Going postal! Care to join me?

On May 14, the United States Postal Service is going to raise its rates. The price of a regular first class postage stamp will increase a few pennies.  The price of its Priority Flat Rate Box will increase from $8.10 to $9.15.  That's 13%.

But who cares, right?

Anyone who cares about our soldiers, that's who.

The Priority Flat Rate Box is the only (somewhat) affordable service that the family, friends, and other supporters of our soldiers can use to send them a number of things many of them desperately need: toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, sunscreen, pop-top canned goods, microwaveable soups. All of these items are heavy. Fill a medium-sized box with these items and see how much it will cost you to send it to an APO address via regular surface mail. The postage is much more than the cost of the items themselves.

Think about what it's like to be stuck far from home, working 12-hour shifts in triple-digit weather and filthy conditions, with very limited food choices and little to do during your rare hours off, feeling forgotten, and not knowing when it is all going to end. Some days, little packages from home are all that keep our soldiers going.

So...I'm going postal. Care to join me?

But...whatever can we Kossacks do?

Four things:

1. Send a soldier a package.

2. Organize a group to send packages to soldiers.

3. Get the word out.

4. Lobby to get Priority Flat Rate mailings to APO addresses excluded from the rate increase.

OK, I'm in! But...how do we do this?

Patience, little hoppin' Kossacks, patience. This is a heads-up.  All will be revealed to you in due time. Right now, I'm collecting information, putting together a website, preparing a flyer and sample letters to appropriate parties.  In the meantime...

If you want to send a package to a soldier, swing by your local post office and pick up a Priority Flat Rate Box, Priority mailing label, and customs form 2976-A.  If I have my way, in a week or so, post offices all over the country are going to start running short on these materials.

Think about how you can reach out.  Who ya gonna call?  What listservs do you belong to?  What about local groups...Democratic clubs, church groups, civic organizations? Do your kids belong to a scout troop?  This is an action that any group, large or small, can participate in and feel good about. And it won't be very hard to do, either. What about your employer? Would they send out (or let you send out) an email to all of your coworkers, asking them to please send a package to a soldier? Would they let you organize something at work?

Put on your thinking caps, Kossacks. Start your engines. Fasten your seatbelts. And stay tuned!

•  Tip:

  Check out http://www.anysoldier.com.

  by Free Spirit on Wed May 02, 2007 at 05:34:57 PM PDT

  •  Pri atization

    Great, just great, on the keyboard of my crapola Gateway laptop the letter between u and w don't work.

    So I can't spell pri itzation, which is why the postal workers are losing their health benefits, stamp prices are going up -- and ser ice to indi uals will get crappier, while costs will go down and ser ice will impro e for big business.

    Well, I' e been waiting for my crappy Gateway laptop to die, so I could buy something better, and it has! Or at least, one letter has, only two years into dealing with this piece of crapola.

    Don't buy Gateway, especially if you want a laptop that isn't as slow as the original Ice Age, and you want the use of the letter between u and w.

    by judybrowni on Thu May 03, 2007 at 09:35:12 PM PDT

  •  And www.booksforsoldiers.com -- send paperbacks

    And my loyal friends at www.operationshoebox.com

    by ddriscoll on Fri May 04, 2007 at 05:50:37 AM PDT

    •  Indeed! But...

      Paperbacks, DVDs, and CDs can be shipped via media mail. Although that rate will go up too, it's very reasonable to start with and will remain a bargain. So that's not where I would focus between now and May 14.

      by Free Spirit on Fri May 04, 2007 at 09:22:06 AM PDT

•  The USPS should just get funding

  to send the soldier's packages FREE.  It's the very least the government could do for them.  Deployed four times.  Current deployment extended.  At the very least they should get a lower rate.  Good action.  Recommended.

  by godislove on Wed May 02, 2007 at 05:40:36 PM PDT

  •  Yes, it's pathetic

    Our government can't even keep them supplied with the basics, and now we citizens have to pay to pick up the slack!

    Once we flood Iraq and Afghanistan with enough supplies to tide them over for a bit, I'm going to start working on that angle.

    by Free Spirit on Wed May 02, 2007 at 05:46:39 PM PDT

  •  it is free it costs the same to send the package

    to Atlanta from Augusta, from LA to New York  the plane ride to the mid east is done on Air Force planes, have any of you checked out international rates for the boxes you are sending, even at 8.80 it's a bargain  they decided not to raise it over 9 dollars it's in this mornings paper the Board of Governor's decided against the over 9 price hike  the post office has a big cost in fuel prices  and the rate is justified...just my two cents

    by testvet6778 on Thu May 03, 2007 at 09:27:49 AM PDT

    •  Cool

      I'm glad they reconsidered on the $9.10.  I know their Board of Governors was concerned about the magnitude of the proposed rate increase, although I don't think it was motivated by a concern over our soldiers, just a concern for the USPS's bottom line.

      But I'm not satisfied. $8.80 is not "free." And that's still a nearly 10% increase. I've already been spending over $100 a month on postage alone....way more than the cost of the items I'm sending. That's a stretch for me, but I'm in better shape many military families who are living pretty close to the bone these days.

      PS  Gee, I wonder if my phone calls and emails yesterday morning had anything to do with today's announcement? Especially my phone conversation with the wife of one of guys on the USPS Board of Governors. That'll teach him to post his home number on the interneet, LOL.

      by Free Spirit on Thu May 03, 2007 at 10:11:12 AM PDT

    •  Final rate increase is $8.95

      http://abclocal.go.com/...
      http://www.cantonrep.com/...

      by Free Spirit on Thu May 03, 2007 at 03:10:23 PM PDT

•  I'd rather bring the troops home

  than send them packages.  I know it's a longshot goal but, hey, I'm a dreamer.

  by Magnus Greel on Wed May 02, 2007 at 05:54:59 PM PDT

  •  Me too

    But there is no reason for them to be any more miserable than necessary while they are there.

    by Free Spirit on Wed May 02, 2007 at 06:06:50 PM PDT

•  Shouldn't the military be providing toothpaste?

  Seems like another example of this administration not supporting our troops.

  by Democrat on Wed May 02, 2007 at 06:26:53 PM PDT

  •  Apparently not

    I'm not a vet, nor from a military family, so I don't know the history on this, but it seems like the best they do is make these supplies available at the PX.  Problem is, they are gone as soon as they arrive, and many soldiers are located out in the desert, where they don't even have a PX.

    The surge seems to have exacerbated this problem.

    by Free Spirit on Wed May 02, 2007 at 07:01:13 PM PDT

•  Actually you

  are only paying the domestic rate to the APO or FPO, not to ship it to the war zone. Since you can easily get about 4# in the flat rate box, it's a great deal. The air Mail parcel post rate for 4 pounds would be $31.60 to Iraq. Throughout our wars there were always charges to send parcels to servicemen by the postal service but you only were charged to send the parcel to like New York, San Diego, Seattle, or Miami where the military transported it to the proper APO or FPO.

  I think it's great that people send these goodie packages. I sure liked to get them in Nam, as did my fellow men in arms.  

  by raster44 on Wed May 02, 2007 at 06:48:18 PM PDT

  •  Yes

    You only pay to ship it domestically, then the military takes it overseas. But for someone with limited means...which includes a lot of military families, $8.10 is not cheap, and $9.15 is really going to pinch.

    In addition, many soldiers get nothing from home. That puts it on the rest of us to send them stuff.  If you are mailing items to several soldiers regularly, it really starts to add up fast. And from my perspective, that extra dollar is one less that I have to spend on the stuff soldiers actually need.

    What is particularly distressing is that virtually every unit in Iraq just found out their deployment is being extended another 3 months.  They are feeling pretty down about now.  I can't imagine how they are going to feel if the packages start slacking off because of a rate increase they don't even know about. (What spouse struggling to keep food on the table wants to tell their soldier husband or wife that they can't afford to send packages quite as often now?)

    by Free Spirit on Wed May 02, 2007 at 07:08:15 PM PDT

•  This title really makes me want to write

  a parody of The Who's song called "Going Mobile".  I actually have thought about it a bit, but I fear that I would come off as a psychopathic murderer if I concluded it, and I assure everyone that I am not.  It is just how the original words and the association with "going postal" worked out to make a bizarre but interesting creation.  Warmest regards, Doc.

  by Translator on Wed May 02, 2007 at 08:09:57 PM PDT

•  Thank you Free Spirit

  For having your heart and mind in the right place.

  I'm so 'wired' I forget about those who depend on snail mail but you just can't email goodies to the troops.

  Thanks again.

  cb

  by craigb on Wed May 02, 2007 at 09:20:34 PM PDT

•  Geez... I remember

  how much it cost to send boxes when my friends were over there... but the last time I sent things, I gave them to a group that was sending packages over and also went through the USO... I'm with you... let me know how I can help - I'll pass this along to everyone I know...

  by crkrjx on Wed May 02, 2007 at 09:27:13 PM PDT

  •  USO

    The situation as I've pieced it together from letters from soldiers makes me think of the kid at the far end of the table when the mashed potatoes get passed down. The further away from the initial point of distribution, the less that is left over when it gets to you.

    The USO seems to do a nice job of delivering things to upstream points of distribution: AnySoldier makes it possible to send them straight to the kid at the end of the line. Someone said the USO put donated paperbacks at airports, so soldiers could pick them up as they left. So you get one paperback, maybe two...for a 12- to 18-month deployment. They do trade around once they are in the field, but still. With AnySoldier, I can ship a big box of paperbacks (thank god for media mail) straight to a soldier who is far, far away from the nearest FOB. Like the mashed potatoes, it may take awhile to reach him, but at least everyone else hasn't helped themselves first.

    The other thing that seems to characterize the occupation is a greater than usual diversity in circumstances. You have the "FOBettes" who are in relatively comfortable situations, asking for Starbucks and the latest release DVDs, versus soldiers who are literally sitting "out in the middle of nowhere with nothing" asking for some Crystal Light to flavor their water and a pack of cards. The USO seems to do well enough with the first situation, but it does not seem to reach the soldiers who are most in need. And probably who are most in harm's way.

    by Free Spirit on Thu May 03, 2007 at 08:33:10 AM PDT

•  With all due respect....

  Please don't complain about this fairly meager rate increase. I am a Letter Carrier, we are all union and Postal management (Board of Governors) have decided that to help save the cost of postage, they need to begin outsourcing our work to independent contractors (nice) and reduce our health care benefits (which ain't too good to begin with).

  A lot of these "contractors"  have been arrested for tossing/stealing the mail, drug use on the job , etc.

  Also, as you probably know, no tax dollars go to the USPS, all revenue must come from the sale of stamps. Support the troops, but ask congress to pay USPS to discount the rate for troops, not ask the USPS to do it for less than cost....

  by jesrf on Thu May 03, 2007 at 08:41:00 PM PDT

  •  No problem with a rate increase

    I'm sure USPS has been hit hard by the rising cost of gas and diesel fuel, as have their competitors. But they can increase some of their other rates to offset whatever holding this one rate steady for mail ONLY TO APO addresses might cost them in revenues. Thriving businesses do things for less than cost all the time.

    Also, with all due respect, my complaining isn't going to affect you at all. Complaining is just hot air. Only actual action has any impact, and the only action I'm pushing that has a reasonable chance of success is will get more people to mail more packages between now and May 12, thereby increasing postal revenues. Do you seriously have a problem with that?  Moreover, businesses go bust by raising their prices a "meager" amount all the time, largely because no one complained...so they didn't find out that they had priced themselves out of the market until after their sales tanked. I'm trying to warn the USPS that their rate increase may reduce their revenues. Do you seriously have a problem with that?

    Finally, with all due respect, I have a serious problem people who aren't taking any action themselves complaining about the actions other people are taking and trying to tell them what they should do instead.  If you want the Kossacks to lobby Congress to pay the USPS to discount the rate for troops, you have an account here, same as I do...although you don't seem to have done much with yours.

    by Free Spirit on Thu May 03, 2007 at 09:47:03 PM PDT

•  To be completely accurate,

  I'm putting a package together for a SAILOR who is out in the middle of nowhere.

  You mentioned 12-hour shifts in triple digit weather.  Most of us don't stop to think that this isn't a 9 to 5 job.  Our troops are working in extremely stressful positions for very long shifts.  Those packages can really make a difference.  And while you're at it, write a letter.  They like the letters as much as the packages.

  by fallina7 on Fri May 04, 2007 at 03:35:31 AM PDT

  •  Kudos

    Indeed. People in every branch are in need of our support and attention.

    The hours are awful. A lot of soldiers ask for food even though they are on a base with food service...because it's on the other side of the base and, at the end of a 12-hour shift, they are just too tired to walk over there, even to eat. If you've never worked in 100+ degree heat, you have no idea what it takes out of you. That's 100+ in the shade, by the way, and in the desert there is no shade.  Also, they don't get to wear shorts and a tank top...they are out there in full gear.  (Think 12-hour pro football game in mid-July.)

    Letters are THE BEST gift you can give! I haven't focused on them in this particular action because that rate is only going up 2 cents.

    by Free Spirit on Fri May 04, 2007 at 09:33:37 AM PDT