10.18.2010

3 to 1

Today's task was simple: go to the post office, weigh our wedding invitation & buy the appropriate postage. Easy, right? Haha. Not so much.

I show up at our small, neighborhood post office with an assembled wedding invitation & the kind postal clerk weighs it & declares I needed a 61-cent stamp. And how wonderful, there is a 61-cent wedding cake stamp just for Brides like me. Unfortunately, they don't have any in stock. She suggests I go to Hoboken's large, main post office. Okay, no problem.

I troop across town & wait in a long line for about 15 minutes before it's my turn to get some love & attention. I make my polite demand for the 61-cent wedding cake stamp & the postal clerk asks to weigh the invitation again. I hand it over & watch as he measures it, weighs it & pushes it through a fake mail slot. My heart starts to sink; I'm worried that our wedding invitation is failing the post office test.

"It will be a $1.39 to mail this invitation," he tells me. What??!!

I explain I was told it would a 61-cent stamp to mail this invitation just 30 minutes ago across town. He explains that our invitation is considered parcel post because it is not flexible. This includes a lovely demonstration of how an plain envelope bends, a cardboard box does not bend & neither does our invitation. I ask what postage has to be used for $1.39. He says two wedding cake stamps plus some other random stamps. I have a horrible vision of paying way more than I expected on postage & of our beautiful envelopes cramped with four stamps.

I ask for a second opinion.

Now our wedding invitation becomes a fun game for the postal workers. I watch helplessly as our wedding invitation is passed from clerk to clerk. He asks the clerk next to him what she postage she would pick for our wedding invitation. 61-cents, she says. 1 to 1, he says to me. Actually, 2-1 counting the very first opinion, I remind him. He glares at me. Next, he hands it to another clerk. 61-cents, she says. He continues to glare at me. 3 to 1! 3 to 1! I win, I win!!

I'm the proud owner of 100 wedding cake stamps!


5 comments:

  1. Yay!!! So glad you were able to find fun stamps :) We got stuck with some floral ones but hey at least they look purdy enough!!! XO

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  2. great story:) I saw your comment on SMP today and just have to ask... "Is there a kiwi connection in there somewhere"? We use the koru (fern curls)in a lot of our wedding designs... for the symbolism... because people like them and want them... and because I am a kiwi!

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  3. Buying stamps was definitely an unexpected adventure- at least it was a successful one!

    Ella, thanks for stopping by. Koru starts lots of great conversations! I like the design of a swirl & many years ago it led me to buy a Koru necklace. The designer told me the story & symbolism of Koru which I tucked away in my memory. When it came to naming my shoppe, Koru fit perfectly in every way in that I love the design & the meaning. The full story is here:

    http://koruwedding.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-passion-my-idea-my-necklace.html

    I'm not using koru in my wedding florals (although I love that it's gotten so popular!) but koru is on my wedding invitations :-)

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  4. oh wow!! you know, i used to send off my etsy packages on the automated postal machine for $0.88 cents and they were fine! one day i decided to go up to a person and he said that same size package was $1.32!! i was totally baffled cuz i had gotten away with it for cheaper for soo long.. he said i was jipping them and it should have gotten sent back to me.. haha! i swear they never REALLY know the price!!

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  5. It's a little crazy what goes on in that post office world. As long as I don't get all our wedding invitations back, I'm happy!

    Sandy, thanks for joining! I love your blog & store :-)

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Hi, Lovely! Your kind comments are most welcome & always appreciated. XOXO

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