I received an anonymous letter in the mail today.
This is second letter I’ve received… spooky!
I received the first letter over a year ago. Both letters contain promotional literature. The first one promoted a public speaking product and this one is promoting martial arts or so. They are all personalized with the text, “Avinesh, Check this out! -J”, written in blue ink and block letters. My address is written neatly on the front of each envelope in the same manner. The first promotional piece was taken from a computer magazine and the second piece was from a newspaper advertisement.
The originating postal code on the envelope appears to be: M4L 3T0. The ‘0’ almost looks like a ‘D’ on the envelope, but using a ‘D’ for the last character doesn’t follow Canadian postal code standards. A quick Google search shows that ‘M4L’ is Toronto, Ontario. It was mailed out at 8:11 AM on August 21. I never realized letters from Ontario get to BC so quickly — regular mail, no less.
Further research indicates that I’m not the only one that’s received an anonymous letter from the same postal code. I don’t think I know anyone in Ontario with a name starting with ‘J’.
Well, on to other things. I’ll update this post if I discover anything else.
Update (09/02/2007):
It appears several individuals received similarly addressed letters in the mail. Please read the comments to this blog post for details. Someone sure has lots of free time (and money) on their hands.
I attempted to use Canada Post’s Post Office Locator to determine the address of the post office, to no avail: “Postal code M4L3T0 was not found.” Very strange, considering the envelope was postmarked from that postal code.
This almost leads me to wonder if this is an inside job, by a disgruntled Canada Post worker. Perhaps, we can collectively contact Canada Post to help identify the culprit.
Update (09/04/2007):
I contacted Canada Post directly regarding the matter. I am awaiting a response.
Update (09/07/2007):
Canada Post indicated that as long as there’s a stamp on it, they will process it like any other piece of mail. They haven’t contacted me for more information.
Update (10/01/2009):
This Google query should answer most of your questions about this mysterious “J”:
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=Hand+Addressed+Direct+Mail
As you can see, there are marketing companies that deliver hand-addressed envelopes with notes. Their reason for doing so? It increases the likelihood of someone opening a piece of mail. So, there you have it — an answer to this mystery.