Mail FYI

blackhawkmom

5-Year Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Messages
198
Received 7 letters return mail today. I write everyday and was hurt beyond belief. Seems that unless it is a letter size envelope it costs about .80 to send. Just to let everyone know if you send a card birthday size or Christmas card size forever stamps will not work. I'm just worried how many more I will get back! No more dropping them in the mailbox for me I will make the trip to the post-office from here on out. Cost me 18.00 to send them so he will get them Monday. One of them I sent 9 days in-remember how we are supposed to number them. I'm just sick.
 
Mostly all I've sent to my Plebe (outside of care packages) have been card-size envelopes with writing on the card itself. Haven't had any returned. If you are sending letters on separate piecies of paper tucked into a card, maybe it exceeds the weight for a forever stamp?
 
If you're questioning how much postage is required on a letter, go to www.usps.com and use the postage calculator. Square envelopes, which are becoming common on cards, require extra postage because they are "nonmachinable" and must be processed by hand. Extra large or heavy letters also require additional postage, of course. We haven't had any letters returned so far. :thumb:
 
I hope blackhawkmom's son receives the letters. If they were resent other than USPS (i.e. Fedex or UPS), we were told delivery during plebe summer is more difficult because they arrive at the express office and not the regular mail office.

This incident may offer all an opportunity for reflection. In previous posts on the "first phone call thread," it was assumed mail was not picked up/delivered by detailers (to the point of invoking federal statutes/penalties) and prescribed medication was not picked up by detailers, implying a disregard for standard of care. These were proven to be mistaken assumptions. As several posters noted, there are always two sides to a story.

President Reagan's often used adage "trust but verify" comes to mind. USNA has been developing midshipmen for over a century and a half. I am certain lessons are learned every day. Will things go wrong? Yes. However, a tremendous amount of planning, effort, and oversight goes into carrying out the mission. In my opinion, there should be an underlying level of trust involved and good judgment exercised in the event that trust has to be verified.
 
I just had the same thing happen. Return to sender $0.11 cents over. Come on just send the thing. Its not like they won't make it up on the weekly over priced priority care packages we send.
 
Correct and correct--My post was intended to inform other parents so they would not have returned mail and that was all --when i did i knew full well i was opening myself up for a recall on "first phone call home".Concerning "first phone call home" I reposted the outcome and i could have left it as it was with no update. Verification received. As you say there are two sides to every story and both sides were revealed. but-there are also aspects of every story that will never be revealed in any situation. The letters I had returned were not consecutive so 5 days with out mail was not justified. Communication is key especially between terrified plebes and detailers as well as parents. Maybe my mistake is to trust and turn to this forum . I have been privately messaged concerning my previous posts by some who are afraid to ask the questions i have. My DS is not the only plebe with similar situations. From today forward i will try to join the silent majority and keep concerns to myself. I trusted this forum to be a place for information and advice-without any military experience i had hoped this would be a place to learn and inquire. i am sorry if i have offended any one or caused unnecessary concerns for other parents. I'm just a mom trying to make it through this summer along with my DS.

to positive thinking--thank you for the website-i have printed it out and will not make the same mistake again Thank you thank you.
 
I just had the same thing happen. Return to sender $0.11 cents over. Come on just send the thing. Its not like they won't make it up on the weekly over priced priority care packages we send.

I know you probably meant this tongue-in-cheek, but the USPS is a bureaucracy. The letter is either "OK" or "not-OK." It's black and white. They don't care who sent it or who the recipient is. If you're 1-cent short, it gets kicked back.
 
blackhawkmom - Murphy's Law has unfortunately struck you and your DS with a vengeance! I especially feel for you on the mail delivery - to know your child is having a very difficult time and trying to encourage him via letters only to have them returned is heartwrenching. Not sure what's worse - your DS not recieving the supportive letters, or you thinking that your DS is thinking that his mom isn't writing to him in his time of need. Hang in there, you'll be able to explain what happened when you speak to him Tuesday and PPW is only 12 days away.
 
Blackhawkmom -

Please don't be discouraged by the "condescending" few - Just know that there are many more people on this forum who will give you support regarding the concerns that you have for your son.
 
Blackhawkmom -

Please don't be discouraged by the "condescending" few - Just know that there are many more people on this forum who will give you support regarding the concerns that you have for your son.

Same here! We've got your back!:thumb:
 
Thanks for the heads up on the postage. I expect to get a letter returned now.
 
Blackhawkmom
This Navy family is very large, yet small at the same time. Us newbies need to learn from others, our own mistakes, and from our own experiences. This is new to so many of us and it broke my heart to think about your DS and the anguish you were/are going through as a mother. When you finally see your son you'll be able to find out the whole story...This tuesday, for the phone call, let him know how much you love him, that some letters were returned but you have resent them, and ask if he received his medication. He doesn't need to know all of the behind the scenes maneuvering just yet. It was good of you to call the chaplain in your time of need. And I will bet that his spirits have lifted, even if slightly. This phone call is for support to get these kids over that last hump to PPW. Find just one thing from him that is positive and work on that. Let him see his successes, even the small ones. Because those small successes are the building blocks to a better self esteem and that is what these plebes need right now. They are almost through with this summer. Academic year will be a whole nother storey....let your son feel succes as he finishes this last stretch.
 
I too had a letter returned for lack of postage, it was supposedly over the one ounce weight limit, and required 17 more cents...what made me the most mad was that I weighed it at home on a very accurate scale and it was 1.0 ounces exactly, so it never have been sent back in the first place. It was the letter I wrote after his first phone call, which was not a positive call at all, so the letter was full of encouragement and motherly/fatherly advice...it was all OBE when I got it back, two weeks later, so I opted not to resend it. I just wonder how many more I'll get back since I sent several since then, some even heavier than that one.
Blackhawkmom, we are here for you, this is a place you can come to vent, don't let the words of a few take that away, and thank you for the heads up about the mail being returned, I know exactly how sick this made you feel. Hopefully our phone calls tomorrow will have some positive aspects!
 
pink eye, missing meds and the postal service

Dear Blackhawk Mom,

I have been reading these blogs during plebe summer and have been following the stream of bad luck your son has had. I have likened this leaving home to those first few weeks when you bring your first baby home - time is suspended, everything feels a little surreal and there is constant low level worry which, thankfully you don't know at the time, never really goes away. I read some place that once you have children '' your heart walks around outside your body for the rest of your life.''
It has been a bit sobering to realize my heart now belongs to the US Navy :)

May I just say congratulations to you and your son for surviving this summer. I wish you a wonderful reuinion in 11 days and I hope your son feels strong and proud of making it through not just plebe summer but a really lousy one at that. Good for him!
 
Yup -- I got one back yesterday. I had mailed it on the 20th and it took 11 days for someone to figure out it needed 17 cents! So I added the extra postage, drove to the post office and weighed it on, not one, but two scales that were in the lobby and sure enough -- both scales weighed in at exactly 1 oz and 44 cents! This is the same size card I have been sending for years so I wrote a note on the back of the card explaining to my son what had happened and stuck it in the outgoing box. Wonder if the post office will return it to me again or cross out my message? Even if no one at the p.o.reads it, it made me feel better :) Unfortunately, every card I sent was that size, so now I'm waiting to see how many more will be returned.
 
For those who really want to know: 8:21:56 for you guys.

http://www.usna.org/events.html

Good luck for PPW. It will be great fun as you first see your MID in their Whites and take them out and show them off. They will probably only want to do it once as a courtesy to their parents. After that they will shower and sleep, sleep, sleep, eat junk food and work on long computer access.:biggrin: Then Reform and "Hello Night" which isn't realy that bad but detailers make it seem scary.

Only 297:19:51 to go.:thumb:
 
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