Thanks but no thanks Uncle Sam!

I have been selling autographed copies of my book Kisses from a Distance from my home for over three years. Readers order through my web site or by mail, which is quite convenient for me and them.

Early on I invested in a Dymo label maker and subscribed to Dymo Stamps, which allows me to print both the label and the proper postage. I have literally sent out hundreds of copies by simply printing the label and postage and putting the envelope in my mailbox. If I have more than will fit in the box going at the same time, I will take them to the Post Office. I once took eighty at the same time and the postal clerk wasn't very happy. He groused about the media mail option as he weighed each one individually, even though they were all the same. “Don’t know why we even have this option,” he snarled.

In any event it's much more convenient to do it myself and to just walk them out to my big mailbox by the curb. Imagine my surprise when the below envelope came back to me two days after I handed it off to my mailman. The sticker says that if a package is over 13 oz. it must be taken to the Post Office. I know this limitation applies to the on the street mailboxes and to the boxes outside the Post Office. Little did I know that giving it to my postman was the same as putting it into a mailbox.

So, if I go to the Post Office, even though I have the proper postage affixed, I must go inside, stand in line and hand it off to a "retail associate" postal clerk. Now I have to use a dollar’s worth of gas (one-third of a gallon @ $3.00/gal.) and spend upwards of a half-hour of my time to make the round trip of 6.4 miles, all because of “heightened security requirements?" Do they really think I would send a bomb from my home? With my return address on it? Also note the sticker that says this package can be transported by surface transportation only. I don’t know how long it’ll take a book to get to California.

I guess I now have to get more for shipping and handling. I had been charging $3.50 per order which was break even for me. The postage (including the fee for printing the stamp from home) and the padded envelope, discounting the cost of the mailing label and any time spent in preparation, was $3.45. Because of this inane security requirement, it has now gone up to $4.50. I guess we can forget about "going Green," because I now have a bigger carbon footprint.

So, thanks a lot Uncle Sam. I feel eminently safer now that I know you are using such common sense in protecting us from our enemies.