I'm the kind of guy that re-uses envelopes, at least in my personal life. Someone who thinks that, in some circumstances, making an impression with a crisp, new, envelope is less important than doing the practical, economical and ethical thing of recycling. The way we use envelopes probably says a bit about our personality and our companies.
Could your company re-use its envelopes? If you deal in financial services or high-end goods and services, sending out letters and packages in crumpled envelopes might give the wrong impression (can you imagine Coutts or Dunhill using them? I think not).
But if your brand is about connecting with people on a personal level, about being honest, friendly and straightforward (think the Co-Op or even Innocent drinks), then maybe reusing envelopes is exactly the right kind of thing to do, with a proviso – that you acknowledge it. Mention this on your headed paper, include a slip of paper explaining your stance on envelopes for business (if it's business card sized you'll still be saving paper over chucking the envelope.)
There's more that your company can do with envelopes that just recycle them. Do you have business cards? Headed note paper? Chances are you had them designed, or designed them yourself? Even if you don't have a logo, you had to choose a suitable font for your company name. All of these things are about design, about using whatever canvases we have available to say something about our businesses. So why don't people make use of the canvas that is the envelope?
I once received a business card that was a label stuck over an old tube ticket and rather than thinking that it was cheap I just thought that it was a brilliant idea that should be done more. It was fully fit for purpose and at the same time carried the message that this was a thoughtful company.
At the Envelope - mail art blog you can see examples of art on the envelope for private letters. All of the examples are eye-catching, show-stopping and they show that the letter being sent is important to the sender and that the sender wants it to be important to the recipient.
While those examples might be a bit too left-field to use as inspiration for most companies (and maybe a bit time-consuming), it's an idea that could be worth exploring.
