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Post by christyotwisty on Mar 17, 2020 1:05:46 GMT
I am having a rough time applying adhesive stamps on my envelopes while wearing plastic gloves.
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Post by Gary S on Mar 17, 2020 3:13:58 GMT
I am having a rough time applying adhesive stamps on my envelopes while wearing plastic gloves. Put some light cotton ones over the rubber ones. Still will be a mess but tape/adhesive doesn't stick as easily to the cotton ones. I've tried to cut back on adhesive tape lately just so others don't get as scared when it arrives.
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Post by radellaf on Mar 19, 2020 16:57:50 GMT
I may have to temporarily reduce the amount of tape I apply to my postcard/letter mash-ups or put a virus expiration .... I just opened one you sealed on the 13th Wednesday night. I think that's more than sufficient for anything _you_ applied to the tape. So now the question is whether to taste the 20c american flag stamp that came off with the tape. Doubt there's any drugs in it, so probably not. Best to leave the paper eating to the maltipoo (who is white, likes to jump up in my lap, but has somehow avoided ever getting ink-stained).
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Post by Gary S on Mar 19, 2020 18:35:50 GMT
So now the question is whether to taste the 20c american flag stamp that came off with the tape. Don't do it my friend. I'm pretty certain there's no coronavirus germs on there but I can guarantee I had an upper respiratory infection when it was applied. I just honestly don't recall whether I practiced lick-n-stick or glue-n-stick on your particular letter/postcard mash-up
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Post by radellaf on Mar 19, 2020 18:43:35 GMT
I think I can resist. BTW, that's an amazing about of text to fit "on" a postcard. I used to write about the size of your printed font, but between reading glasses and wider nibs, those days are over.
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Post by Gary S on Mar 19, 2020 19:19:41 GMT
I actually get more words per page, even at that reduced page width, than I do on a normal sized page with size 11 font and regular 1 inch margins. I was curious myself so checked some time back. The "tiny letter" is just a novelty as far as looks as it contains more info than a normal sized letter of the same length.
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Post by Catida on Jun 12, 2020 18:22:46 GMT
What are your latest experiences about mail delays?Meanwhile in Finland: I have a couple letters I've sent to USA 6 weeks ago, and they still haven't reached their recipients I've tried sending as priority mail too, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Latest thing I sent took 3 weeks to travel to the US, one before that took 7 weeks. I haven't received anything from the States in a few weeks now, although I know some people have sent mail to me. No delay inside Europe. My letters to/from UK and Germany have been at the destination in 3-5 days, which felt shockingly fast after getting used to waiting No postal connection available to Canada, Australia and many other non-European countries ever since the crisis started.
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Post by Mia on Jun 12, 2020 20:24:24 GMT
I think some things are going by sea. However, within Europe, doesn't seem to be much difference. Received on same day, same date postmark, a letter from Scotland, and one from Berlin/Germany. Patience is definitely a virtue. Almost 8 weeks for one letter from the US to the UK earlier, but mail is getting through faster as routes re-establish. It has been a while since I checked www.postcrossing.com/postal-monitor
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Post by Mia on Jun 12, 2020 20:27:53 GMT
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Post by ginny on Jun 12, 2020 21:51:43 GMT
What are your latest experiences about mail delays?Meanwhile in Finland: I have a couple letters I've sent to USA 6 weeks ago, and they still haven't reached their recipients I've tried sending as priority mail too, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Latest thing I sent took 3 weeks to travel to the US, one before that took 7 weeks. I haven't received anything from the States in a few weeks now, although I know some people have sent mail to me. No delay inside Europe. My letters to/from UK and Germany have been at the destination in 3-5 days, which felt shockingly fast after getting used to waiting No postal connection available to Canada, Australia and many other non-European countries ever since the crisis started. ***** My experiences are similar. European mail service seems unaffected. Overseas mail is a different story - I seem to get the odd letter from overseas these days, and usually those letters have been travelling for several weeks. As I said in another thread, the 'highlight' was a letter from New Zealand the other day that took five months to reach me. I haven't sent out any overseas mail in a while now because I know there are horrible delays I hope things will get back to normal rather sooner than later.
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Post by Catida on Jun 13, 2020 7:12:51 GMT
My experiences are similar. European mail service seems unaffected. Overseas mail is a different story - I seem to get the odd letter from overseas these days, and usually those letters have been travelling for several weeks. As I said in another thread, the 'highlight' was a letter from New Zealand the other day that took five months to reach me. I haven't sent out any overseas mail in a while now because I know there are horrible delays I hope things will get back to normal rather sooner than later. A person from New Zealand told on her swapping profile that mail from there is currently only carried by ships. So that's why carrying times are months instead of weeks.
I have a Canadian pen friend, and since there's no news about when the postal connection might recover, I decided to take photos of my letter and send it by e-mail. I will send the actual letter whenever it's possible again.
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Post by Catida on Jun 13, 2020 10:19:06 GMT
Update: A letter I sent as priority mail just got through to an US address in 2 weeks! So maybe it does make a difference, at least once in a while.
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Post by penguy on Jun 22, 2020 18:46:45 GMT
A pen friend sent me an article, by mail, and I looked it up and found the link. here is the link: www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/andy-smarick/letters-in-the-time-of-covid/ It isn't about the effects of cover 19 on mail delivery but the title is Letters in the Time of Covid by Andy Smarick. I thought the group might find it interesting, don't think I've seen it here before. Hmm, when I looked at the link after posting I got a blurred image. I don't know what the rest of you will see. I had just put Letters in the time of Covid by andy Smarick in my browser and I could read it without any problem.
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Post by michelleg on Jul 16, 2020 20:09:22 GMT
New article about the US Postal Service - and the news is little concerning: www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/14/postal-service-trump-dejoy-delay-mail/Key quote: "The new head of the U.S. Postal Service established major operational changes Monday that could slow down mail delivery, warning employees the agency would not survive unless it made “difficult” changes to cut costs. But critics say such a philosophical sea change would sacrifice operational efficiency and cede its competitive edge to UPS, FedEx and other private-sector rivals. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told employees to leave mail behind at distribution centers if it delayed letter carriers from their routes, according to internal USPS documents obtained by The Washington Post and verified by the American Postal Workers Union and three people with knowledge of their contents, but who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution. “If the plants run late, they will keep the mail for the next day,” according to a document titled, “New PMG’s [Postmaster General’s] expectations and plan.” Traditionally, postal workers are trained not to leave letters behind and to make multiple delivery trips to ensure timely distribution of letters and parcels."
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Post by PhotoJim on Jul 16, 2020 22:20:20 GMT
The USPS isn't allowed to set its own rates. Thus, if Congress won't allow it to increase rates, it really has no choice but to cut on service to make ends meet.
Here in Canada, Canada Post is independent enough of government that it can set its own rates if it is losing money. Over the years it's created a compromise where it's dialed back delivery standards on standard mail and gotten rid of Saturday delivery in order to make rate increases more moderate.
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