Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mailing

How do I get my package that's been "Inbound Into Customs" in NY for 12+ days?

gemmy — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:37:48 -0800

My perfectly boring package from Sweden has been listed as "Inbound Into Customs" since September 4. How can I find out what the problem is? Can I get it cleared somehow? I purchased some Swedish foods (some soft thinbread, a tube of cheese, a box of pearl sugar, a container of baking molasses, and two bags of licorice candy) from an online retailer - a mom & pop type shop that I've used successfully several times before. They shipped the package from Sweden on September 2, and the USPS tracking tool shows it arriving in New York on September 4. Since then, however, the package status has been "Inbound Into Customs" with no further updates. (Compare with my last three orders from them, which got to me in 4-5 days.)

I asked the store if they knew what was up - they say that they have never had this happen before, and their local post office doesn't know why it's been delayed so long. I talked to my postman and to a clerk at my post office, and neither of them had any suggestions or insights. Searching online for others in the same situation, my case seems a bit odd because a) it's taking more than 4-5 days to clear customs, b) the package doesn't contain even possible contraband of any kind, and c) it doesn't contain enough of anything to make them suspect that it's for re-sale.

I'm extra pissed about the whole thing because the bread and cheese would have been fine after five or six days in transit, but will be stale/spoiled now. And I craved it so...

Have you had this happen to you, and if so how did it turn out? Will they send me some sort of form to explain what happened to my package, and if so when? Can I find out what the problem is? Can I get it cleared somehow by explaining the contents? Any idea why this very boring package would be stuck in customs so long? Any help would be appreciated.

Is anyone else getting quasi-spammed by, I assume, the DNC?

DecemberBoy — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:00:52 -0800

Has anyone else who gave to the Obama campaign or whose email address is otherwise in the possession of the DNC recently had themselves added to mailing lists for local Democrat congressional candidates? So far I've gotten like 4 or 5 confirmation requests from the mailing list of a Democratic congressional candidate in my district stating that they have "received a request to subscribe (my email) to our announcement list", which means my email address has probably been submitted to them that many times. Now, unless someone I know is trying to pull a prank on me, in which case I would think they would subscribe me to some bible-beater candidate's list or NAMBLA or something and not a congressional candidate I'll probably vote for anyway, I have to assume that the DNC is auto-subscribing people to candidates' lists based on their addresses. Now, I don't mind being on Obama's list or getting stuff in the mail asking me to contribute to the DNC, but this sort of thing kind of strikes me as... not cool. I mean, it's just a minor transgression of Internet etiquette all things considered, but nonetheless it kind of smells like spam.

So, I can't be the only one getting this stuff. Is this a widespread phenomenon, or are they only doing it for this particular candidate or some candidates?

Having my first ever surgery and I have two questions.

Blackie — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:45:31 -0800

I'm going in for my first surgery ever in a week or two and have two different questions... 1) can a person get "life insurance" that covers surgery? Short term, specific type. 2) is there a way to write out notes to folks (emails, things to be printed) and have an automatic delivery system if for any reason I don't stop the delivery? I have a good sized tumor in my upper neck/base of skull region that needs to be worked on and as it is my first time going in for anything like this (in 43 years) it makes a guy think.

#1) I do have some insurance through work (50k I think), but I was thinking more along the lines of an extra 100-200k to spread out among family in the case, well, whatever might happen. Just trying to think of my kids, their school needs, my girlfriend and her kids and a new on the way grandson.
Are there places to get short term specific policies, and are they worth the effort?
Will they even cover something like this when a specific problem is involved?

#2) I guess I am thinking of a "Doomsday" type device. I set it in motion with some type of date to "go off" and send out a email that leads to the rest or sends them out all at once. That way I could write up some stuff and if it wasn't needed than I don't have to drag everyone down thinking about it and just turn off the mailing before the date hits.

I'm really not hyper worried about the whole thing, but these two thoughts just keep popping back up in my head.

Absentee Ballot Counting

mccarty.tim — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:37:44 -0800

What's the policy for opening absentee ballots? Are all ballots opened, or are they only opened when they are expected to be statistically significant? I'm a naive college student and I'm voting absentee for the first time. I sent in my ballot yesterday, and I have to say I did appreciate the convenience and time to read over the ballot and research everything on it. However, I think I remember reading somewhere that sometimes absentee ballots are not opened when they aren't expected to be statistically significant, and that some types of ballots are opened before others.

Is this true? If so, how small a gap is too small for new ballots to be statistically insignificant? Would it only be in the case that the final result could not add up otherwise, or could votes not expected to turn the election either way be excluded based only on that prediction?

I'm sure this varies from state to state. I heard from my great aunt that they vote by absentee ballot by default in Oregon, and that other states are considering switching to voting entirely by mail. I'm interested in every state, but I'm most interested in the state I'm registered, NJ.

needed: mail list manager db for Mac

luriete — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:19:32 -0800

I need help picking out an inexpensive Mac-based (or web-based!) database to maintain a 2,000-person POSTAL mailing list / membership database for a small academic non-profit. They've used Bulk Mailer Pro on OS9 for years and since the new OS doesn't support Classic apps, we need to find something new.

I've looked at Bento but the demo didn't allow something we really needed: the ability to set up, in each user's record (along with home & institutional mailing addresses, email, phone, etc), any of a dozen or more checkboxes - things that would represent membership status, committee membership, whether or not they were an officer, etc.

We used to use letter codes in a text entry box in Bulk Mailer Pro - for example, some members might only have "9" meaning they were one type of member, another might have "9RX2P", each letter meaning something different, and then we could run a search and generate a tab-delimited text file just, for example, for those users who were 8s and Rs, or those who were 4s, or those who had 5 different boxes checked, etc. Does that make sense?

So, we need to have user-definable data like that, checkboxes would be less kludgy than what we have now I think, and the ability to generate tab or comma delimited text for our mailing houst.

Any suggestions?

Need Advice re: bulk email ASPs

geoffbart — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:19:27 -0800

Need advice/color regarding bulk email processing ASP's/ service providers I'm trying to determine if I can outsource bulk email processing for a business where the email newsletter is the centerpiece of the business. Other option is to staff a team of email experts, host our own IP and develop relationships with major ISPs, which is expensive.

My fear is that if I use an outsource like DreamHost or MyEmma or Sparklist, etc., I'll always run into problems with email prioritization or blasts not going out timely, etc.

Can anyone provide insight/color regarding excellent or horrible experiences with any of these bulk mail service providers?
DreamHost
MyEmma
JangoMail
SparkList
any others you can name?

thanks for your help

Where's a good St. Bernard when you need one?

Squid Voltaire — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:10:57 -0800

My dad lives in New Bern, North Carolina, and he's been having a hell of a week. His liquor of preference is Jack Daniels--what's the best way to get him some? I myself live in Chicago, and I'm assuming that I can't just FedEx him a bottle, right? I don't really know anyone in his neck of the woods, so I can't just call up a friend and ask them to buy it for me, either.

phpList: seriously, wtf?

drjimmy11 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:27:59 -0800

phpList: seriously, wtf? I develop a website for a non-profit, and they requested I set up phpList on the server so they can send out newsletters.

Everything went ok (eventually), I can now send emails and recipients will get them. Eventually.

I sent a bunch of emails as tests on Sat., copying them to both my gmail and yahoo accounts. phpList's queue shows that it sends them within a second.

However, I don't receive them to my email accounts until, at a minimum, a few hours later. Some of them were still showing up this morning, 2 days later!

I am a pro. web developer, but don't know that much about email servers and such. Have other people had this experience with phpList? Do yahoo and gmail give delivering these emails a low priority or what? And where exactly are they for the two days between phpList "sending" them and them showing up in my inbox?

I am a bit worried that my client might want to send newsletters with time-sensitive info. A few hours is ok, but two days is ridiculous.

Any ideas or alternatives?
thanks!

Address in one postal district, PO Box in another?

sparrows — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 04:53:18 -0800

Can I get a PO Box without proof of an address that's *in that post office's district*? (I want a regular USPS PO Box; private mailbox services are way more expensive.)

I'm moving soon, to a place several miles away (several post office districts away) in the same NYC borough, and for personal security reasons I want to have no connection in anyone's records between my new physical address and my PO Box address.

The application at the USPS page about this is ambiguous but suggests you do need to prove your address. First it says you just need two pieces of ID, one with photo -- but then it has a box for the initials of the USPS employee who "verified physical address."

It also doesn't specify whether the physical address has to be in the same postal district as the post office where you want a PO Box. On that page it says, "Choose a location close to work or home—whatever fits your needs." But that could mean you can choose any location, OR it could mean that the location can be by your work if you can prove your work address.

ID documents I could show them:
- U.S. passport
- social security card
- credit cards
- proof of my *current* address (utility bills, tax returns, etc.).

There are related AskMes but they don't answer the specific question of where the address you have documentation of has to be located in the same PO district as the PO Box.

What is the cheapest and safest way to send a package to Malaysia with the assurance that it will get to the intended recipient?

Jujee — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 19:10:08 -0800

My sister wants to send a package to someone in Malaysia -specifically in Selangor - however, it seems packages don't always make it to the recipient for whatever reason. She is sending photographs and wants to be sure it gets to the recipient - any tips out there? What is the safest and least expensive way to send it (more photographs)? TIA

Mailing from NYC to Seoul

allterrainbrain — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:39:46 -0800

Mailing, from NYC to Seoul, a padded envelope (papers and a slim CD case) with no commercial value. What's my cheapest option if I want it there within a few weeks? (Mailing on Monday 31 Dec and want it to arrive by Monday 21 Jan.)

Nonprofit mailing: Correct way to bulk mail at the nonprofit rate

mac-way — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 07:37:40 -0800

I understand that there are three different ways to adhere postage for bulk nonprofit mailings. Permit imprint, pre-canceled stamps or a postage meter. However we are getting conflicting information from our local post office and the USPS. Can we print postage with the meter at the non-profit rate and not use the permit imprint number? We have a postage meter that we would like to use. It my understanding that for a bulk nonprofit mailing it possible to use the meter as long as it prints the nonprofit slug, the correct bulk postage and no date.

The local post office says we need to use the permit imprint number (#1438) even if we are printing postage on the meter. The meter (Neopost) has no way to print this number. The USPS website is not the helpful.

Also, who can we talk to at the USPS to get the correct info? Thanks!

High School Reunion - Planning Advice!

thankyoumuchly — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:08:17 -0800

I'm planning a high school reunion for my class and the two classes that graduated after me. Am I overlooking any planning details? It will be our 4th, 5th and 6th year reunions all happening at the same venue.

What I've done:
1. Obtained the mailing address of all class members
2. Reserved a location.
3. Written a 1 page invitation with details.
4. Assigned 1 class member from each class to serve as a contact.

I've pasted the contents of my invitation below. Please let me know what I'm missing.

What details/planning items am I missing aside from items that should be in the invitation? Planning aspects, things to "watch out for", overlooked positive outcomes, overlooked negative outcomes…

Thanks!

...

!#---BeginPasteOfInvitation---#!

High School Reunion!
This is a reunion for THREE classes at the same time.

Details we are providing to you, the alumni:
1.When: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 from 9PM – 1AM.
2.Location: [venue name]
3.Cost: $45 per person. Must be at least 21 years of age or older.
4.What You Get: Open Bar, Appetizers and a Live DJ from 9PM – 1AM.
5.Please visit [www.website.com] for directions, transportation suggestions and a virtual tour of the establishment–OR–MapQuest the mailing address below.

Details we ask you to provide to us, the alumni reunion organizers:
1.Please cut off and fill out the below RSVP form and place in an envelope.
2.Please include $45 per person. Make payable to “[venue]”. Checks or money orders only.
3.No later than November 1st, 2007, please mail the completed RSVP form and $45 per person to the following mailing address:

[address]

If you have any questions, please contact the alumni reunion organizer for your class:
• [contacts]

------c-u-t--h-e-r-e----------RSVP FORM----------c-u-t--h-e-r-e--------

CLASS REUNION RSVP FORM

Your name: add $45 ___
Guest 1 name: add $45 ___
Guest 2 name: add $45 ___
Total = ___
Your Phone#:
Your Email:

!#---EndPastOfInvitation---#!

Thanks again!

Bye Bye Beddie.

doift — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 08:46:43 -0800

Mailing a bed 2,000 miles- how can I do it, and is it even worth it? I need to ship a twin mattress and box spring from New York to Utah. Origin and destination are both residences. Neither I nor anyone I know is making that drive anytime soon. Time is not an issue, but money is. If there's no inexpensive (under $75 or so) way to do it, I may decide to just sell the thing instead. But I'd like to at least investigate mailing options before I fire up Craigslist.

My Google skills are massively failing me. Previous AskMe's are mostly about moves that involve more pieces of furniture and the owner actually accompanying said furniture. Help me find my options!

Private listserve (or alternative)?

jckll — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 08:01:01 -0800

Is there a way to privatize an email list whose members' email accounts can be read by "the man?" I took on the responsibility of starting an email list for employees in my workplace with complaints they wished to air. Over the past year it has grown significantly, but I'm worried that because those who subscribe to the email list in general use their work email addresses--often they have no other--they are open to the possibility of the [i]higher-ups[/i] reading their complaints and discriminating against them in the future.

Is there an easy way to setup an email list so that even if the subscribers' email accounts can be read by a third party, that third party (who is NOT part of the email list) can't know the content of the emails? It would be preferable if the content of the emails sent/received via this list were unreadable [b]period[/b], but at the very least a disconnect between content and author is imperative.

I am open to creative solutions that maybe don't even involve an email list at all (i.e. a wiki, or a BBS-type system) but keep in mind that the majority of the people on this list aren't very tech-savvy and checking a message board every day for updates may not be in the realm of possibility.

How can I mail books cheaply in Canada?

Trinkers — Tue, 22 May 2007 18:05:18 -0800

How can I mail books cheaply in Canada? I've recently moved from Vermont to Edmonton and lugged quite a few books along with me since I didn't have time to sort through them before moving. Now that I'm here, I've decided which books to keep and which to sell, but I've discovered the rather annoying fact that Canada does not have an equivalent to the United States' media mail postal rate. I had been counting on using Amazon.ca to sell the books that are newer and in better condition, while using BookMooch to trade off the older books. However, at $6-12 a pop for mailing costs alone, with no income on BookMooch and very low prices on Amazon's marketplace (usually $2-5 per book), I've been losing money with the first few books I've mailed out.

My question is thus: does anyone know of a cheap way to get my books to those who want them, or if not, what might I try instead of BookMooch or Amazon? I'd like to sell these books if possible, and at rates higher than what I'd get at a garage sale (although I'll resort to that if necessary).

Mailing a cake -- please advise

Margalo Epps — Wed, 16 May 2007 12:19:29 -0800

What's the best cake to mail? What's the best way to mail a cake? When should I send it to arrive in time? I'd like to get some cake to my sister for her birthday, a state away. I read mailing and got some good ideas for how to package it, but does any of these cakes seem like they would mail better than others? I can make upside cake, chocolate cake with fudge frosting or regular frosting, petit fours, or well, anything else I can find a recipe for. Any idea which would survive best?

And I'd like it to arrive on her birthday, though I could send it early if need be -- when should I send it to arrive on a Monday?

How to get google apps to like me again.

filmgeek — Sat, 05 May 2007 21:46:25 -0800

Google Apps: I transfered my URL from one registrar to another. Google apps (hosting) isn't working. Based on my earlier question, I moved my URLs all to one host (godaddy) where I could modify my MX and CNAME records (without having to pay for that right.)

But, one of my domains uses Google Apps (google.com/a) for it's email, and obviously, after the transfer, it's not responding.

What I want it to do is to ask me to verify again, and tell me what the mx records should be set to. I'd go to google's help (for google's apps), but it's mostly a google group where nobody seems to respond. They want me to pay for the Pro version, which I don't need (but I'm tempted to sign up and then quit after this is solved.)

Just as a tack on - is there any way to host an 'announce only' list with google, from my hosted domain (vs. google groups?)

SQL query to get unique addresses from a list.

odinsdream — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:10:31 -0800

Access SQL Query - I have multiple individuals each with an address. I need to make mailing labels, but if two or more people share an address, I would only like one label. I have a database with student information. Each student record contains the student's first and last names, and their home address, among other details.

The customer wants to print mailing labels for each "family," a concept that the database has no built-in provision for.* So, I'm looking for a query that would simulate this idea of a family.

Criteria:
Though siblings will have the same last name, obviously last names could be shared between families. The best I can think of is to rely on the fact that siblings should have the same home address. Or, to guard against typos, at least the same street number.

How can I write a query to pull out unique street addresses?

* Alternatively, if you have any good ideas about how to implement the concept of a Family in the database, I'd love to hear some of them.

Does the headline have any purpose?

Thrillhouse — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 04:20:02 -0800

The USPS charges for shipments based on package size and weight and in the case of media mail- the contents. Once your package clears the counter, is it safe to say it won't be checked for compliance of these things beyond that point? Okay, I do a lot of shipping via USPS and I pre-pay all the time meaning I go online and enter the details myself and then print out a label.
I thought about this last night when I was packaging up some vinyl records to go out via media mail. When I bring my packages to the post office, they typically just take them and put them in the back when I tell them they're already paid for. They don't weight it or in the case of media mail check the contents. If I was going to pay for it at the counter they'd have weighed it and measured it there and then.

I'm wondering what the risk is for this package coming back to me after I've dropped it off if my measurements or weights are off. Do they bother to check a package once its in the big pile?

No-nonsense, serious weight loss community via mailing list?

WCityMike — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 11:24:22 -0800

I am looking for an e-mail mailing list in which weight loss is discussed. However, I'm looking for one with a very specific sort of attitude. Essentially, I'm looking for a weight loss mailing list that approaches weight loss with a certain attitude — practical, logistical, calmly, assertively, tough, without as much of the focus on extraneous emotional baggage. I understand that emotional baggage can be part of weight loss. I'm not saying that it has to be entirely absent of emotional revelations, but this theoretical online community is not the place to expose and wallow in one's angst and drama, and ideally the theoretical list participants would kinda be thinking "get a grip!" if someone did so.

Reason behind this is that it seems the majority of the online weight loss communities that I've found out there are very focused on the emotional reactions to weight loss, and I think it's not assisted me in my own endeavors. When I was writing down a note to myself to remember this question, I wrote down, "A mailing list for serious people getting down to the deadly business of concerted effort towards losing weight." That's more than a little melodramatic, but hopefully it gets the point across.

Preferably food plan-neutral (i.e. not Atkins-specific or South Beach-specific), or at least accommodating of other plans.

A few ideas to kind of convey what I'm looking for: I'm looking for a mailing list whose attitude towards weight loss is similar to the attitude that productivity pundits have towards weight loss (43 Folders, Lifehacker). Bootcamp Buddies has a philosophy statement that's fairly close to what I'm looking for — but the problem with Bootcamp Buddies is that I am strictly looking for a e-mail mailing list. I am NOT looking for an online message board forum. They just don't work for me as a method of online communication.

The above is the primary question I'm seeking an answer to. However, as a corollary to it, if anyone is aware of websites that have the same relationship and approach to weight loss as 43 Folders and Lifehacker has to productivity — "Weighthacker"? — I'd appreciate linkage.

Thanks in advance for any assistance offered!

Buying pizza boxes in Toronto

winston — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 19:57:17 -0800

Looking for a place to buy pizza boxes (for mailing LPs) in Toronto. Looking at web sites or local businesses that sell cardboard boxes, I can find LP mailers or similarly-sized boxes for about a buck each or more.

But on web sites that sell pizza boxes of the same size, they can be as little as 25 cents each. But these are all in the US so shipping cost brings it back up to the same price as the LP mailers. Besides, I'd like to just pick some up tomorrow.

My method of asking at the counter at pizza shops has not yet found someone who knows where the boxes come from.

I can find local lots of restaurant suppliers online or in the yellow pages, but none that explicitly indicate that they have pizza boxes. And the ones I've asked don't.

Mailing List Hacks?

randex8 — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 13:37:12 -0800

Is there an simple/free way to list all of the residential mailing address surrounding a specific address or within a specific postal code area? (ie. What are all of the residential mailing addresses within a 1 mile radius of 123 Main St., Anytown USA?). I know that I can always purchase a mailing list, etc. but I was hoping someone knew of a clever way to find this information online. I do not need the residents name, just the mailing address. Any suggestions?

FREE address search

marsha56 — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:32:33 -0800

Looking for FREE Address search (as in STREET addresses, not e-mail addresses). I've always used whitepages.com to get phone numbers and mailing addresses. They're down right now. I've tried googling "free addresses". Google shows MANY sites, but so far each one I've clicked on is lying. None of them actually give you addresses for free. Anyone have a site to lookup mailing addresses that's really FREE? Thanks all!

Marketing mailing ideas?

eileen — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 16:30:53 -0800

Marketing Ideas? I am looking to send out a snail-mail mailing in order to reach out to new clients for my web development company. I already have a list of contacts at several companies in my city, but I'm looking for ideas as to what to send... I would like to attach a list of capabilities, with the main goal being to drive traffic to our website, where potential clients can see our portfolio and read more about our company. I'm looking for something that can be well-designed. Something that will attract attention, either by unique packaging, or form-factor, or some sort of "giveaway."

I have seen design firms send out magnets, or posters, etc...the idea being things that people like and will keep around, hopefully prompting them to hire that firm when they have a need.

We're not so "in-your-face-creative", but I can spend a bit of money since it is a small, targeted list.

A brochure seems a little bit too un-creative. Then there is the pre-printed corporate-tchotchke route, but that seems too generic.

Any creative ideas? What would grab your attention (but still be seen as totally professional)??

Thanks :)