USPS: “PLEASE DO NOT BEND”
So…I call this area of my site “Media Timeout” and today — I’m actually going to take a timeout so I can complain to one of the officials of today’s game — the United States Postal Service. This is one of those times where I think Coach Knight would burn a timeout, rather than let the team play through it, and proceed to use the time wisely to kindly converse with the ref. April Fools’ Day!
As you can imagine, many collectors like myself find items to add to their collection from online places like ebay and have them shipped directly to their home. I had recently bought a Sports Illustrated magazine that was missing from my collection and was eagerly awaiting its arrival in the mail today. It wasn’t anything of significant value, but it was a clean copy without a mailing label or residue, which aren’t always easy to find. Of course, individual magazines are typically sent via First Class or Media Mail because it’s often cost prohibitive otherwise to send them in any other fasion. This magazine was sent FC.
This is where I’m getting in the face of the zebra. It’s like my team was on defense and one of my guys just took a charge outside of the restricted arc, standing there all day like a mailbox, but was called a block.
Today, my mail carrier decided to take the mailing envelope, around 13” x 10” in size, containing a magazine wedged between two pieces of rigid cardboard, and fold it up like a slice of New York pizza so they could cram it in my mailbox. And naturally…the condition of the magazine was ruined. I literally hate seeing crap like this happen — to something someone had taken care of for over 40 years, in this case, ruined in a matter of a few seconds. Insurance or not, it sucks.
Sadly, I’ve dealt with this on more than one occasion with the post office. In one of my conversations with them, I was told by a postmaster that it’s standard procedure to put ALL first class mail in the mailbox unless it’s labeled on the outside as “DO NOT BEND” — or something to that effect. Some of the things they’ve been careless with and damaged have been rare items that might take several years…or never…to show up again.
I know a bazillion pieces of mail are delivered every single day. Still, here’s where I implore our post office to exercise some damn common sense. I’ll gladly wait an extra day or more if that’s what it takes to deliver it properly. For the amount of time it took to bend that rigid cardboard and stuff it in the mailbox, could you not have taken 10 extra seconds to walk it up to my front porch and leave it there? If someone shipped something rigid like that, don’t you think they did that to keep something from being folded in the first place?Had it crossed your mind that it might be Fraj-e-lay? C’mon, T me up, man!
In the spirit of preservation of all Hoosier memorabilia, a word of advice to my fellow collectors…I typically make a point to do this, but neglected to follow my own advice by adding a note to the seller when I made my recent purchase. Perhaps shame on me…but I think not. If you have any concerns whatsoever, whether it’s a magazine, photograph, program, ticket stub, ask your seller to (1) ship the item secured between something rigid and (2) clearly mark or affix a label on the outside instructing “DO NOT BEND”. Also, might be a good idea to see if your local post office will apply any special instructions to your mailbox. Mine did that for me — while not foolproof, as my story illustrates, I still think it has helped some.