Junk Mail Hack

I received some junk mail the other day and it had a little plastic box sticky gummed to a large postcard-like piece of mail. Supposedly I could pull the plastic strip from the box and it would display my winning number to get a discount on buying a car. I don't own a car (by design) so I wasn't interested in the promotion. But the little plastic box I found to be very interesting. Before I did anything with it I found on the back the manufacturers name and a patent number. At their website they have a mockup that allows you to click on the tab for an animation of the action of activating the Combination Box. In the picture I have pulled the plastic strip. It just lays between the batteries and the cobar-connector. I had to use some pliers to pull it.

I ran a razor knife blade into the seam between the front and the back in the upper right hand corner and twisted. It popped the plastic post weld on that side and I repeated on the upper left side. You can see in the picture the two posts are all that hold it together. You can also see that the cobar-connector is held in place by those posts.

This metal connector just lifts out. In fact once the halves are separated nothing is glued in place. Now you have two free alkaline batteries: Specifications: Model Number L1131 Voltage: 1.5 Chemistry: Alkaline Capacity: 80 mAh Brand : AGW Size: Button Cell Height : 3.05mm (0.12") Diameter : 11.6mm (0.46") Weight: 0.0938 lbs.

You also have a neat little LED with the long lead being the positive lead. Unfortunately the 5 digit readout is fake. It's neat how the LED fits into the little plastic box though.

So now enjoy your free stuff!