sue the postal service

[Wimblees]

In a message dated 98-05-15 10:12:12 EDT, you write:

>On Monday I told the lady how to install a snap on plastic elbow I would
>send her in the mail.  I showed her in great detail how to do it and I told
>her when she got it I would guide her through it while on the phone with
>me.  I scotch taped 1 plastic elbow on the back of one of my bus. card with
>2 pieces of tape.  I carefully printed on the front,"PLEASE HAND CANCEL" of
>the envelope.
>Today she calls me and says she got the envelope, bus card with tape
>attached, no elbow and the envelope looked like it was run over by a truck.
>These are the things that drive you crazy about the government employees
>and government in general.
>James Grebe



Sorry, Jim, but don't blame the whole government, much less the postal service
for something that is not their fault.

First of all, I wouldn't encourage a customer to to install their own elbows.
That is how we make our money. If she wants to do this so bad, have her come
to your house, or shop, and have her pick them up, and pay for them. 

Second, envelopes are made to carry papers. Even though you might print, in
big letters, "HAND STAMP ONLY", envelopes go through a lot more machines then
just the canceling processes. The people at the post office probably have the
same opinion of you, as you have of them. The envelope with the elbows
probably stopped the line, and disrupted the efficiency in which the postal
service delivers the mail. 

(As much as we complain about our postal service, considering the amount of
mail that is processed each day, it is amazing we can send a letter accross
town in one day, and accross the country in 2 days, and for only 32 cents. And
if you think our mail service is bad, just ask some people in other countries
what they think of their postal service.) 

Anything hard should be packed in a box. If this means going to the post
office, standing in line, and paying extra for sending a box, then that's your
responsibility of being in business. And the cost of that postage, the box,
and your time to pack it, go to the post office, and standing line, shoud be
passed on to the customer. 

Wim.