BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 10:24 AM

Best Decorated Hole

Pin a medal on it?

Let it be MEEEEE.....

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 10:06 AM

I'm all for your proposal, spaw, but it doesn't mean I would have to listen to 'I Got You Babe' in stores, does it?

Art - best wishes for a happy holiday.

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: MartinRyan
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 04:23 AM

Hard to resist a musical connection - Click here

Regards

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: catspaw49
Date: 15 Dec 08 - 12:56 AM

Y'all are gonna' be mighty mad when I win the Best Decorated Hole contest. I might be in the running for biggest as well and with any luck I may even win Best Hole Overall.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: Art Thieme
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 11:00 PM

Maggie,
Thanks!
Art

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 10:26 PM

Ewww.

Back to the mail question--Art, the page for calculating postage has links to explanations about the size of the package in question to give you the right rate.

If you use the Click 'N Ship option then you can weigh your package at home, print the address label with the postage at home, affix it to your package, and schedule a pickup if your regular carrier doesn't come to your door. I ship stuff that way all of the time. The ONLY DRAWBACK is that you can't ship parcel post through click 'n ship. Only the higher priced options. When you look at the postage price calculator, if it doesn't give you the option to print postage under the online price, then you have to go the the post office to mail it. There are places you can join that will let you mail the lower rate, like http://www.endicia.com/. I see they have a free 30 day trial.

I suppose if you want to weigh the difficulty of getting to the post office, the gas money, time, etc. against mailing priority and having it picked up, it might be worth it to pay more to do it all at home.

Good luck. I have something I'm dropping in the mail to you soon.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: artbrooks
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 10:09 PM

Decorate 'Spaw's hole - the mind boggles.

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 09:29 PM

Spaw, I'm so excited over the prospect I have to stop for a moment and catch my breath. It is without doubt the most suggestive suggestion I've heard in coon's age or longer. I will email Obama forthwith.

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 09:21 PM

Art, I suggest a new holiday or dressing up an old one! That way you're not all jammed up with the whole Christmas debacle. Like Festivus on the "Seinfeld" sitcom perhaps.

Personally I like the idea of making Ground Hog Day the big yearly event. Gifts can be purchased really cheap in the post-Christmas shopping days and we can establish similar customs to help satisfy the folks who say they'll miss Christmas. Ground Hog Day can be totally secular as well so we can invite all people to shitcan their own wacko celebrations (like Christmas) and join up.

We can go out and pick out the best hole and then bring it home to our living room. Decorating the hole can be a family tradition as well as decorating the outside of our homes with various size dirt mounds lit with sunlamps......very festive! Before bed we can all hang our underwear over the fireplace. Then on the day itself we can all awaken to presents around the hole and our underwear filled up by Willie Whistlepig himself as he visits the homes of the faithful in his Radio Flyer wagon filled with gifts and pulled by a dozen naked mole rats. Great fun!!!!! Isn't this exciting?


Or you can just go on and take all the info others have given you and try to get out that stuff before Christmas if that's how you feel about it..........................***sigh***..............

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: Art Thieme
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 08:50 PM

Thanks, folks.It is all appreciated. As I told Rapaire in a P.M., you are hearing my frustration trying to get stuff out for the holiday.

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: artbrooks
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 08:16 PM

The new thing is the "large envelope", which meets this description:
*Height between 6-1/8 inches and 12 inches
*Length between 11-1/2 inches and 15 inches
*Thickness between 1/4 inch and 3/4 inch
Anything bigger, in any dimension, is a package.

In addition, a large envelope can't be completely rigid, irregular (nonrectangular) in shape or irregular in thickness. Those mailing envelopes that are thin on the edge and thick (with padding) in the middle are ok.

A 1 oz large envelope cost $.83 from Chicago to anywhere in the US; a 2 oz one costs a buck...each additional ounce costs $.17. I checked Chicago to Miami, Anchorage and Guam to be sure.

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 07:26 PM

USPS Postage Price Calculator.

If you're not sure whether your item meets the definition of a post card, letter, large envelope, etc., click the little question mark next to the name of the category and it will give you a detailed definition.

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 07:19 PM

I always use the usps website to calculate, Art, the one Sharon listed. I know there are a bunch of dumb questions, but I can usually suss out what would be usually more than enough by using that.

over at Paperback Swap, they've got a nice system which calculates it for you AND, if you want to pay them, they will even let you print out the wrapper and postage for any book you might be sending out. It's pretty neat.

Do you have a mail carrier who might be of assistance?

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 06:07 PM

Well, Art's in Illinois, so he's pretty much out of luck anyway.

Hey, Art! Who's gonna do more time: your Governor or my Senator?

Subject: RE: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: SharonA
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 06:01 PM

Art: Have you looked on the US Postal Service site? www.usps.com

Here's the place on that site where you can calculate postage: http://www.usps.com/tools/calculatepostage/welcome.htm

Or talk to a human about it at 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777)

...of course, all this is assuming that you're talking about postage in the US of A. In other countries you may be SO of L. :-)

Good luck and happy holiday!

Sharon

Subject: BS: Need U.S. post office help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: Art Thieme
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 04:54 PM

Here's my problem:

Since the new post office regs came into effect, there is no way to KNOW what postage to put on any given letter or package. In the past, you would weigh the letter, see what postal zone you were sending it to, and you would KNOW what the right stamps should go onto it.

NOW, however, the size of the envelope, the thickness of the edge of the envelope, the thickness in the middle of the envelope, whether or not it can be folded, is it fragile, the length of it, the width of it, is it soft, is it hard, is it leaking anything, and what are your personal official answers when these many questions are put to you??!

BOTH CAROL AND I ARE DUISABLED NOW and taking every piece of mail, other than regular envelopes, is often not possible! The wheels on my wheel chair spin on the ice and snow.

IS THERE AN EASY WAY TO KNOW WHAT AMOUNT OF STAMPS OUGHT TO GO ONTO A GIVEN PIECE OF MAIL !! ???

I'll take my answer off the air!

Art Thieme