Postage
It wasn’t till I started handing over packages and toting up the damages that the impact of the new postal rates really hit me.
After all – what I was mailing was neither bulky nor heavy. Yarn and wool are not heavy, neither are DvDs. Since I already had the cases for the two DvDs going out (one to Florida with pictures from the Grandeur in Nov and one to Washington State with pictures from the Star from last August) they turned out to be really inexpensive, barely more than a first class letter.
I will give you a hint here – the flat rate boxes and envelopes are a bargain only if what you are mailing is heavy. Otherwise it is cheaper to purchase a $1.99 box, toss in a shawl (Texas) or close to a dozen balls of yarn (Florida) and send it on its way. You still are several dollars under the fixed price.
Then there was the small envelop going to Maryland and the package off to Calgary. At the end of the time, I have only a CD of medical records for Ms Soprano in Chicago and some goodies for a friend in NJ to mail. The catch for the first is that I have to make a copy of the records just in case the CD goes astray. In the case of the second, I really really need Ruth’s address in order to send off the package.
Of course, if I was on Facebook – I could just ask her there. But then I would have to deal with all the rest of the c**p that goes with that particular social media. I don’t want to be found by people from high school: they weren’t my friends in the mid 60s – why would they be my friends now? Since I don’t have a particularly difficult public email on either google or yahoo – if someone wants to find me they can.
Meanwhile, I will just find my knitting and see if I can get a couple of projects completed.
Yeah, postage is expensive, but, driving it there is worse, and it does still go everywhere (which Fedex doesn’t) and which was really important to me when I had parents living in the boonies!
I hope you only made a copy of the CD, and not each record (like printing on paper). Smile! And, hey, here in the USA it’s easier, cheaper and more reliable to use FedEx or UPS with their pre-sized flat envelopes or small boxes. But the APO is still best way to mail from Europe. Happy weekend!!