[Boatanchors] Shipping to Hawaii

Sun Oct 4 00:01:00 EDT 2009

Michael,

I have had so many postal shipping rate dealings, cost based on zip code 
management rulings, discussions, educational discourses and covert Vs overt 
definition debates over the past three months that I am almost starting to 
feel right at home when I enter the branch office front door and there is a 
mass exodus out the rear doors!

Unfortunately, for whatever the reasons may be, most postal employees are 
not familiar with most of the postal rules etc. I had the branch manager 
tell me that the SSA checks would not be mailed on October 2nd, since the 
normal delivery date of the third day of the month fell on a Saturday, only 
to have it delivered on the first of October! One would think that the 
branch manager would know what day his office was to send out the SSA and 
SSA disability checks. It was even printed on the SSA envelope to deliver 
two days after X date! And I thought I was totally blind!

Michael is correct. Not only do the fifty states come under the same postal 
rates, so do the United States territories, such as Puerto Rico, USA Virgin 
Islands, Guam etc. In case you did not know, there are also the British 
Virgin Islands, so having "USA" in front is important.

For what it is worth: Canada and Mexico also have the same rates for both 
countries!

I even got one letter returned to me because the postal systems digital 
postal rate scales indicated that my letter was one tenth of an ounce over 
the limit. So back it came!

Now is it cost efficient to return a letter to collect because it was one 
tenth of an ounce too heavy, so it rounded up to the next ounce? Oddly 
enough they do not refund money when the weight of the letter is one tenth 
of an ounce below the digital 'due' line!

I also ran into problems now because the thickness of a regular letter or 
business size envelope may not be a quarter of an inch thick. If it is, add 
eighty cents!

This is also true if your envelope is considered as a "solid" item. Such as 
a CD or heavy cardboard to prevent a photo from being bent. If it feels 
solid to them, add eighty cents!

If you think our postal system sucks like an old Hoover with a new belt, 
lube job and some electrical conductive graphite impregnated with powdered 
Silver dust in the power cord, just imagine how it was before our first 
Postmaster General, the incredible Benjamin Franklin, created it! Actual 
fact, you could get a letter from Philadelphia, PA to New York City in "ONE" 
day! As one head postal official commented, our postal system can't do that 
two hundred and twenty some years later! She probably got fired the next day 
...

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Tauson" <wh7hg.hi at gmail.com>
To: <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>; <boatanchors at lists.tempe.gov>; 
<boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>; <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, October 03, 2009 8:31 PM
Subject: [Boatanchors] Shipping to Hawaii

> Once more into the breach ...
>
> Apparently there are some misconceptions among mainlanders about
> shipping things to Hawaii so I'm going to clear up a few items.
>
> First off, Hawaii is a state.  Some here don't particularly like that,
> but it's a fact none the less.  What this means is that customs forms
> aren't required and international shipping rates don't apply.  Honest!
> All the former do is cause the local USPS employees to laugh at the
> fool who used them, and the latter your local PO shouldn't even
> charge.
>
> UPS and FedEx Ground still works (though I'm amazed that their trucks
> don't sink) however their rates for shipping to Hawaii lead one to
> wonder if they might not have gotten the word about Hawaii's
> statehood.  I mean, it's only been 50 years, after all.
>
> USPS Priority flat rate boxes work to Hawaii.  They are the best
> possible deal as far as shipping things here goes since they can hold
> up to 70 pounds without anyone really caring.  I've noticed that some
> of them are even using recycled cardboard so this is just another way
> to Go Green.
>
> Buried on a shelving unit to my left is an 18S-4 shipped to me by one
> of our number via USPS Parcel Post.  For those who are unaware of
> this, the 18S-4 is as big as an ATC (aka: T-47/ART-13) with a weight
> in the same ballpark.  The ATC (and it's JAN-numbered brethren) weighs
> 67 pounds all by its lonesome which puts it under the USPS limits but
> adding padding et al tends to bump that up a tad bit.  Removing things
> like the audio amp and calibrator/MCW unit (which can ship separately
> - maybe in a FRB) help bring the weight down to a more acceptable
> level.  As a result, folks, the ATC & ART-13* can be shipped to Hawaii
> with no more effort than it takes to ship them elsewhere in the US.
> It ain't cheap but those of us who live here already know that part.
> It comes with living in the most isolated (in distance, should anyone
> mention Antarctica) population center on Earth.
>
> Any questions or comments, please contact me off-list.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Michael, WH7HG
> -- 
> http://www.nationalmssociety.org/chapters/NTH/index.aspx
> http://wh7hg.blogspot.com/
> http://kludges-other-blog.blogspot.com
> Hiki Nô!
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