[pct-l] Bounced packages--no "free lunch"?

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

On Nov 10, 2010, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> Hypothetically, if I were to take delivery of a package at a USPO  
> in San
> Francisco and, not immediately needing the contents, could I  
> forward said
> package, unopened, to myself at a USPO in Portland, free of  
> charge?".  The
> answer was "Yes, but only if you re-package the box and pay postage  
> on it
> (again)".

Oh my god that is too funny. How is that free of charge if you pay  
more postage?

My experience was that in California half the post offices  
practically begged me to take advantage of free forwarding of  
priority mail. At the post office in Government Camp, Oregon, the man  
there said he couldn't do that. It was against the rules. I asked him  
if there were different rules in California. He said he'd do it just  
this once for me.

When I got to Cascade Locks my bounce bucket had a note taped on it.  
The man in the office went online and researched the rules and  
apologized to me for being wrong. There is a regulation that allows  
you to forward your unopened priority mail package so long as you  
don't take delivery of it.

I wish I would have saved his letter because I think he quoted the  
section in their regulations. Perhaps these rules are online and you  
can research them. It would be worth it to carry a copy of various  
rules you may need printed out. It seemed that not all postal workers  
have the same depth of understanding about their regulations.