[Dx-qsl] No Wonder the USPS Is Losing Money

[Ron Notarius WN3VAW]

Here's a new one... I know those of you working for the USPS will appreciate
this one.

I just got thrown out of the Post Office.

Why?  Well, the computer generated QSL cards I've been using lately are a
touch oversized for #10 envelopes, so I've been using a slightly larger one
(purchased at an office supply store).

I stopped at the local branch PO in the mall around the corner with several
envelopes in hand to buy stamps.  I was informed that they had to CLEAR
CUSTOMS before I could mail them.  When I protested that I had never heard
of a regulation saying that a letter in anything other than a #10 envelope
had to go through Customs first, I was told to leave or she would call the
Police and have me arrested as a troublemaker.  I then asked to simply buy
some air mail stamps, and she repeated the order to leave.  OK, so I'm a
coward, I left.  (Having my 6 year old with me -- no school today,  it's a
polling place for elections -- didn't help matters any)

In 30 years of DX'ing and sending all sorts of QSL cards, SAE's, IRC's, and
Green Stamps through the mail, this one was a first.

I've already called the "home" post office that this one is a branch of and
lodged a complaint.  The person who answered the phone didn't know what
regulation was being quoted there either, and promised a follow up.  We'll
see.

Meanwhile, next time, I'll know better.  I simply buy stamps, I don't bring
the envelopes with me.

Incidently, this is the same clerk who recently charged me $3.40 for 10
First Class stamps and then got mad when I tried to correct her.  I left the
extra $.30 with the other clerk working there... you don't suppose...

73, ron wn3vaw

'If tin whistles are made of tin, what do they make fog horns out of?'
-- from "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?"
Lonnie Donegan, SK, 4 November 2002