The return address is listed as:
Business Services
To the right of the address is the following notice:
ATTENTION :
Do not forward unless the addressee has filed an authorizing change-of-address notice. If addressee has moved, handle in accordance with Section F020 of the United States Postal Service Domestic Mail Manual.
(Translated into English, the above means "This is junk mail. The post office won't forward it, so you can just throw it away if the person it was sent to has moved.")
In addition, there are black bars along the bottom and left-hand margin of the envelope. The bar along the left-hand margin include a capital "L".
The only reference to Capital One is the bulk rate imprint (now officially called "standard" rate).
The use of these characteristics, such as specifying the return address as "Business Services" rather than "Capital One Small Business Services", is not some mere esthetic preference by Capital One, but an intentional effort to draw attention to its mailing by giving the impression that it's an official notice from a government agency.
It succeeds.
It is therefore in violation of 39 USC 3001, which declares as non-mailable:
Matter otherwise legally acceptable in the mails which constitutes a solicitation by a nongovernmental entity for the purchase of or payment for a product or service; and contains a seal, insignia, trade or brand name, or any other term or symbol that reasonably could be interpreted or construed as implying any Federal Government connection, approval or endorsement.
See the full text at http://resource.lawlinks.com/Content/Legal_Research/US_code/Title_39/title_39_30.htm [Wayback archive]
Contact phone number for Capital One Small Business Services is 888-763-2457.
Also noticed in the New Republic: http://www.tnr.com/easterbrook.mhtml?week=2003-11-18
| Topic CapitalOneExperience4 . { Edit | Ref-By | Attach | Diffs | r1.2 | > | r1.1 } |
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Revision r1.2 - 06 Oct 2004 - 05:27 by EliMantel
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