Originally Posted by
TheMamaHauser
I will also offer a suggestion (no harm or offense if you don't like/want to use it): Maybe instead of committing yourself to all of the receipt/mailing, find a person in each group who is trustworthy (ask other swap leaders - they can tell you who fits this category) and ask them to take the responsibility to collect/sort/mail for their group so that you don't get wholly overwhelmed.
A second reason is that should something awful or catastrophic happen, the entire boom's blocks are not in your possession (I'm thinking tornado/flood/health incident). Personally, I am happy to take that task on for any group you need me to.
This is an AWESOME idea, and also addresses the concerns I have (about all the blocks being in "one basket", so to speak). Please understand that this is
not a reflection of the hostess personally. It's just that some of us have been in swaps where something unfortunate happened (all but one incident was beyond the hostess's control), and our blocks were either lost or delayed.
I, too, will be happy to volunteer to do this for a group, if that is what is decided. I've hosted other swaps before (not here on QB, but on another forum), and have been in every Boomerang (3-current) since I joined the board in 2010.
...
Regarding the postage, the post office doesn't really advertise it all that much, but you can get a tracking number with their First Class Parcel service. (They obviously prefer people to use Priority Mail as it's considerably more expensive!) I looked it up, and if you print the postage online through PayPal and get a discounted rate, it's $1.69 to mail a 3-ounce package, with tracking, via First Class Parcel. For a group of 16 people, 2 mailings to each person (F8 & finished block), excluding oneself, that's 30 mailings total. The postage would be $50.70. FWIW, on my previous swaps, my F8s were under 1 ounce, but obviously each person packages their fabric differently, so everyone would have to weigh their envelopes and see.
I'm unsure if tracking is available on First Class letters, but if it is, the cost would probably be even less.