Missing warnings on an envelope for junk mail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I received the envelope shown above. It has official-looking warnings not to fold or bend, but not the typical one which is:

 

“Do not fold, bend, spindle, or mutilate.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The statement inside admits it is NOT actually from Social Security.  

 

But what does spindle mean? The Merriam Webster dictionary says it is a transitive verb:

 

“to impale, thrust, or perforate on the spike of a spindle file.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An image of a spindled sheet of paper is shown above.

 

There is a discussion of the whole warning in an article by Ed Dufton at lehighvalleylive on October 10, 2010 titled Updating Peanuts. It explains that government checks used to be printed on punch cards, and spindling could add an undesired hole.  

 

An image of a spindle came from Wikimedia Commons.