USPS shipping options?

December 15, 2007 12:52 PM

USPS will ship an inflated ball without it being packaged (sendaball.com), it just sticks the postage information right on the ball.. My question is, what other items can be shipped this way, without being packaged in a box? I want to send something nifty to my niece this Christmas season!
posted by princeofpersiaxz to Law & Government (23 answers total)

I know coconuts have been done this way, or least could be when I was younger.
posted by sharkfu at 12:53 PM on December 15, 2007

Also, Camera Mail!
posted by sharkfu at 12:54 PM on December 15, 2007 [3 favorites]

I have friends who have mailed gourds and small pumpkins like this. More of a halloween thing, though.
posted by procrastination at 12:59 PM on December 15, 2007

Previously.
posted by crinklebat at 1:04 PM on December 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

From sharkfu's awesome link on the tips page:

Also, it should be noted that fun mail doesn't have to stop at cameras. I've mailed rubber ducks, small wooden mallets, buckets, dustpans, action figures, and moderately sized paintings, all with little or no packaging, and had them all arrive, (well, the action figure was lost, but the cardboard glued to his hand made it through ok) in moderate to great shape.

posted by lioness at 1:05 PM on December 15, 2007

I recall a pig's ear with a bite missing was mail to Mike Tyson (the boxer). It caused quite a stir. The postmaster stated anything with the proper postage affixed to it will be accepted for mailing.

I'll see if I can find a cite
posted by JujuB at 1:06 PM on December 15, 2007

Mail art is a whole movement onto itself. Check out www.mailart.org for calls for art and more ideas. I've mailed an old LP record and it made it in one piece. I've known people who have mailed empty water bottles or used them to create little scenes or enclose notes in the bottle and mailed them.
posted by 45moore45 at 1:14 PM on December 15, 2007 [5 favorites]

The USPS will ship almost anything, although they'll often browbeat the receiver about it not being "properly wrapped."
posted by Nelsormensch at 1:15 PM on December 15, 2007

I sent baby shower invitations in baby bottles... they all got delivered.
posted by clh at 1:47 PM on December 15, 2007

I once received a coconut-type tropical island-pod in the mail. My aunt had written the addresses with a Sharpie and slapped on some stamps.
posted by wg at 2:29 PM on December 15, 2007

Check out the"Return to Sender" items in the letters section of Wired to see all the weird things you can send through the mail. Just a few examples: mannequin head, urine container, piano key.
posted by MsMolly at 2:42 PM on December 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

I think you can mail just about anything you can put an address and postage on, subject to size/weight restrictions and safety concerns (I assume you couldn't mail an unsheathed knife or something with sharp edges). I think there's an extra charge for non-machinable packages -- pretty much everything except cardboard boxes -- though.

Wired Magazine has an ongoing contest called "return to sender" where people send in odd, creatively-addressed items. Some of them get pretty elaborate.
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:43 PM on December 15, 2007

You may be interested in listening to the "Pushing the Envelope" segment on this Studio 360 show:

"Stephen Malinowski heard our request for mail art and decided to do a little experiment. He tested the post office to see what they would and wouldn't deliver by mailing not one, or two, but 100 pieces of mail art to our office, including crumpled envelopes, tissue paper, pieces of wood, Astroturf, even a postage scale with our address written on the side in permanent marker. Kurt Andersen spoke with Malinowski about the project he called 'The scientific method as art.'"

posted by gluechunk at 3:20 PM on December 15, 2007 [3 favorites]

not exactly what you're after, but still within the realm of games to play with the postman.
The Postman's Decision Is Final
posted by clockwork at 4:07 PM on December 15, 2007

Wired magazine has a monthly "Return to Sender" contest where the goal is to send the most bizarre and/or artistic object to them you can without packaging. Surprisingly, they don't seem to have a compilation of the items online. The only mention I could find says, "Past winners include a guitar, a vintage computer, a boomerang, sneakers, and military MREs."
posted by falconred at 4:20 PM on December 15, 2007

i remember hearing on npr that someone did this with a whole bunch of random items to see what got through. successes included a piece of kleenex (!) and an unwrapped microscope (!!).
posted by thinkingwoman at 4:48 PM on December 15, 2007

I speak from experience that yes, you can send most anything as long it has a readable address and proper/correct postage. When I was younger and totally in love with my first boyfriend I sent him a piece of plastic fruit by mail everyday for a week. You know, the kind of plastic fruit you'd find in a craft store to make centerpieces and decorate your house with? Each piece of fruit had a a cory corny pun written on it (I used a black Sharpie I believe to make sure that the address and message didn't smudge on the plastic. I became quite popular with the local post office as a result. The week went like this.

Monday: "You're the apple of my eye" on a red apple
Tuesday:"I'd be in a jam without you" on a strawberry.
Wednesday: "You really a-peel to me" on a banana
Thursday: "We're grape together" on a bunch of grapes
Friday: "Let's make it a date" on a plum
Saturday:"Orange you glad you asked me out?" on an orange, obviously.
Sunday: "We make quite a pair" on a green pear.
posted by heatherbeth at 5:41 PM on December 15, 2007 [15 favorites]

I once received a single fuzzy (like, monster fur fuzzy) magenta slipper in the mail. That was awesome and mind blowing.
posted by Secretariat at 6:19 PM on December 15, 2007

I once mailed a half-eaten, burned pancake in a ziplock bag to a roommate who was home visiting her family. It got there just fine.
posted by belladonna at 10:13 PM on December 15, 2007

I've ordered tires several times and they have come delivered unboxed in all their new tire smelling glory.
posted by wfrgms at 11:30 PM on December 15, 2007

You can send her a tumbleweed (mailed in a box).
posted by plokent at 3:29 AM on December 16, 2007

I've received a red rubber boot among other things from my mail-arty compadres.

I believe that if it's not on the USPS list of Dangerous Things to Mail , and is properly addressed and postaged (as everyone else has said) that it will probably get through. I believe it also helps to take the object to the counter at the post office, ask nicely if it's properly postaged and ask them to hand-cancel the stamps which, I have heard, marks it as "accepted and deliverable" by the USPS.
posted by pointystick at 6:19 AM on December 16, 2007

I had a friend who sent another friend one of those stainless steel milkshake cups with the address printed on the side.
posted by bendy at 2:10 PM on December 17, 2007