…when I say that this is the last 2015 Moss Motoring Challenge post for the year.1
At work on Monday I had our mail clerk (one of her many jobs) weigh my Motoring Challenge envelope so I’d know how many stamps to stick on the outside. Her answer, “A dollar eighty-six.” We had a some forever stamps laying around, but I had to look up on the interwebs what denomination they actually represented, turns out its 49¢. Some quick guzintas and I came up with 4 stamps required.
We didn’t drop the envelope in the mail slot at the Post Office until late that night and according to the sticker on the inside of the pull down draw it wouldn’t be picked up until 5:00 PM, the next day!?! No real worries, Tuesday was 29th and it had to be postmarked by the 31st.
Yesterday when we got home from work and Donna checked the mail guess what was in our box? Right, got it one. The envelope intended for Goleta, California. Written in pen just underneath my orderly line of 4 forever stamps were the words, “Return to sender, 98 cents additional posted needed.” Worries.
So today I took a slightly extended morning break and drove downtown to the Post Office to stand in line and ante up my 98¢. Why didn’t I just slap a couple more of those Forever stamps on there, after all 49+49=98? Because, figuring my luck, the envelope was already on the hairy edge of the postage change line and the weight of those extra two stamps would put it over the limit and I’d had having it returned again for insufficient postage.
The clerk weighed it and said it needed the ninety-eight additional cents. I asked her why it was more than what I was told at work when it was weighed there. She said because it was rigid (didn’t bend easily) it is considered a “package” and must pay a higher rate. Oh well, I had them weigh it and they put a printed postage sticker on it and it was going first class, I got a tracking number.
If you want to follow along – 9500 1119 3741 5365 1803 60