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How Much Will the Post Office Put Up With?

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Re: How Much Will the Post Office Put Up With?

#11
post #10

Moving to Argentina has given me a newfound respect for the USPS - their reliability, sense of duty, and their humanity. In many ways they are a representative slice of America - flawed but generally reliable, hard working, and flexible. Losing things in the mail, spending hours waiting in line to pick up a package, christmas presents delayed for three months for no apparent reason, all of these experiences down here…

In Italy, you can't sent a package without tying a &&(* string around it.

Re: How Much Will the Post Office Put Up With?

#14
It has been fashionable to trash the post office (USPS) but growing up in a rural route area, I occasionally did a test by sending a letter to the grandparents with just the last name, the city name and the zip. Always got there. I probably could have just put the name, county and zip.

Re: How Much Will the Post Office Put Up With?

#15
post #5
post #3

"Helium balloon. The balloon was attached to a weight. The address was written on the balloon with magic marker; no postage was affixed. Our operative argued strongly that he should be charged a negative postage and refunded the postal fees, because the transport airplane would actually be lighter as a result of our postal item. This line of reasoning merely received a laugh from the clerk. The balloon was refused; r…

I burst out laughing when I read that in the article. This is good too: "Never-opened small bottle of spring water. We observed the street corner box surreptitiously the following day upon mail collection. After puzzling briefly over this item, the postal carrier removed the mailing label and drank the contents of the bottle over the course of a few blocks as he worked his route. "

No chocolate for him.

Re: How Much Will the Post Office Put Up With?

#16
post #10

Moving to Argentina has given me a newfound respect for the USPS - their reliability, sense of duty, and their humanity. In many ways they are a representative slice of America - flawed but generally reliable, hard working, and flexible. Losing things in the mail, spending hours waiting in line to pick up a package, christmas presents delayed for three months for no apparent reason, all of these experiences down here…

What's been your experience of living down there otherwise?

Also, is Fedex or something similar an option?

Re: How Much Will the Post Office Put Up With?

#18
post #10

Moving to Argentina has given me a newfound respect for the USPS - their reliability, sense of duty, and their humanity. In many ways they are a representative slice of America - flawed but generally reliable, hard working, and flexible. Losing things in the mail, spending hours waiting in line to pick up a package, christmas presents delayed for three months for no apparent reason, all of these experiences down here…

I loved the daily show bit about how the government can't efficiently run health care - he mentioned how the USPS can deliver a letter across the country in a few days for a few cents.

It really is an impressively efficient distributed system considering the hassles involved, specifically the diversity of items as listed in this article!

Re: How Much Will the Post Office Put Up With?

#19
post #10

Moving to Argentina has given me a newfound respect for the USPS - their reliability, sense of duty, and their humanity. In many ways they are a representative slice of America - flawed but generally reliable, hard working, and flexible. Losing things in the mail, spending hours waiting in line to pick up a package, christmas presents delayed for three months for no apparent reason, all of these experiences down here…

What's been your experience of living down there otherwise? Also, is Fedex or something similar an option?

[deleted]

Re: How Much Will the Post Office Put Up With?

#20
post #4

I did a similar experiment with good results in college--mailed an individually wrapped slice of American cheese to a buddy.

I mailed a can of soda that was only available in the town where my college was to a friend across the country. It arrived intact, only slightly dented.
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