Woman finally uses one of those already used padded envelopes she kept for later

A Boston woman was today hurled into the limelight when it came to light that she had purposefully re-used a previously received padded envelope that she had "kept for later". Irene Willis, 67, was contacted by online news and entertainment channel The Mawkler, after one of its readers received an interesting item in their mailbox.

"I kept looking at it thinking 'I'm sure there's something about this that isn't quite right...' And then it occurred to me that the envelope I'd received had been used before. I was angry, then I denied it. Then I sat motionless for twenty minutes until the information had seeped into my brain properly."

The recipient, Alice Watts from Colorado, had received the envelope from Irene Willis, who had sent an eBay item that had been won through the online auction website. On examining the padded envelope the item had been sent in, it was discovered that Mrs Willis had herself received the envelope from elsewhere.

"It was a shock," said Miss Watts. "I keep every padded envelope I've ever got, with the intention of re-using it later, but I would never think to actually do so. I mean - the nerve! The audacity! Problem is I can never find them when I need them. And then, whenever I get sent one myself and need somewhere sensible to keep it, that's when I find the stash of hundreds of other gnarled padded envelopes. Every size and shape you can imagine. But when I'm sending something myself? Not the foggiest."

The USPS were unavailable for comment.