Thanks JeanieG; that is food for thought indeed. I have now received a dozen medium flat boxes and a dozen medium fold down boxes that are flat rate and trackable. Mail carrier was quite concerned and said to leave a note in the mail box and he would come to the door and pick up what I was not using. I like the medium fold down boxes the best I think. No way could I get a queen sized quilt in either box. I usually carry my plastic bags of scraps into the PO and Use their 'best" fit to ship in.
If I ship a quilt, I use UPS or Fed EX and insure it. Always afraid that it will get 'lost' in the USPO as a package did that my DGM sent to our address in Alaska...never showed up anywhere, and she was sure it never left the local PO.
Reading the Swap section, they talked about ordering from the USPO on line and how handy it was, so I wanted to try that and I did....this time. My hometown PO is very nice about telling me the cheapest way to go....priority or regular mail, etc., which I do appreciate. I can mail a letter or legal sized envelope to DD in Lincoln, NE from local PO and it takes about 8 days for it to get to her....if I mail from my hometown, the same thing, same size, etc., It gets there in two days...so go figure. POs are 25 miles apart...quickest one is in Iowa, the slow one is in Missouri. Priority boxes must go by priority mail. I know Carrie shipped her BB and MB for about $3.00 or so, but my PO in hometown wanted at least $7.95 for all that I shipped out in an envelope 9 by 12 inches.
So I pick up a 6 inch by 6 inch Box for .77 each at our local Wal Mart and package many things in it and it can go either way. But their next size up is 12 by 12 inches....too big. Last year, they had 9 by 12 inches, which was not too large....not this year...the clerks will say, "We get what the home office sends us, we cannot special order" so that is their story. The six by six cost an average of $7.00 for the "goodies" I shipped out last year for a total of $69.00. Mysteries of PO service cannot be explained, I guess.
Last edited by QuiltingNinaSue; 10-15-2014 at 12:05 PM.