I adopted a new soldier several months ago. I don’t know anything about him since I haven’t had any communication from him yet. It’s not uncommon for soldiers to not communicate, or to only communicate a few times, so I’m not really worried about it. It is a strange kind of thing to write to someone you know almost nothing about. Basically I know that this soldier is male, his name, rank (if he hasn’t been promoted), his mailing address and that he is in the Army, deployed somewhere in Iraq.
This is precious little information. Today I started to order him a t-shit and realized I don’t know his size. I also don’t know what kind of snacks he likes, if he has any allergies, is a health food nut, the kind of work he does, or if he is in southern Iraq or northern Iraq (the temps and weather conditions can really vary). Does he like country music or rap music? Is he 6’5” or 5’5”? Does he read westerns or sci-fi? Is he craving hot and spicy chips, or a moon pie? Does he need a set of sheets, or a sand scarf? Does he have access to a micro wave, or a freezer? These are all very helpful things to know when you are putting together a care package.
When organizing a care package there are some things you know are always welcome, like a brand new pair of socks, or something silly that will make them laugh. Over the years I have mailed blankets, pillows, books, movies, toys, games, puzzles, flash lights, bungee cords, duct tape, funnels, coloring books, crayons, markers, pens, paper, and even a set of horse shoes. I’ve also sent a lot of food and snacks: canned meat and soups, homemade cookies, cakes, soups, pickles and breads, tons of chips and candies, and mountains of jerky and gum.
I’ve also sent themed boxes for various holidays and other occasions, as well as the run of the mill boxes. I start with a military flat rate box and then stuffed to the gills with whatever I think a soldier might need or enjoy. I also try to include enough that they can share with buddies. The key to cramming the maximum amount into a care package is to take most things out of their original packaging. You also need to put liquid or goopy items like shampoo into zip lock bag just in case they burst open. I really like the vacuum sealed bags for large bulky items like blankets, sheets, and pillows. I can actually get all that into one box and still include bedtime story book.
As a Soldiers’ Angel member we always want to know how much a box weighs. My personal best is 17 lbs. Any angel you talk to can tell you their best.
I also like to decorate the boxes I send. We started doing this when my brothers were in the Navy. We wanted them to know how much we missed them. We also wanted them to be able to pick out their boxes right away. My youngest brother says he used to grab a forklift, put his box on the forks, then raise them all the way up and drive around showing his boxes off. He said was always became really popular at about that time. LOL
Building a box is really an involved activity. If you’re like me you have the post office deliver 25-50 flat rate boxes, with custom forms, to your house at a time so you don’t have to rely on the local post office having them. So, first you have to get all the stuff together. This could require you to do some shopping, cooking, knitting, sewing, or whatever. You will need to clean off your kitchen table to have room for everything, stack it all up on one end of the table. At the other end you will need to decorate, address and tape your box up. Then comes the packing, you need to distribute the weight, also try to cushion fragile items. Socks are great for this! Save really small and flat items for the last. Use the small items like gum and individually wrapped candies, lip balm, band-aids, to fill the gaps, and then lay the flat things like a letter, card, or magazine on the top. Then you have to tape it closed and start on the custom form. Of course if you are me, you will have to open the box at least twice to squeeze in something you forgot. Also if you are like me you will likely mess up the customs from on the very list thing and have to start all over again. They are such a pain!!!
Once all this is done you get to carry it down to the post office for mailing. This can be a hassle but I go to my local Hallmark shop, where there is a post office in the back. After I get through with my mailing I like to look around and I usually find something to put in the next box.
After all this work, there will come a day when you check your mailbox and see the thing that is most prized by all Soldiers Angels, a letter with “Free Mail” written where the stamp should be. This letter has been mailed from a combat zone. You are so excited you can’t wait to get to the house to read it, you tear it open on the spot and start to read what your soldier has written to you. You read it at least three times before you tack it your bulletin board with all your other Free Mail, then you get online and tell all your Angel friends that you just received Free Mail!!
NOTE: To learn more about adopting a deployed soldier visit www.soldiersangels.org
Showing posts with label mail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mail. Show all posts
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Post Office pains
Holy crap, Bat Fans, what day is it!? Where has this week gone? I’ve spent a good portion of it in Mail Hell, working on an extremely complicated mailing at work. Thank God someone was paying me to figure it out and get it done, because if not that thing would still be laying around.
What is it with the Post Office? No wonder they’re running out of money. They have not made an effort to bring their processes up-to-date with current technology, or only marginally so. For instance, when I mail a package to my soldier, I send it military priority mail (good price) but it involves filling out a long customs form by hand. There are 5 carbine copies so you have to make sure you write firmly enough to go through, or the clerk will make you rewrite it at the post office. At which point you lose your place in line or everyone behind you stares daggers at you.
It’s true that you can fill our the form on the computer, but you must then print 5 pages to make up for all the carbons. Imagine if you are mailing just three boxes, that’s 15 sheets of paper. Also, because it’s going outside the country you have to physically take it to the post office to mail it. What’s that about? I thought we were concerned with dangerous items coming in, not going out.
For a certified letter, which is what I have been sending my time on for the past two day, you have to address the envelope, address the tear off sheet, address the return card twice, transfer a sticker from the tear off sheet to the return card, and check at least one box. Oh yeah, and for all your hard work you will pay over $5 to mail it. How crazy is that? On top all this, I also had to include a mail merged letter, site specific map, project flyer, two pamphlets and a self-addressed postage paid envelop. I’m telling you the diagram on the instruction would have look like one those drawing where it takes a thousand senseless steps to get for point A to point B. I was trapped in a Rube Goldberg drawing!
I had to go to the post office to pick some more certified letter materials. I asked for a set of 100, they only had 150 sets so all they would give me was 10 sets. They needed to save some in case other customers needed them. What’s the deal with that? Isn’t the point in printing them to get them used? It’s not like I wasn’t going to use them, I really needed them! It wasn’t like I was trying to horde them so other people couldn’t get any. What if no one else came in for certified mailing materials, they miss the opportunity to have them go to a good home. And really if I need a 100 than 10 just isn’t going to do it. For a moment I had flash back to my times with Sprint Customer Service. (As vile an organization that ever existed and the ultimate oxymoron.)
I used to have to do bulk mailings at another job, and let me tell you there are a thousand ways to get those wrong, and a lot of it depends on who is manning the counter when you take it in. I used to cruise the parking lot peeking into the windows to see if it was even worth going in. One clerk in particular you just couldn’t please! She would always have you at one of the tables making changes, or send you away completely. Who your clerk is, is a big factor in determining how successful and painful your visit is. The truth is you’re not getting out of the Post Office without some pain involved. It’s a wonder that its only been postal worker shooting up the place.
What is it with the Post Office? No wonder they’re running out of money. They have not made an effort to bring their processes up-to-date with current technology, or only marginally so. For instance, when I mail a package to my soldier, I send it military priority mail (good price) but it involves filling out a long customs form by hand. There are 5 carbine copies so you have to make sure you write firmly enough to go through, or the clerk will make you rewrite it at the post office. At which point you lose your place in line or everyone behind you stares daggers at you.
It’s true that you can fill our the form on the computer, but you must then print 5 pages to make up for all the carbons. Imagine if you are mailing just three boxes, that’s 15 sheets of paper. Also, because it’s going outside the country you have to physically take it to the post office to mail it. What’s that about? I thought we were concerned with dangerous items coming in, not going out.
For a certified letter, which is what I have been sending my time on for the past two day, you have to address the envelope, address the tear off sheet, address the return card twice, transfer a sticker from the tear off sheet to the return card, and check at least one box. Oh yeah, and for all your hard work you will pay over $5 to mail it. How crazy is that? On top all this, I also had to include a mail merged letter, site specific map, project flyer, two pamphlets and a self-addressed postage paid envelop. I’m telling you the diagram on the instruction would have look like one those drawing where it takes a thousand senseless steps to get for point A to point B. I was trapped in a Rube Goldberg drawing!
I had to go to the post office to pick some more certified letter materials. I asked for a set of 100, they only had 150 sets so all they would give me was 10 sets. They needed to save some in case other customers needed them. What’s the deal with that? Isn’t the point in printing them to get them used? It’s not like I wasn’t going to use them, I really needed them! It wasn’t like I was trying to horde them so other people couldn’t get any. What if no one else came in for certified mailing materials, they miss the opportunity to have them go to a good home. And really if I need a 100 than 10 just isn’t going to do it. For a moment I had flash back to my times with Sprint Customer Service. (As vile an organization that ever existed and the ultimate oxymoron.)
I used to have to do bulk mailings at another job, and let me tell you there are a thousand ways to get those wrong, and a lot of it depends on who is manning the counter when you take it in. I used to cruise the parking lot peeking into the windows to see if it was even worth going in. One clerk in particular you just couldn’t please! She would always have you at one of the tables making changes, or send you away completely. Who your clerk is, is a big factor in determining how successful and painful your visit is. The truth is you’re not getting out of the Post Office without some pain involved. It’s a wonder that its only been postal worker shooting up the place.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Mail attack!!
Help, I’m being attached by unwanted mail!!
When I opened my work email this morning I had over a 100 new messages. I have over 70 in my personal email account and 7 in the neighborhood account. About a quarter to a third of it was junk. I mean really, who opens an email titled, “make more pleasure for your loving one”? I really have no interest in making my body parts larger; they’re all large enough thank you very much.
At home it is just a bad with the regular mail. I don’t need anymore insurance, storm windows or satellite TV. I don’t need or want another credit card, and I really, really, really don’t want another piece of mail offering me one. I don’t care what the rate is, or what bank it comes from. Unless it’s completely free money, get out of my mailbox!
I’m sick of being a target for mass mailing!! I’m also sick of being the target of targeted mailing I haven’t specifically asked for. I read the other day where the post office is running out of money. We should change the mailing policies so that there is no bulk rate; it all has to go first class. In addition, any piece of mail unwanted by the recipient can be returned at the expense of the sender. The post office make money both ways and I get the satisfaction of returning all that mail to the sender and have them recycle it. Now if I could just figure out something as sensible for email.
When I opened my work email this morning I had over a 100 new messages. I have over 70 in my personal email account and 7 in the neighborhood account. About a quarter to a third of it was junk. I mean really, who opens an email titled, “make more pleasure for your loving one”? I really have no interest in making my body parts larger; they’re all large enough thank you very much.
At home it is just a bad with the regular mail. I don’t need anymore insurance, storm windows or satellite TV. I don’t need or want another credit card, and I really, really, really don’t want another piece of mail offering me one. I don’t care what the rate is, or what bank it comes from. Unless it’s completely free money, get out of my mailbox!
I’m sick of being a target for mass mailing!! I’m also sick of being the target of targeted mailing I haven’t specifically asked for. I read the other day where the post office is running out of money. We should change the mailing policies so that there is no bulk rate; it all has to go first class. In addition, any piece of mail unwanted by the recipient can be returned at the expense of the sender. The post office make money both ways and I get the satisfaction of returning all that mail to the sender and have them recycle it. Now if I could just figure out something as sensible for email.
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