marytoddliz

quiltingmommy, I have received all of mine just fine. When I mail them out I put 65 cent stamp on them and they arrive with no trouble. and I do not have to write a custom form, just write on the envelop Scrap of fabric no value and it should go through, although it will cost a little more. I paid $1.17 but I put two F8's in envelope because I have same person in two swaps so I mail them together.

If they give you too much trouble and if you can, go to a different PO. But make sure you wrap in plastic wrap (like saran wrap) and squish all the air out of the envelope.

Used to send letters to BF with fatter envelopes that the squishes and was never charged an over rate. (back in the day when I thought I had a lot to say )

I received 3 today from: ljdugas31, Yayaquilter, and ssnare. I will take a look at them tomorrow.

Still have the Crud, and am going back to bed!

goldendog55

I find it is cheaper to not go to the post office. I also use Press n Seal, and each P.O. has different rules. The envelope has to fit through their slot. It is more the thickness than the weight when mailing, unless it is over 1 ounce.

jahaper

I received squishie from ssnare today.

marytoddliz

Sending home blocks to Yaya and ssnare. I sure hope you like them! i loved the fabric that you both selected. Karen I love the Color of Valor quilts, what a great cause. Sherry, what fun fabric, I know your son will love his musical quilt. I made my son a quilt out of Denim and he won't even let me take it home to repair it. So I am going to make him another, so I can repair that one. he is 35 and I gave it to him when he was 21. It needs some work!

thank you for letting me play with your fabric,

Marybeth

Lv2sew2011

I take my F8 and put plastic wrap around it squish all the air out and put in legal size env. take it to the post office and they put a 45 cent stamp on it. No problems that I know of. Once I sent F8 with out plastic wrap because I was being rushed by the hubby to leave the house and I think one of them didn't make it to the swap partner. It seems as if each PO is different. I think some like to use there power not to mail something with out extra. Just because they can. You can have them run your envelope through there little gaget and then have them weight it because I did she ended up putting 45 cent stamp on it. And apologize to me.
Donna
PS as far as the Canadian customs declarations? yes I have to fill one out everytime.

quiltingmommy

Thank you for all of your comments.

I have researched the post office rules.

Regular vs. large letter.
regular letters have a maximum size: 6 1/8 x 11 1/2 inches
regular letters 1 ounce .45, 2 ounces .65, 3 ounces .85
regular letters less than 1/4 inch thickness

As far as flexibility, I am not sure what the po employee was talking about. Online, the rules say that the mail must be flexible or else they cannot go through the machines. Rigid mail is a problem.

My envelopes are 5 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches ( I checked the box), I weighed a few at the post office and they were about 1.1-1.2 ounces. Not sure about thickness. I have repackaged my fabric by using the press-n-seal wrap, instead of plastic baggies with air squeezed out. I called my po and talked about thickness, they said that there was a template to check thickness. I plan to do this this afternoon. If they pass the test (fingers crossed), I am going to insist on the .45 postage.

I discussed my envelopes with the employee over the phone and she said that she would personally choose the higher postal rate which would insure that the envelopes would not go through the automated machines, and possibly damage (thus the reason for the higher postal charge). But, after reading about how everyone else does their mailing, I am pretty confident that the envelopes would be safe. Yes, there is a possibility of damage, but I am willing to take the chance (I have plenty of extra fabric to resend if someone doesn't receive my envelope).

When it comes to the finished quilt square I would be more willing to pay more for protection because it would be worth more to me personally, but an scrap of fabric that is easily replaceable...nah!

quiltingmommy

Or, if needed, I would be willing to do .65

yayaquilts

I received some pretty squishies from Marybeth, Linda D, ssnare, and Judy Bowers. I won't be able to start these blocks till I am back in town the week of Sept 10.

I've most of my f8's out (can't believe you've (Marybeth) finished my block already! WOW! I have a few left to mail-ran out of stamps and have to take the Canada one in to do the customs dec form! Just to be on the safe side I put 65 cents on each envelope--I was told that the extra 20 cents covers it since they most likely don't fit through the machine (I've had them checked at the PO both previous boom swaps I was in and I was told they needed the extra 20 cents.) On the other hand I've received squishies with both 45 cents and 65 cents. You would think all PO's would be the same but they are not!

bibliostone

All my f8s have been mailed. I used two different fabrics featuring Tinkerbell. Yes, I am old enough to remember when her name was spelled as one word, not Tinker Bell! All posts offices are different. Through six boomerang swaps, I have never had to fill out a form to send fabric to another country. And, I even asked about it the first time I mailed to Canada. The last swap, my husband was "helping" and mailed one to Canada with just $ .45 and it made it there without a problem. While we were on vacation in S.C. and in Florida, they tried to charge me for packages because the envelopes did not have paper in them, even though I had them slide them through the template slot. Silly people. I just brought them home and mailed them from Ohio.

quiltingmommy

I had to take a daughter to the doctors today and went to another PO close to the doctor's office. Nice attendant knew the PO rules and processed my envelopes correctly!! He knew the rules that I read online off the top of his head and agreed with me. He checked the envelope's thickness with the template and there was no problem at all. Squishyness doesn't matter. The only time there might be a problem is if there is an unevenness of the contents due to something like coins or pencils that might jam the automation machines. Fabric squashes down to an even thickness and wouldn't catch.

The only point that I was confused on was the ounces rule. Up to 1 ounce is .45, between 1-2 ounces is .65. The attendant weighed each individually and Half of my envelopes needed .45, half needed .65. (That extra 1/10 of an ounce is sooooo much more difficult to handle j/k) I was a little too liberal on my cutting and gave some of you an inch or two extra here and there which accounts for the differences in weight.

Hope my experience helps others so that they wont be overcharged.

So with all that said, all of my squishies are on their way to all of the pearl recipients and a few extra for April (Angel B), Melinda (Nexxus831), Penny (oldcatlady)who were looking for extra swappers. Let me know if they made their journeys safely.

I received three today: Linda (ljdugas31), Dotty (dotcomdtcom) and Karen (yayquilts)

Christina.