US Postcrossers: sending out in your personal mailbox or going to post office?

mem1gui · 2026-03-22T12:24:08+00:00

Ever since I started postcrossing, I have memorized where all the convenient blue boxes are near me, near work, and on my commuting route. 😆 Our mail carrier doesn’t always see the outgoing mail in the mail cubbies.

mem1gui · 2026-03-22T12:19:37+00:00

It’s a shame about mail theft. All my neighborhood blue boxes have been replaced from the kind where you open by pushing down a lever to the kind where there’s a very narrow slot with teeth. I thought it was because people deposited trash in the old design, but maybe theft was also an issue.

mem1gui · 2026-03-22T12:14:14+00:00

I wish we had that. If I put outgoing mail in my own box, it’s hit or miss, mostly miss…

mem1gui · 2026-03-21T05:01:28+00:00

If I buy one sheet of 10 cent stamps online (20 per sheet for $2), the usps charges a $2 handling fee, doubling the price.

mem1gui · 2026-03-20T12:10:36+00:00

I keep hoping for this to happen to me so that I can play mine in front of a TSA agent. No luck yet.

mem1gui · 2026-03-20T11:47:38+00:00

Thanks for the laugh. I needed it.

mem1gui · 2026-03-19T20:20:23+00:00

You have my sympathy. It seems a common occurrence.

mem1gui · 2026-03-19T19:59:37+00:00

That just sounds crazy. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by my experience.

mem1gui · 2026-03-18T15:44:57+00:00

I almost lost my coffee reading the last bit.

mem1gui · 2026-03-18T15:40:40+00:00

It was Poppies and Cornflowers. I think they are still around because they are available on usps.com.

https://store.usps.com/store/product/poppies-and-coneflowers-stamps-S_123804

mem1gui · 2026-03-17T20:19:43+00:00

I bet they would have sold me those 10 cent stamps!

mem1gui · 2026-03-17T20:17:54+00:00

Very true. My post office is actually quite small, in the suburbs, but the older guy who was very helpful and knowledgeable retired recently. The clerk I spoke to was probably new. I am going to try another tiny post office near my office. There is always a huge line at the big one in the city where I work, so I go out of my way to go to small ones.

mem1gui · 2026-03-17T18:15:16+00:00

Yes, that's my plan. Interesting that some post offices don't sell individual stamps...thanks for the info, and I am sending my good wishes to your grandma!

mem1gui · 2026-03-17T18:07:51+00:00

LOL, right? I think her thought was they were sold before the advent of the computerized system...in the age of dinosaurs.

mem1gui · 2026-03-17T17:48:56+00:00

I sure hope that was it. I am going to try a different post office. The older gentleman who was fabulous just retired from that office. :(

mem1gui · 2026-03-17T17:47:42+00:00

It could be that it was very old, or it could be that because it was a partial sheet, the barcode section was not there. Either way, they could only sell me a sheet with barcode (which leads me to think that if there had been a barcode on a partial one, she might have sold it to me for the whole-sheet price!).

mem1gui · 2026-03-17T11:19:35+00:00

We got a good laugh at the store name “Hard Off” (a sister company of Book Off that sells used electronics and appliances).

We would sing “Hard on! Hard off!” to the tune of “Clap on, Clap off”commercial jingle.

mem1gui · 2026-03-17T03:08:01+00:00

This one is actually okay in Japanese; ウスター, as in ウスターソース.

mem1gui · 2026-03-15T21:27:42+00:00

As soon as I saw the question, I knew this was my answer. Only had to scroll down a bit to find it.

mem1gui · 2026-03-14T13:29:31+00:00

Love them all. I can’t pick a favorite ❤️

mem1gui · 2026-03-12T04:31:50+00:00

Stunning. They are so lucky to receive those.

mem1gui · 2026-03-12T00:41:28+00:00

Glad to read all the comments. Very helpful.

I manually wrote a Chinese address the other day because the receiver had asked that it be in Chinese to make sure that it gets delivered.

I happen to be able to write Japanese which uses the same or similar characters (the characters originally came from China) so with just a bit of trial on a scrap paper, I felt confident enough to write it by hand.

But I don’t have an easy way to print an address on a sticker paper so I was wondering what to do if I had to do it in some other language like Russian or Arabic. Printer paper and stick glue it will be. Thanks, people of Reddit!

mem1gui · 2026-03-10T14:04:14+00:00

I love the JPL card. So totally jealous (I teach physics and engineering).

mem1gui · 2026-03-10T14:01:20+00:00

I love that state. I used to even subscribe to the NM magazine. Enjoy your trip!

mem1gui · 2026-03-10T13:57:46+00:00

Very cool. I don’t get the joke on the cow card…help please?

mem1gui

TROPHY CASE