[pct-l] Mailing Isues

[Daniel Zellman]

Not sure if this will be of use or interest to anyone else, but it
surprised us and forced a quick re-think, so....

Spent about an hour on the phone with US Postal Service yesterday and
learned that they DO NOT allow you to bring your package into the PO, have
it weighed and measured and pay for postage, and then walk out with the
postage-paid box to give to your friend/family member to mail to you in
three months. According to the individual with whom I spoke, the label they
stick on your package is only "valid for three (3) days." (Each individual
post office DOES have discretion and is PERMITTED to accept the package,
but they are NOT REQUIRED to do so.) You can buy pre-paid flat rate boxes,
of course, but we found that the large flat rate box wasn't big enough to
hold even four (4) days of food for two people, and most of our resupplies
are at least five, and up to ten days. So it seems we're stuck giving our
pre-packed and -addressed boxes to our support person and leaving her with
sufficient $$ to pay for the postage as she mails each one.

Five of our resupplies are going by UPS, and I was able to create an online
account and pay for and print off labels for those five boxes (weighed on
our digital bathroom scale and then rounding up to the next pound), which
the UPS agent I spoke to on the phone told me were good for up to five
months plus the current month, meaning they'll be good into September.

Just saying....

-dz

-- 
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
    --Buddhist proverb