Have you been searching for work from home packing jobs? Then, be sure to read this post so you can protect yourself from shady opportunities!
There’s no shortage of easy and flexible ways to make money from home. But are these opportunities and jobs legit? One type of remote job you may hear about often is packing, sending, or assembly work.
Work from home packing jobs are generally marketed as positions that will pay you to stuff envelopes or work with a kit to assemble a product. If this sounds too good to be true, it’s because it often is.
Here’s what you need to know about work from home packing jobs, how they might be a scam, and what to do instead.
1. Stuffing Envelopes
Work from home envelope stuffing jobs are advertised with headlines like:
Make $5,000 a Week Stuffing Envelopes from Home!
or
Get Paid for Mailing Letters from Home
These jobs usually don’t involve stuffing envelopes at all. Instead, you’re required to send money as a startup fee to gain more information. Then, the job is to repost ads for the very same envelope-stuffing scam on other websites to recruit more people.
Unfortunately, this is a common scam that many people have fallen for. Luckily, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Better Business Bureau both have alerts on websites about this illegitimate work opportunity.
New envelope-stuffing companies pop up every year, but there still haven’t been any positive reports from people who’ve signed up. When you think about it, stuffing envelopes for extra cash really doesn’t make much sense. A lot of companies handle packaging internally and try to keep their customer and prospect mailing information protected. The odds of a company outsourcing this simple task are slim to none.
2. Shipping and Sending Packages
Sending packages is another common work from home scam to watch out for. Scammers will send you items that have been illegally obtained, either with a stolen credit card or stolen outright, and give you instructions on where to send these packages. Compensation is usually listed as a fixed price per package. However, here is a Reddit account of an individual who fell for this scam and thought he was going to earn $2,200 per week and $40 per package.
When you apply for these gigs, the scammers will send your job details and packages. You unknowingly mail the packages to their intended destinations, but you never receive any payment for your services. Thus losing out-of-pocket shipping costs and aiding in the transportation of stolen goods.
According to the United States Postal Inspection Service, these types of work from home packing jobs (scams) are common and tricky. The stolen packages often get traced back to the person who thought they had a legitimate work from home gig. Then, when you try to get payment, the fake company is unreachable, or they claim the package was never delivered to get out of paying the worker.
3. Assembly Jobs
Another similar work from home packing job that should raise red flags is assembly jobs. Work from home assembly jobs involve the worker paying a fee upfront for startup materials and a kit. The kit includes the items that you’ll need to assemble, along with directions.
The tricky part is that no matter how well you assemble the item, the company won’t pay you once you send it back to them. There is always an issue with how you put the item together. The process itself is often very time-consuming. Some workers noted that they had spent 30 minutes or more assembling one bracelet. What these illegitimate companies are essentially doing is making money from all the startup kits they sell with no intention of ever paying for the assembled products.
4. Mailing Letters to Corporations
You’ve probably heard about this side hustle on TikTok, how you can make thousands writing and mailing out letters to corporations. While this isn’t an outright scam, it’s not a smart way to spend your time trying to make money.
First, here is how it works.
According to The Game Day, online casinos must legally provide a way for players to receive free Sweeps Coins, and they do this through the mail-in offer. As a consumer, you can go to these online gambling sites and request free casino play coins (usually $5 to $10) by handwriting them a letter with very specific details.
To get started, you’ll need to buy #10 envelopes and stamps (which are $0.73 right now), as well as blank, unlined 4×6 notecards. Then, you’ll need to invest your time in handwriting these letters and sending them out. Once you receive your credits (not cash), you have to use them to play online casino games, which are highly addictive.
How much money can you really make?
Say you received a $5 casino credit, and you cashed out after a few spins of the slot machine; you’re already down $0.80 for the envelope, stamp, and notecard, say, another $1.50 for time playing. So, maybe you earned $2.70 for your time spent. Now, to make $1,000 a week, you have to send out an average of 370 letters weekly!
While there may be some people making money gambling online, let’s be real: casinos are in business to make money. According to Investopedia, “Each game you play at a casino has a statistical probability against you winning, which makes gambling an inadequate option for those looking to boost their income.”
Also, many people who are promoting this as a lucrative side gig tend to be selling an online course that teaches you how to make money with this method. It’s best to skip this one and focus on opportunities where you’re not lured into spending more money to make it big or wasting your time hoping to win a jackpot!
How to Avoid Work from Home Packing Job Scams
While work from home scams are common, they are not impossible to spot. In fact, there are several clues or red flags that can alert you to an illegitimate work-from-home job. Keep these things in mind as you consider remote work opportunities so you can avoid wasting unnecessary time and money upfront.
Ads That Claim You Can Make a Significant Amount of Money Quickly
One person who fell for a work from home packing job scam was told they would earn $1,500 per week. This sounds a little too good to be true. If jobs promise a lot of money to complete simple tasks like a ton of money to pack and mail packages, you should ask yourself why or how they could afford to pay someone to do these things.
Vague Job Descriptions
It’s important to know what the work entails when you read a job ad. If the language used dances around the primary purpose of the job and how you actually make money, it’s most likely not worth pursuing.
No Website or Bad Reviews
Try to steer clear of job ads that don’t take you to a legitimate website. Even if a company has a website that looks professional, be sure to search for reviews online about them to see if it’s a legitimate opportunity.
Upfront Startup Costs
Normally, you don’t need to pay anything to start a job. This is also the case for work from home jobs. If someone asks you to pay a fee or buy a startup kit, this could be a red flag. Some legit companies do have fees for things like criminal background checks. To learn more about fees and what’s legit and what’s not, read this article.
Recruiting Others is Required
Unlike multi-level marketing business opportunities, which allow people to sell products in addition to recruiting others to join their team, envelope stuffing scams offer nothing like this. The only way to make money is to recruit others for the same scam, making this job completely illegitimate. Yes, some jobs do allow you to recruit others and earn commissions, but this shouldn’t be the only way to make money.
Legitimate Work from Home Jobs to Consider Instead
It’s safe to say that work from home packing jobs are not legitimate opportunities and not worth your time.
But what if you’re still looking for similar ways to make money from home?
Earn a Little Extra Money
There are many legitimate ways to make extra cash in your spare time. Short-task jobs like Byron, Gigwalk, Rev, and DataAnnotation Tech may not make you a ton of money, but the work is relatively easy and flexible.
You can also take surveys and participate in focus groups. Many of these side gigs you can do right from your mobile phone. You won’t get rich doing these tasks, but it is an interesting way to earn extra money in your free time. You can check out platforms like Prolific, Swagbucks, InboxDollars, Survey Junkie, Branded Surveys, and Respondent to get started.
Get a Full-Time Work from Home Position
If you’re searching for a full-time work from home job with competitive pay and health insurance, there are many remote job openings in a wide variety of occupations like customer service, data entry, and admin services. Companies like Apple, American Express, U-Haul, Williams Sonoma, and others offer individuals the opportunity to work from home while earning a steady income. Check out this master list for legit companies hiring right now!
Make and Sell Arts and Crafts
Consider creating your own crafts or digital products and selling them on Etsy. Etsy takes out a small fee when you make a sale, but this site already has a built-in customer base, provides a virtual storefront, and helps you collect payment with ease. If you’d rather not make the products but sell them instead, you may want to look into joining a direct sales company.
Ship Amazon Products
This isn’t a remote job, but Amazon always hires people to sort through items and package orders at local fulfillment centers. Amazon fulfillment centers are popping up in tons of areas. Check out their website to see if one near you is hiring. Schedules are flexible, and you’ll earn around $20 per hour.
Final Words About Work from Home Packing Jobs
A final word about work from home packing jobs: if you come across remote jobs that sound sketchy, don’t sign up for anything or pay any money. Check reviews and take red flags seriously. If you take a few minutes to research, you will likely find negative reviews from others who have been tricked.
Instead, stick to carefully vetted, legitimate work from home jobs like those mentioned in some of our other posts. Subscribe here, and you can get bi-weekly remote job leads sent directly to your inbox.
Originally published September 8, 2021. Content updated September 2024.
