Readers have sent in the following statements for examination. Each was audited separately and on its own merits, and each receives its own opinion. Submitters are identified by first name, initial and state, which is more than the letters do for their authors. Where a reader sent the original, it has been returned or, at the reader's request, shredded.

Summary of Opinions Issued

B-1. The Recipe Exchange
Submitted by Peggy P., Connecticut. Received July 12, 1999.

Description. A letter from a friend at church. Mail one favorite recipe to the person at the top of the list, move everyone up, add your name at the bottom, and send the letter to six friends. In a few weeks you will receive thirty-six recipes. No money is requested.

¹ Including Mrs. P.'s own coffee cake, which reached her by way of a friend of a friend two levels down and arrived with a note saying it was "a family favorite."

Opinion: Qualified. Except for the overstatement of recipes receivable, the statement presents fairly a pleasant way to trade recipes with friends. It is still a chain, and the arithmetic of Schedule A-1 applies to it, but the most a participant can lose is a little postage and the exclusive rights to her coffee cake.

B-2. The Faxed Opportunity
Submitted by Hal M., Rhode Island. Received July 27, 1999.

Description. A two-page "financial opportunity" that came over the fax machine at Mr. M.'s former place of business, where he still stops in for coffee. Send a sum of money to the name in the first box, and so on.

Basis for disclaimer. The copy submitted was, by my count of the header lines across the top, at least the eleventh generation of a facsimile of a facsimile. The figures in the earnings column could not be read, the name in the first box could not be read, and the amount to be sent could be read as either $20 or $70. I was unable to satisfy myself about any of these amounts by other auditing procedures.

Opinion: Disclaimer. Because of the significance of the matters described above, I do not express an opinion on this statement. I will say that the portions I could read used the word "guaranteed" four times, which in my experience is four more times than an honest document needs.

B-3. The Five-Name Letter, Electronic Edition
Submitted by Jay C., Vermont. Received August 3, 1999.

Description. The letter on Schedule A-1, retyped into e-mail. The participant mails five dollars, instead of one, to each of five people in exchange for a "report," then sends the letter to as many e-mail addresses as he can collect. Mr. C. reports that his copy reached him through a list of several hundred strangers, all visible at the top of the message.

Opinion: Adverse. See Schedule A-1 and Note 4. Changing the dollar to five dollars multiplies each participant's loss by five. Changing the paper to e-mail multiplies the speed at which the letter runs out of people. Neither change improves the arithmetic, and the report, which Mr. C. was good enough not to buy, does not change what the transaction is.

B-4. The Gift Certificate Forward
Submitted by Marcia H., New Hampshire. Received August 16, 1999.

Description. An e-mail forwarded to Mrs. H. by her daughter, promising that a large clothing retailer would send a gift certificate to everyone who forwarded the message to fifteen people. I have removed the company's name, because as far as I can determine the company had nothing to do with it.

Opinion: Adverse. See Schedule A-4. A store that wished to give away gift certificates would find it cheaper to give them to customers in the store. Mrs. H. reports that she showed her daughter this page, and that her daughter has agreed to read it "later."

B-5. The Good-Luck Letter
Submitted by Louis S., Maine. Received August 30, 1999.

Description. A typed letter, mailed, asking the recipient to send copies to twenty people within four days. It lists several people who prospered after continuing it and one who came to grief after throwing it away. No money is requested.

Opinion: None. The letter contains no financial statements and cannot be audited. I did examine its claims of prosperity, as a courtesy. None gave an amount, a date or a name that could be confirmed. Mr. S. reports that he threw his copy away on the evening of August 25 and has since won forty dollars in a church raffle, which I have recorded as a favorable variance.

B-6. The "Airplane"
Submitted by Rhonda T., Massachusetts. Received September 9, 1999.

Description. Not a letter, but Mrs. T. asked me to include it because it works the same way. Some years ago a woman at her office invited her to a party to join an "airplane." New members bought a passenger seat with cash. When enough passengers had paid, the pilot left with the money, everyone moved up a row, and the plane split into two new planes, each needing a fresh set of passengers. A seat cost more than Mrs. T.'s monthly car payment, and she declined, which made her unpopular for about a month.

Opinion: Adverse. This is the statement on Schedule A-1 with better refreshments. Every time the planes split, the next round needs twice as many new passengers as the round before it, and the arithmetic runs out of people just as surely as it does by mail, only faster, because it happens in living rooms. The pilots are paid by the passengers, and the passengers are paid by nobody. Mrs. T. reports that the woman from her office stopped speaking to her, then, the following spring, apologized. I have recorded the apology as a recovery.

B-7. The Thank-You Note Chain
Submitted by Judy C., Ohio. Received September 17, 1999.

Description. A note passed around Mrs. C.'s church this summer. Write a thank-you note to someone who helped you once and was never properly thanked. Then pass this idea along to one other person, if you like. There is no list, no promise and no threat.

² From her high school chemistry teacher, now 84, who telephoned to say he remembered her and that she had been right about the Bunsen burner.

Opinion: Unqualified. In my opinion the statement presents fairly, in all material respects, exactly what it promises, which is nothing, and it delivers that plus some goodwill. This is the first unqualified opinion I have issued on this page. I wrote one of the notes myself, to the high school teacher who first made me balance a checkbook, and I recommend the practice to all readers without reservation.

Submission procedures. Describe or retype the statement, tell me where it came from and when, and include any amounts you sent or received. Please black out the names and addresses of the people on any list. Most of them have troubles enough. I will not forward anything to anyone, ever.