposed to put coupons on each door to each apartment. Instead he would take 10-15 coupons and hang them inside the front door on a bulletin board. When I saw them I took all in my building to start. I figured if I didnt use them I could resell them and make some money.

Went to slickdeals...traded some coupons for $5 amazon gift cards...all was well. The kicker was when I went to use some of the coupons at this electronic store online...I was able to stack them. They werent just coupons...they were straight up gift cards....and there were approx 150 sitting around the entire apartment complex. (regret set in that I sold $40 worth and only received $15 in amazon gift cards.)

I realized this at work so when I came home I went to each entrance and snagged all of them. They were in $10 increments...around 150...$1500. I couldnt use more than $100 at a time so anything around $100 or less was free...anything over $100 I had to shell out cash.

It got to the point where we didnt know what else to buy so we bought my parents and inlaws stuff...and I gave my friend $100 in gift cards to use.

I never thought I would have trouble spending $1500 free money but after $900 we had to come up with some things to buy. All in all it was the best deal I ever came across.

Dont hate the player...hate the game.

[disneysteve]

Sweet deal. I totally understand having trouble spending it all. People think it would be easy but at some point, you have everything you need. If you weren't limited to $100 at a time, you could have spent it easier but once you stock up printer ink and any other supplies, you run out of things to buy.

[MakeAStash]

So, you scored by taking mail meant for others? Isn't that mail fraud?

[disneysteve]

So, you scored by taking mail meant for others? Isn't that mail fraud?

If he went around and took them off of everyone's doorknob, I'd say yes, but these were hung on a community bulletin board. There was nothing to say he had to only take one.

[rennigade]

Right...they werent addressed to anyone...and they were all hanging together for anyone to take...as many as they wanted. They actually hung for 2 days before I bought something and discovered they could be stacked.

[Drake3287]

I'm no postal carrier but I do know they aren't allowed to just hang things on doors. It's either an officially approved mail box or nothing. Packages of course are a different story.

What your mailman did was no different then throwing the junk mail into a debris box along his route. Either way it's a felony and he'd be terminated.

For you it was a great score although your neighbors might not agree!

[greenskeeper]

I'm no postal carrier but I do know they aren't allowed to just hang things on doors. It's either an officially approved mail box or nothing. Packages of course are a different story.

What your mailman did was no different then throwing the junk mail into a debris box along his route. Either way it's a felony and he'd be terminated.

What? At our communities there are mail boxes on each floor that are in a common area, any "junk mail" etc is just put on the table for whoever wants it. After 3 days it's recycled.

[disneysteve]

What your mailman did was no different then throwing the junk mail into a debris box

I think it's totally different. He left it in a public area where all of the residents had access to it. That's a lot different than trashing it.

My mom lives in an apartment building. Personal mail goes in their mailboxes. General stuff like the local community newspaper, sale ads, etc., get stacked up on the counter for residents to take their own. She's lived there for 9 years and that's the way it's always been done.

I have a friend who works for the post office. I'll have to ask him about this the next time I see him.

[siggy_freud]

What he did doesn't make him a criminal, but it perhaps makes him not a cool neighbor. Kinda like the guy at a free community breakfast who takes all the bacon for himself . . .