7 ms·

How Much Will the Post Office Put Up With?

127 points by splat 17y ago

jakewolf 17y ago
There's always http://mailabrick.com http://mailabrick.com
mshafrir 17y ago
"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; reasons given: transportation of helium, not wrapped."
- matt1 17y ago
  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. "
  - diN0bot 17y ago
    interesting: "Wrapped brick. Wrapped in brown paper; posted in street corner box with same amount of postage as was strapped to unwrapped brick. Extreme weight for size made package seem suspicious. Notice of attempted delivery received, 16 days. Upon pickup at station, our mailing specialist received a plastic bag containing broken and pulverized remnants of brick. Inside was a small piece of paper with a number code on it. Our research indicates that this was some type of US Drug Enforcement Agency release slip. The clerk made our mailing specialist sign a form for receipt. "
    - billswift 17y ago
      The obvious moral is that if you're going to send anything heavy through the mail, send it in a larger than necessary box. Machine tool parts and so forth of steel are actually significantly denser than bricks.
      - HeyLaughingBoy 17y ago
        It may have something to do with where the mailpiece originated. I get machine tools through the mail without any problem -- just got a 25lb vise two weeks ago, but it was sent from a clearly commercial address with the words "machine shop" in the title.
  - wglb 17y ago
    No chocolate for him.
ericb 17y ago
I did a similar experiment with good results in college--mailed an individually wrapped slice of American cheese to a buddy.
- psadauskas 17y ago
  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.
  - ja27 17y ago
    In college, Unilever mailed a bar of soap (in the normal bar-of-soap box) to every student on campus. The whole post office reeked of scented soap. Dozens wound up in fountains around campus. I can't smell that soap without being grossed out.
    - ergbvreg 17y ago
      Virgin mobile phones mailed one of those Love Heart candies to business as apart of a "we love our customers" campaign. Unfortunately they got crushed by the post - resulting in white powder filled envelopes being mailed to lots of US business in the middle of the anthrax scare.
jacquesm 17y ago
For an exercise in school we had to draw a postcard. Some of them looked pretty good so we decided to see what would happen if we used them. 100% success, all of them arrived stamped and on time. So, if you're ever out of stamps but you have an urgent envelope to mail... bring out those crayons, success guaranteed.
- socillion 17y ago
  Actually, just mail it with either no postage or one cent postage. It has a high probability of getting through, even if it's international mail. I did some experiments a few years ago, and of the 4-5 I sent every one of them got through. Crayons wouldn't help anyway, except for maybe fooling people. The postal service machine's actually only look at the envelopes for flourescence which is applied to the stamps. In reality, the stamp's design could be totally blank. However, if the package or letter is an odd size, humans must handle it because it would otherwise jam the machinery - the reason there are now charges for oddly shaped mail. So, if you're scamming the USPS, make it an envelope that will have to be processed by people. Maybe a 1/2 too wide or something like that. I'm not 100% about this, but I think the machinery spits out the envelope for a human to look at if there doesn't appear to be a flourescent stamp; else stamps from 50+ years ago would be invalid. One more interesting item: the USPS uses some pretty cool OCR to read the addresses on mail. As I recall it has a 98% accuracy, although I wouldn't be able to find the source.
budu3 17y ago
I like the way they went an extra mile to treated the employees with decency. Kudos. "We sought out as many of the USPS employees who had (involuntarily) been involved in the experiment as we could identify, and gave them each a small box of chocolate"
inaka 17y ago
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 make me miss those guys.
- davidw 17y ago
  In Italy, you can't sent a package without tying a &&(* string around it.
  - jodrellblank 17y ago
    Your comment triggered previously unsuspected knowledge of cartoon swearing, making me suspicious that your censoring is both too short and containing two ampersands next to each other, which just isn't on (apparently - who am I to argue with my subconscious?). On a closer look, one of your ampersands appears to be italicised, suggesting your original typing was two characters longer and more even, which would make it look more typical. HN's markup doesn't seem to have been designed with cryptoswearing in mind.
    - davidw 17y ago
      The great thing about "crypto swearing" is that it's a variable where the reader can insert a phrase he or she feels is appropriate for the phrase, without getting offended, or snickering at something not strong enough. For instance, in the above phrase, you could use anything from "dad burned", to "gosh darned" to "god damn motherfucking".
- ryanwaggoner 17y ago
  What's been your experience of living down there otherwise? Also, is Fedex or something similar an option?
  - deleted 17y ago
jcl 17y ago
Of course, this was all back in 2000. I imagine the tolerance of unusual objects in the mail has changed somewhat in the interim.
aberman 17y ago
Reed Hastings tried this experiment in 1997 with DVDs. It worked, and he founded Netflix.
wglb 17y ago
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.
- nostrademons 17y ago
  I've heard that someone once addressed a letter to: HILL JOHN MASS And it got there. See if you can figure out the intended recipient - it took me a good half hour. Spoilers at http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/bb_title/display.pperl?isbn=9780767903820&view=excerpt http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/bb_title/disp...
  - codyrobbins 17y ago
    I once mailed a postcard from Honolulu addressed only to Michaelangelo McKasty Albany, New York and it never arrived. I find it highly unlikely there is more than one Michaelangelo McKasty in Albany. I assume the USPS clerks in Albany are somewhat more disenchanted with their jobs than the ones in Andover, and just threw the postcard away.
    - wglb 17y ago
      Well, Andover has 31,000 and Albany has 94,000. The first is as a puzzle, the second one not so much. In my case, the town is much smaller, and pretty much everyone knew everyone.
    - akd 17y ago
      Or, they didn't appreciate you screwing with them when they're already agreeing to deliver your letter for just 44 cents and 3 lines of address.
- ars 17y ago
  You can put just the zip and the P.O. box number and it'll get there.
johnohara 17y ago
Article has 2000 copyright -- Powered by Wordpress. Has Wordpress been going strong 8 years, or more?
- jonknee 17y ago
  No, but people are able to upgrade their content management systems. The internet wasn't around in 1900, but you can read news articles from that period just fine on NYTimes.com.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
patio11 17y ago
I know how much the Japanese Post Office will put up with, because the US Social Security Administration can't handle a mail merge: "Patrick McKenzie $CITY, Japan" is deliverable.
ironsam 17y ago
Has anyone tried to forward their address? The few times I've done this I've had horrible luck. Complaints to managers gets you nowhere. Awesome system.
olliesaunders 17y ago
Page seems to be a 404 now. Any chance of a new link?
- olliesaunders 17y ago
  Hm, working again. :-)

127 points by splat 17y ago

There's always http://mailabrick.com http://mailabrick.com

"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; reasons given: transportation of helium, not wrapped."

matt1 17y ago
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. "
- diN0bot 17y ago
  interesting: "Wrapped brick. Wrapped in brown paper; posted in street corner box with same amount of postage as was strapped to unwrapped brick. Extreme weight for size made package seem suspicious. Notice of attempted delivery received, 16 days. Upon pickup at station, our mailing specialist received a plastic bag containing broken and pulverized remnants of brick. Inside was a small piece of paper with a number code on it. Our research indicates that this was some type of US Drug Enforcement Agency release slip. The clerk made our mailing specialist sign a form for receipt. "
  - billswift 17y ago
    The obvious moral is that if you're going to send anything heavy through the mail, send it in a larger than necessary box. Machine tool parts and so forth of steel are actually significantly denser than bricks.
    - HeyLaughingBoy 17y ago
      It may have something to do with where the mailpiece originated. I get machine tools through the mail without any problem -- just got a 25lb vise two weeks ago, but it was sent from a clearly commercial address with the words "machine shop" in the title.
- wglb 17y ago
  No chocolate for him.

ericb 17y ago

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

psadauskas 17y ago
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.
- ja27 17y ago
  In college, Unilever mailed a bar of soap (in the normal bar-of-soap box) to every student on campus. The whole post office reeked of scented soap. Dozens wound up in fountains around campus. I can't smell that soap without being grossed out.
  - ergbvreg 17y ago
    Virgin mobile phones mailed one of those Love Heart candies to business as apart of a "we love our customers" campaign. Unfortunately they got crushed by the post - resulting in white powder filled envelopes being mailed to lots of US business in the middle of the anthrax scare.

jacquesm 17y ago

For an exercise in school we had to draw a postcard. Some of them looked pretty good so we decided to see what would happen if we used them. 100% success, all of them arrived stamped and on time. So, if you're ever out of stamps but you have an urgent envelope to mail... bring out those crayons, success guaranteed.

socillion 17y ago
Actually, just mail it with either no postage or one cent postage. It has a high probability of getting through, even if it's international mail. I did some experiments a few years ago, and of the 4-5 I sent every one of them got through. Crayons wouldn't help anyway, except for maybe fooling people. The postal service machine's actually only look at the envelopes for flourescence which is applied to the stamps. In reality, the stamp's design could be totally blank. However, if the package or letter is an odd size, humans must handle it because it would otherwise jam the machinery - the reason there are now charges for oddly shaped mail. So, if you're scamming the USPS, make it an envelope that will have to be processed by people. Maybe a 1/2 too wide or something like that. I'm not 100% about this, but I think the machinery spits out the envelope for a human to look at if there doesn't appear to be a flourescent stamp; else stamps from 50+ years ago would be invalid. One more interesting item: the USPS uses some pretty cool OCR to read the addresses on mail. As I recall it has a 98% accuracy, although I wouldn't be able to find the source.

budu3 17y ago

I like the way they went an extra mile to treated the employees with decency. Kudos. "We sought out as many of the USPS employees who had (involuntarily) been involved in the experiment as we could identify, and gave them each a small box of chocolate"

inaka 17y ago

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 make me miss those guys.

davidw 17y ago
In Italy, you can't sent a package without tying a &&(* string around it.
- jodrellblank 17y ago
  Your comment triggered previously unsuspected knowledge of cartoon swearing, making me suspicious that your censoring is both too short and containing two ampersands next to each other, which just isn't on (apparently - who am I to argue with my subconscious?). On a closer look, one of your ampersands appears to be italicised, suggesting your original typing was two characters longer and more even, which would make it look more typical. HN's markup doesn't seem to have been designed with cryptoswearing in mind.
  - davidw 17y ago
    The great thing about "crypto swearing" is that it's a variable where the reader can insert a phrase he or she feels is appropriate for the phrase, without getting offended, or snickering at something not strong enough. For instance, in the above phrase, you could use anything from "dad burned", to "gosh darned" to "god damn motherfucking".
ryanwaggoner 17y ago
What's been your experience of living down there otherwise? Also, is Fedex or something similar an option?
- deleted 17y ago

jcl 17y ago

Of course, this was all back in 2000. I imagine the tolerance of unusual objects in the mail has changed somewhat in the interim.

aberman 17y ago

Reed Hastings tried this experiment in 1997 with DVDs. It worked, and he founded Netflix.

wglb 17y ago

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.

nostrademons 17y ago
I've heard that someone once addressed a letter to: HILL JOHN MASS And it got there. See if you can figure out the intended recipient - it took me a good half hour. Spoilers at http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/bb_title/display.pperl?isbn=9780767903820&view=excerpt http://www.randomhouse.com/features/billbryson/bb_title/disp...
- codyrobbins 17y ago
  I once mailed a postcard from Honolulu addressed only to Michaelangelo McKasty Albany, New York and it never arrived. I find it highly unlikely there is more than one Michaelangelo McKasty in Albany. I assume the USPS clerks in Albany are somewhat more disenchanted with their jobs than the ones in Andover, and just threw the postcard away.
  - wglb 17y ago
    Well, Andover has 31,000 and Albany has 94,000. The first is as a puzzle, the second one not so much. In my case, the town is much smaller, and pretty much everyone knew everyone.
  - akd 17y ago
    Or, they didn't appreciate you screwing with them when they're already agreeing to deliver your letter for just 44 cents and 3 lines of address.
ars 17y ago
You can put just the zip and the P.O. box number and it'll get there.

johnohara 17y ago

Article has 2000 copyright -- Powered by Wordpress. Has Wordpress been going strong 8 years, or more?

jonknee 17y ago
No, but people are able to upgrade their content management systems. The internet wasn't around in 1900, but you can read news articles from that period just fine on NYTimes.com.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

patio11 17y ago

I know how much the Japanese Post Office will put up with, because the US Social Security Administration can't handle a mail merge: "Patrick McKenzie $CITY, Japan" is deliverable.

ironsam 17y ago

Has anyone tried to forward their address? The few times I've done this I've had horrible luck. Complaints to managers gets you nowhere. Awesome system.

olliesaunders 17y ago

Page seems to be a 404 now. Any chance of a new link?

olliesaunders 17y ago
Hm, working again. :-)