Tag USPS

End of Summer Spring Cleaning

Michael 11 Comments

Perhaps it’s because it is the end of summer and I am naturally doing some brain cleaning (I always empty my brain as the seasons change) (don’t you) but even though I recently de-cluttered, I still have more random thoughts I need to clear out. Maybe even more randomer than usual.

Last week was a busy few days for my mail carrier. Every day (Sunday and holiday excluded) he brought me nearly a handful of solicitations for credit cards and personal loans. Here’s what I think happened. The week before I had made a fairly large purchase and was offered a same as cash for a year deal if I opened an account with that store. I could have paid cash but I more likely would have used a credit card and stretched it out over a few months anyway, so why not use their money and save the interest. Now I think that turned on some switch and all the algorithms got together and said “Hey! We got a live one over here! Let’s get him now while he’s in a spending mood!” For as much as I detest spam email and unwanted phone solicitations, regular old junk mail doesn’t bother me. For one thing, it gives the post office some income, and I’m going to recycle it so it’s not like that paper is wasted. But what is annoying me are all the envelops that come with the little windows and you can see “to the order of” and then your name through them, yet when you open it and unfold the letter it tells you “This is NOT a check.” Well then, stop telling it to do something to my order, like I don’t know, maybe pay. Sounds like a clear-cut case of liar, liar pants on fire to me!

This reminds me of something you may not know about your letter carrier. The National Association of Letter Carriers sponsors a program to keep an eye on older Americans through the USPS Carrier Alert Program. The carrier places a placard in the mailbox to alert all carriers to watch for signs of distress such as accumulating mail. If they notice anything unusual they will try to connect with the resident or notify local social service agencies of their concern. Interested parties can inquire if the program is available in their area by asking at or calling the local post office.

Did you see in the news last week that Nany Pelosi is planning on running for office again. She’s 84! Did you see in the news last week that Mitch McConnel hosted another episode of the Twilight Zone. He’s 81. Let’s not even talk about the guys who want to be President. Don’t these people ever retire. Have they no hobbies to occupy their remaining minds, no friends to meet at McDonalds for coffee? And it’s not just the politicians. Harrison Form is out exploring at 81! Eric Clapton just began a new world tour at 78! The Rolling Stones just released a new studio album. The band is 61 years old. Mick Jagger started with the band when he was 19 and he is still performing. I’ll do the math for you. (Hmm, I have a calculator somewhere nearby.) Let’s see… 61+19 = EIGHTY FREAKING YEARS OLD! Maybe he’d like to run for Senate over here. We could use some young blood. I’m 67 and I’ve been retired for 5 years. Sort of. I admit I still work a day or two a week, but my pension is being handled by the firm of Dewey, Cheatham & Howe and to be honest, I like eating. I’ll like eating at 81 too. But I’ll want a few days off to enjoy dinner for gosh sakes!

Speaking of old people, I saw an article from NBC News stating seniors were the victims of internet scams in 2022 to the tune of $3.1 billion dollars. That’s almost the net worth of the average US Senator. Somebody please tell me the collective members of both houses of Congress are actually doing something besides trying to get re-elected. Yeah. I didn’t think so either.

My daughter has a dog. He’s a cute dog. Around here people are so used to seeing him that not many IMG_7850people make a fuss over him. He was recently on vacation (just him, but the humans went along to carry his food and toys), and when they returned she told me everybody was fussing over him and he just ate up all the extra attention. He’s cute and all that, but to be the center of attention for a week in places where people generally went to soak up sights, see magnificent architecture, swim in the ocean – that’s where he was high point of perfect strangers’ days. And I get it. It’s his coloring. If you put a gold car in the middle of a show room of black and gray cars, they could be BMWs and Mercedes and people will still be drawn to the different one, the gold one, even if it is a 40 year old Pinto.

Okay, my brain feels lighter now. Thank you for your help!

There is no reason the world must be black or white. We come up with some good reasons to embrace the many shades of gray in life and take the first step in creating a more colorful world in the most recent Uplift! Take a look!!

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Dear Santa

Michael 6 Comments

I was asking just last week, do kids still write letters to Santa Claus? For many children, the Letter to Santa was their first exposure to letter writing and a sneaking way for parents to teach their children the etiquette of personal correspondence. But now in this time of text messages, emails, and social media direct messaging, are the parents even aware of letter writing and getting that all so important wish list to the big guy at the North Pole?

Fast forward a few days to just last weekend and I uncovered some answers to some of those questions. Yes indeed, children still write letters to Santa, and the United States Postal Service is there to help. Who better than the USPS to promote letter writing, even if just to Santa? And they do it in an intriguingly organized program that nearly everyone can join, Operation Santa.

In 1912 (that’s 110 years ago!), Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock created Santa’s first mailroom and officially authorized local postmasters to open up letters sent to Santa, and when possible, to answer the children. Sometime in the 1940s the program was open to the public and the current program was born. Operation Santa has four “steps.” Children write and mail letters to Santa (if they, or their parents, need help with that, the USPS even has letter templates available on line), volunteer letter “adopters” read the letters and as much as they can fill the children’s wishes, they buy, wrap, and ship the presents, and the kids get a surprise under the Christmas  tree. 

There is more to the program than that simple outline but not much. Letters have to go to an official Santa address (123 Elf Rd., North Pole 88888). People who are interested in adopting letters must be vetted by the USPS. Only US residents can send and adopt letters.

I tried to find out how many children have had Christmas wishes granted through this program or how many individuals and teams have adopted letters but couldn’t dig those figures up. That might be proof that the USPS is serious about their commitment to keep personal identifying information of letter writers and adopters secure. I also tried to find out why I never heard about this before. You readers know better than anybody how arcane some of the information I share is, yet this didn’t even make it to my radar screen.  If you’re as intrigue by Operation Santa as I am, you can find all the information you could even ever want, or at least enough to join up, at the official Operation Santa website.  

Merry letter writing to all, and to all a good present!

On a related note, December 7 was National Letter Writing Day. In a day of quick text messages and emails, letter writing sets you free to pour your thoughts out completely, taking part in an activity so special you may call it noteworthy. Naturally we at ROAMcare had some ideas about letter writing in general. Read our letter to letter writers everywhere here.

📷 USPS Operation Santa

 

Join the Club

Michael Leave a comment

Last week was special for me. I got mail, real USPS delivered mail that wasn’t addressed to “occupant,” wasn’t a bill, and didn’t include a detailed accounting of all medical procedures from the previous month. Oh, and it wasn’t a Christmas card either although we’re getting to that time when all the businesses I deal with send their cards out. After those come the cards from real people. But I digress. But that’s not unusual.

So, back to my tale, the mail came and therein was an envelope and within was a check. Not a bill. A check! Somebody was giving me money! It wasn’t a lot but it was mine. Coming to me. Income, not outlay. I felt so special. I practically beamed!

Now to be perfectly honest, this wasn’t anything unheard of. It happened before. In fact, it usually happens about once a year. The check in question was a disbursement from my insurance company. (Home and auto, not health or life. Those guys never give anything back. Well, technically life insurance does, but it’s usually too late to be much use.) Usually around this time each year I get a little check from the insurance company that reflects something they saved because they had fewer claims than they expected or some such thing. I don’t understand. I just spend. It’s like a Christmas Club.

ChristmasBankAh ha! Now we get to the heart of this post. Christmas Clubs. Do they even still exist. Those of you under 40 may have to find an even older adult to explain Christmas Clubs, right along with Broken Records. To be fair to the financial institutions of America, most credit unions still offer Christmas Clubs although Vacation Clubs are by far more popular. But neither have the favor they did before the credit card explosion of the early 1970s.

So when I opened the mail that day last week and pulled out that little check, my first thought was, “Wow, just like a Christmas Club.” My second thought was, “Wow, just like a Christmas Club.” My third thought was, “Okay, now you’re sounding like a broken record.”

And then I went out and spent.

 

 

Second Class, All The Way

Michael 1 Comment

It was during the first week of November this year.  That’s when He’s mailbox saw its first Christmas card.  Just like other years it was from a fund-raising organization.  And just like other years it was indeed a real Christmas card.  Unlike other years it came seven weeks before Christmas – impressively early even by fundraiser standards.

We like Christmas cards here.  They’ve been bought and counted and soon will be signed.  Most will get a hand written note scrawled inside it.  They will be addressed and stamped and put out for the mailperson.  Not as many as in years past but all to the best of recipients.  The most deserving.  The crème de la crème. But none of that just yet.  Not until sometime after Thanksgiving, probably a couple of weeks into December.  Even at Christmas mail only takes a couple or three days to get just about anywhere.  That’s real First Class service.

And that reminds us…back in the day when our parents were sending out Christmas cards there was Second Class mail in the US.  What ever happened to it?   Way back then one could send a card or letter by second class mail.  It seemed the only requirement was that the correspondence could not be sealed.  In exchange for the risk of just about anybody reading your mail (not unlike a postcard), postage was a penny less than First Class mail.  That was when First Class mail was something like six cents.  Today’s USPS rate sheet doesn’t even include the words Second Class but there is something called First Class for Businesses that’s cheaper than retail (read “real people”) Frist Class at 38 cents versus 49 cents.  Hmmm.  We wonder.

Somewhere along the way the post office lost its way a bit.  They’ve lost their share of mail also but that’s not the point here.  It seems to us that whether its 49 cents or 38 cents or $5.75 (that’s for Priority Mail), it’s still a deal to get a letter to any address in the country.  The other guys charge at least $13.50 for two day service and they lose packages also.  Back to the post office, it has lost its way a bit.  Between some late deliveries and salary issues, and whether to deliver or not deliver on Saturday and the general ineptitude that comes from any government agency (they say they aren’t but they really are), some people are losing faith in the service.  But every year around this time more people are planning on counting on the USPS to send their Christmas greetings to the masses.  Not by e-mail, not by text, and certainly not at $13.50 a piece.  Nope, those cards and letters are going by the old stand-by, the post office.

Most of them will go out sometime after Thanksgiving, probably a couple of weeks into December.  With their flaps seals shut.  First Class.  All the way.

Now that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you.

 

Neither snow, nor rain, nor Congress, nor a Polar Vortex, etc., etc.

Michael 1 Comment

It was cold here earlier this week.  No surprise for most of America since it was cold just about everywhere.  Tuesday we hit air temps of 9 to 10 degrees below zero with wind chills around 30 below.  We still got our mail.  He is on a driving route with his mailbox sitting at the street.  But She has her mailed walked to her door by a letter carrier who still marches up and down the street.  It’s not like they were responding to heart attacks or putting out fires.  They were delivering bills and junk mail but were still out there.

Oddly, we were talking about the postal service just a week earlier.  Seems the USPS finally got someone to approve, albeit temporarily and to expire in 2016, their request for a rate hike.  This had been a discussion in the media and in offices in late December when it was approved.  Most of that discussion started with, “Can you believe it? Stamps are going up again!”  Every once in a while Reality finally hold of the reins and pulled that Pony Express carriage to the side of the road.  (Yes we know the Pony Express was an independent hauler and not part of the USPS, not unlike UPS or FedEx today.  We’ll get that in a little while.)  Our typical response was, “But when was the last time you mailed anything other than a Christmas card?”

Here’s the Reality.  That rate hike is going to s 49 cents to pick up a letter, a payment, a birthday card, a get well greeting, Groundhog Day party invitations or whatever you can fit into a 5 to 11-1/2 inches long by 3-1/2 to 6 inches high envelope weighing up to an ounce and deliver it directly to somebody s house anywhere in the United States.  s a deal.

Reality Part 2.  She of We had a package to be delivered some 5 states away, a little over 900 miles.   This was during the rushed, shortened Christmas season of 2013.  That was the one where some people might still be waiting to get their presents delivered.  She mailed her package from the post office for the grand sum of $8.00 on the Saturday before Christmas (December  21) and it got there on Christmas Eve.

Reality Part 3.  Even though the United States Postal Service is a “non-government agency” and receives no tax money, it can only raise rates, change service levels (such as not delivering on Saturdays), or make available certain goods and services (like flat rate shipping) with the approval of Congress.  Congressmen and Senators not being able to explain to their constituents exactly what it is that they do can always make a few extra points with the voters by telling them they kept stamp prices down and everyone will continue to get to get junk mail and bills on Saturdays.  This is like McDonald’s going to Congress to seek approval for a price increase on a Happy Meal.

So is anybody happy about the 3 cent increase in first class postage?  Sure, everybody who hasn’t had his or her identity stolen while trying to pay bills on line, everybody who got their Christmas gifts delivered on time for Christmas, and everyone who actually sent thank you cards for their on-time Christmas gifts know that 49 cents just isn’t that much money to stay whole, to stay happy, or to stay in touch.

We say fool them all and start writing a letter or two!  And don’t forget those Groundhog Day party invitations.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?

Did you know?  We’ve added a search feature to the Real Reality Show Blog.  Find it in the right margin, type in a word or two and the system will return all the blogs that have that word.  For example, type in “toast” to find one of our favorites, “How Would You Like Your Toast?”  Happy searching!