I had a couple of packages to mail this week, one being Jess's skirt. Did you know that you can go online and order various sized free shipping boxes from the U. S. Postal Service and they'll ship them right to your door... for free? They're all Priority Mail and must be used for that purpose. Then when you have something to mail, you can go online again and Click-N-Ship it. You have to put in your and your recipient's names and addresses, the weight and dimensions of your box, and then it calculates postage which you can pay for via a credit card or PayPal. When that's done, it produces a label for you to print, which you then tape onto your box, and it's all set to go!
That's what I did with those two packages. It even saves you a little money, as it's a bit cheaper than having them do it at the post office, plus you get free delivery confirmation. I like that!
Then I went one step further and set up a scheduled pick-up... for our mail carrier to come to the house (because they wouldn't fit in our mailbox) and get the packages, so I wouldn't have to take them to the post office. I've done this before, and it worked great. However, this time it didn't. They didn't get picked up. Long story short, I realized they'd been missed, in time to take them to the PO so they'd still go out yesterday. There was a line at the PO, but since my boxes were ready to go, I was able to just hand them over and not have to wait. I mentioned that they were supposed to have been picked up, but they told me they hadn't received that notification. I don't know if it was a computer glitch or what, but I wasn't very happy to have to drive them into town. Courtney wasn't, either, as it ate into her crafting time. ;(
Update: I got an email from the USPS this morning apologizing and saying that the failure to pick up was due to an "internal USPS error". They're going to attempt pick-up today. Well, good luck with that! :) Nah, our small town local postal employees will (hopefully) remember my complaint and realize it's the packages I brought in yesterday and won't send our carrier to the house after them.
Addition: I forgot to mention when I wrote this that I suggest adding a piece of packing tape to secure each end of the boxes. The boxes have self-adhesive ends. I've found them to be VERY sticky and about impossible to pull apart. So I was very surprised to find that after sitting overnight and half the morning yesterday, the end flap of one of the boxes was sticking out, unstuck! So I re-stuck it down and added a piece of tape... to the ends of both boxes! It might've been because I've had the boxes for a couple of years, but I still am not taking any chances in the future!
Oh, yeah... when I was getting things ready to ship, Josie decided she wanted to go somewhere, too!
3 comments:
I did not know about the part where you can order boxes for free and have them sent to the house. That's a very good thing! Thanks!
It IS a very good thing! You're welcome!
I keep meaning to try this. Our local "contract" station just closed down and I try to avoid the regular post office at all costs.
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