7 ms·

I'm happy for a good ending. Reading this story when it first came out definitely made me feel sorry for the people involved. Side note, when I worked at UPS t

by rhcom2 10y ago

I'm happy for a good ending. Reading this story when it first came out definitely made me feel sorry for the people involved. Side note, when I worked at UPS they wouldn't even accept packages wrapped in brown paper for this exact reason. It gets stuck in the machine and ripped off, never to been seen again. When sending a package, put the label directly on the cardboard and write the address in marker on the side.

13of40 10y ago
When I was a young hoodlum, one time I took a piece of a paper shopping bag, wrote my home address on it, and dropped it in a mailbox. About a month later, it was delivered to my house in a zip-lock bag, with the same note the OP got. > When sending a package, put the label directly on the cardboard and write the address in marker on the side. While you've got the marker in your hand, also make sure you black out any barcodes on the box from previous mailings, because supposedly they can make your package get redirected to unexpected places.
- Declanomous 10y ago
  I have a funny/interesting story about the barcodes. As part of my job I run the mailed appeals for a non-profit. For certain appeals, we included pre-addressed envelopes that were supposed to come back to our office. For reasons we could understand these letters were taking months to reach us, and when we finally got them they had been opened on four sides and then stapled back together with dozens of staples around the edges, and an address sticker on the face of the envelope. These envelopes generally contain a check, and oftentimes the check was getting lost, plus the people who process these gifts were going nuts pulling all of the staples out of the envelopes so they could open them. The Post Office gave us a different explanation every time we called. At first they blamed a graphic we had on the face of the envelope. So we re-ordered the envelope without the graphic. Then they blamed the weight of the paper. So we re-ordered the envelopes with heavier paper. Then they blamed the color of the text and the font choice. So we re-ordered new envelopes with plain black block letters. After all this, these envelopes were still being opened. The post office said our physical mailing address was causing problems, because mail can't actually be delivered. Instead our mail guys go pick it up. Unfortunately, that isn't really something we can change with the volume of mail we get, so we were stumped. Then one day we got a call from our bank lockbox. They wanted to know why they had a bunch of our envelopes. After we got that call, I went to the basement, pulled examples of all of the envelopes I could find and brought them back to my desk. Presorted bulk mail has a barcode on it called an Intelligent Mail Barcode. It contains the postal ID of the person shipping the letter, delivery information (all the way down to route), plus a few variables for options. When our envelopes were proofed, they just included our address on the face. After we approved the envelopes the plant would put a barcode on them. Every single envelope had the same barcode on it. I decoded the barcode by hand, and lo and behold, the barcode contained the delivery instructions for our lockbox PO address. The plant we were using didn't actually calculate a new barcode for our envelope orders, they just used a barcode they had on file for us. We ended up ordering new envelopes with no barcode. Our mail immediately started arriving unmolested. Moral of the story: barcodes matter.
- mikeash 10y ago
  You might enjoy this article on Postal Experiments: http://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume6/v6i4/postal-6-4.html http://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume6/v6i4/po... They tested all sorts of wacky stuff sent through the mail, including an unpackaged flower and a ski, both of which made it to the recipient (but various others did not).
  - rhcom2 10y ago
    Awesome site. I shipped a few car tires when working at UPS that we just slapped the label on and a box of rare earth magnets that was a huge pain to ship. Also some guy's removed testicle to get tested for tumour cells was pretty weird but it just went in a normal box.
    - stevekemp 10y ago
      My test of the UK postal service was to address a postcard to my email address. I figured they could lookup WHOIS on the domain, get the address, and deliver it. Sadly not..
- byuu 10y ago
  Heh, several people accused that note of being fake because of an obvious spelling error on it ("where the weight of the contests rest.")
- SmellyGeekBoy 10y ago
  > When I was a young hoodlum, one time I took a piece of a paper shopping bag, wrote my home address on it, and dropped it in a mailbox. About a month later, it was delivered to my house in a zip-lock bag, with the same note the OP got. I have to admit I did get a chuckle out of your outrageous act of teenage rebellion. Fight the system!
CamperBob2 10y ago
Also, when sending anything important or expensive, put a copy of the address label inside the package itself. Especially important for international shipping.
byuu 10y ago
I was really stunned that Deutsche Post in Germany not only accepted the package, but were the ones to recommend it be shipped this way. They really should have known better, what with doing this for a living and all. It wasn't reasonable for the sender to know about the USPS' bulk processing machines and their tendency to tear off brown wrapping paper.

by rhcom2 10y ago

13of40 10y ago

When I was a young hoodlum, one time I took a piece of a paper shopping bag, wrote my home address on it, and dropped it in a mailbox. About a month later, it was delivered to my house in a zip-lock bag, with the same note the OP got. > When sending a package, put the label directly on the cardboard and write the address in marker on the side. While you've got the marker in your hand, also make sure you black out any barcodes on the box from previous mailings, because supposedly they can make your package get redirected to unexpected places.

Declanomous 10y ago
I have a funny/interesting story about the barcodes. As part of my job I run the mailed appeals for a non-profit. For certain appeals, we included pre-addressed envelopes that were supposed to come back to our office. For reasons we could understand these letters were taking months to reach us, and when we finally got them they had been opened on four sides and then stapled back together with dozens of staples around the edges, and an address sticker on the face of the envelope. These envelopes generally contain a check, and oftentimes the check was getting lost, plus the people who process these gifts were going nuts pulling all of the staples out of the envelopes so they could open them. The Post Office gave us a different explanation every time we called. At first they blamed a graphic we had on the face of the envelope. So we re-ordered the envelope without the graphic. Then they blamed the weight of the paper. So we re-ordered the envelopes with heavier paper. Then they blamed the color of the text and the font choice. So we re-ordered new envelopes with plain black block letters. After all this, these envelopes were still being opened. The post office said our physical mailing address was causing problems, because mail can't actually be delivered. Instead our mail guys go pick it up. Unfortunately, that isn't really something we can change with the volume of mail we get, so we were stumped. Then one day we got a call from our bank lockbox. They wanted to know why they had a bunch of our envelopes. After we got that call, I went to the basement, pulled examples of all of the envelopes I could find and brought them back to my desk. Presorted bulk mail has a barcode on it called an Intelligent Mail Barcode. It contains the postal ID of the person shipping the letter, delivery information (all the way down to route), plus a few variables for options. When our envelopes were proofed, they just included our address on the face. After we approved the envelopes the plant would put a barcode on them. Every single envelope had the same barcode on it. I decoded the barcode by hand, and lo and behold, the barcode contained the delivery instructions for our lockbox PO address. The plant we were using didn't actually calculate a new barcode for our envelope orders, they just used a barcode they had on file for us. We ended up ordering new envelopes with no barcode. Our mail immediately started arriving unmolested. Moral of the story: barcodes matter.
mikeash 10y ago
You might enjoy this article on Postal Experiments: http://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume6/v6i4/postal-6-4.html http://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume6/v6i4/po... They tested all sorts of wacky stuff sent through the mail, including an unpackaged flower and a ski, both of which made it to the recipient (but various others did not).
- rhcom2 10y ago
  Awesome site. I shipped a few car tires when working at UPS that we just slapped the label on and a box of rare earth magnets that was a huge pain to ship. Also some guy's removed testicle to get tested for tumour cells was pretty weird but it just went in a normal box.
  - stevekemp 10y ago
    My test of the UK postal service was to address a postcard to my email address. I figured they could lookup WHOIS on the domain, get the address, and deliver it. Sadly not..
byuu 10y ago
Heh, several people accused that note of being fake because of an obvious spelling error on it ("where the weight of the contests rest.")
SmellyGeekBoy 10y ago
> When I was a young hoodlum, one time I took a piece of a paper shopping bag, wrote my home address on it, and dropped it in a mailbox. About a month later, it was delivered to my house in a zip-lock bag, with the same note the OP got. I have to admit I did get a chuckle out of your outrageous act of teenage rebellion. Fight the system!

CamperBob2 10y ago

Also, when sending anything important or expensive, put a copy of the address label inside the package itself. Especially important for international shipping.

byuu 10y ago

I was really stunned that Deutsche Post in Germany not only accepted the package, but were the ones to recommend it be shipped this way. They really should have known better, what with doing this for a living and all. It wasn't reasonable for the sender to know about the USPS' bulk processing machines and their tendency to tear off brown wrapping paper.