Guest post from Harmony of Creating My Kaleidoscope
I’m always on the lookout for new ways to make a little extra money. Cutting spending only goes so far when you, like us, have a lot debt to pay off. Increasing our income through small “side hustles” has really helped us speed up the process.
So, you know all of the junk mail you sort through everyday… and then throw in the trash? What if I told you about a company who will BUY that junk mail from you?
The Small Business Knowledge Center pays people to collect and send in their junk mail. It seems too good to be true, but I recently received another $20 Visa card from them!
Have I piqued your curiosity? Here’s some additional information:
Is It Safe?
Of course, my first concern was whether this company was going to use my information to sign up for credit card offers.
I did a little research before signing up and I learned that the SKBC uses junk mail to conduct market research. Their website assures that all personal information is protected and the documents are always shredded.
Although the SKBC is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, they do have an A+ rating. This rating is based, in part, on the length of time that the SKBC has been operating (since December of 2006) and the fact that only one complaint has ever been filed against the company. The one complaint had to do with responsiveness, and was resolved.
I can personally say that after sending mail to the SKBC for almost one year, I’ve never had any issues with the company.
How Does It Work?
You can sign up to send in junk mail through the SKBC’s website, and by providing some basic information on a questionnaire. After a few weeks, you should receive large, plastic return envelopes to use in collecting your junk mail, and a guide on what materials will be accepted for points. We usually let the envelope fill up for about a month before sealing it up and dropping it in a mailbox. These are prepaid envelopes, so there is no expense to you. You can also forward junk emails from the address you used to sign up for an account.
Qualifying mail and emails is worth points. You receive a monthly email with the updated balance of your account. They also provide “bonus points” for selected types of junk mail at different times (you learn about these opportunities in the monthly email). Just make sure to mark the envelopes as instructed in order to earn your bonus points.
The one downside to SKBC is that, other than the bonus point promotions, they really don’t provide a clear value chart for different types of junk mail. It’s impossible to know how many points you will earn for each envelope that you send it to SKBC.
Once you earn 2,000 points, you are eligible for a $20 Visa debit card. They will send you a code that can be redeemed for a physical card or an online code. You then have six months to claim the gift card.
My Review
I wanted to test out SKBC for myself before recommending it to anyone else… and overall, I was pleased with how easy it was. In fact, the process of setting aside eligible mail items became part of our normal routine!
It took quite a while to earn enough points for a gift card, but I didn’t really use the bonus system at all, and I only just recently started forwarding my junk emails. Hopefully, this will help speed up the point accumulation!
I like to think that some useful information will be collected from all of that junk mail, which would typically get tossed in recycling, or worse, a landfill. More cash for us and less waste is a win-win situation in my book!
Harmony Smith blogs at Creating My Kaleidoscope. She is a working mom of three who is fighting to pay off debt so she can escape from her 9-5 job and spend more time with her family. Harmony blogs about saving money, increasing her income with side hustles, DIY projects, and other adventures.
Looking for more ways to earn an income from home? Check out our Income-Earning Ideas Page for lots of great ideas!
