See, there's this thing that I've been wanting to do since I was a child but it involves mailing a lot of letters which is not, itself, a problem except for the whole stamp thing.
Stamps cost money. Stamps are money. Stamps are the reason that, if not for a vindictive law passed in a Republican lame duck session requiring the Post Office to pay retirement benefits for people haven't been born yet, the US Post Office pays for itself with room to spare. (Any why everyone claiming the Post Office has anything to do with taxes is lying their asses off and should never be trusted about anything ever again without visual confirmation from no less than two independent sources whose reliability is not in doubt.)
And the thing about stamps costing money dovetails in unpleasant ways with the fact that I am utterly, completely, and in all other ways broke.
Thus I am putting out a call to my readers that I expect to go unheeded because none of my readers are rich and stamps cost money. They are money.
I want stamps. If you happen to have a bunch of (US) stamps lying around that you don't need because you used to run a newsletter that you no longer run could you send me an email so I can give you my address and you can use some of those stamps to send me the rest of them? If you happen to have a bunch of money that could be used to buy stamps that you don't know what to do with, there is a donate button at the top right of this blog.
Yeah, I'm expecting zero response because asking for stamps is asking for money and asking for money is unlikely to succeed, but at the same time if you can't fulfill a dream you had as a small child by asking for charity on the internet, what can you do?
Huh. Well, we need stamps, too, and I'm going to go buy some in the next few days and I could mail some to you, if that's soon enough?
ReplyDeleteThat would be soon enough, yes, but aren't you as broke as I am, and with small children to support as well? Because I'd hate to take from someone more in need than me for something that is (note my reply to Brin) silly and wasteful.
DeleteYes, I'm broke too, but my mom will pay for the stamps. She uses tons of stamps. She is definitely one of the people fully supporting the postal service in the age of the internet.
DeleteWell, in that case, I suppose, send as many as you are willing. (Do you remember my address?) But I'm really serious about not wanting to trouble you.
DeleteI think we still have the stamp collection Dad inherited from his dad. Problem is it's not mine to give, plus they're probably all over twenty years old and definitely more than fifteen.
ReplyDeleteWe have no stamps for actually posting things, of any country. I recently asked Dad where the stamps were kept so we could mail the expat voting forms and he said "They're kept at the post office. We mail things so rarely these days we only buy what we're about to use."
Is said childhood dream private?
Is said childhood dream private?
DeleteGood question. It's silly and wasteful. It's not something that a rational human being would admit to if they wanted to retain some sense of respect, self or otherwise.
But private? I'm not sure. I'll have to think on that. I'll get back to you, not sure when.
I know what your dad means about stamps. I use them about five or six times a year (Chanukah and birthday cards). I actually carry them, because I don't drive and therefore can't actually *get* to a real Post Office without a two hour trip, but I bought a pack of 20 about three years ago, and I'm now down to four. Which means I need to get some more soon, where soon is defined as "around May".
DeleteIt's a darned good thing the USPS's major revenue stream is *commercial* mail - if it were reliant on postage for personal mail, it really would be a money-losing organization...
With apologies to archy,
ReplyDeletehere's to more silliness
and less strictness
Also, thank you for the reminder. I need to post some things and I have been putting it off.
Stamps are expensive, but I know how to write in Braille, and Brailled letters are free internationally. Unfortunately this means that I can only write letters for free to people who also know Braille. At the post office you specify that it's free mail for the blind and show that the materials are all in braille and it's free. I didn't learn Braille for this purpose, but it's fairly useful.
ReplyDelete