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Cream of the Crop 20
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Cream of the Crop 20 (Terry Blount) (1996).iso
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faq
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1996-06-11
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1,314 lines
Though we might wish to handle all mail electronically, we will
realistically need the post office for some time to come.
Remembering the various mailing options has not been easy, nor
has finding such information in an accessible form. I recently
found a web site of the United States Postal Service at
www.usps.gov and a handy consumer guide there.
Unfortunately, the guide was split into many small pages that
were tedious to retrieve. I thus combined them into a
single document with a contents summary at the beginning. I
hope this accessible reference is useful as long as we have Snail
Mail!
Jamal Mazrui
National Council on Disability
Email: 74444.1076@compuserve.com
CONTENTS SUMMARY:
CONSUMER'S GUIDE TO POSTAL SERVICES AND PRODUCTS
Getting mail to you
Getting mail to us
Choosing the right class of mail
Sending your mail abroad
Addressing and packaging your mail
Using special mailing services
Benefiting from other customer services
Using our consumer services
----------
United States Postal Service
Consumer's Guide to Postal Services and Products
* GETTING MAIL TO YOU How the Postal Service gets your mail to
you:
+ Central Point Delivery
+ City and Rural Delivery
+ Curbline Delivery
+ General Delivery
+ Mail Forwarding
+ Post Office Box and Caller Service
* GETTING MAIL TO US How to get mail into the Postal Delivery
System.
* CHOOSING THE RIGHT CLASS OF MAIL What classes of mail are
available:
+ Express Mail
+ Priority Mail
+ First-Class Mail
+ Second-Class Mail
+ Third-Class Mail
+ Fourth-Class Mail (Parcel Post)
* SENDING YOUR MAIL ABROAD How to send mail to foreign countries
and military bases:
+ Customs
+ INTELPOST
+ International Mail
+ Parcels and Publications sent to Military Bases
+ Recorded Delivery
* ADDRESSING AND PACKAGING YOUR MAIL Regulations and helpful
hints on preparing mail for delivery:
+ Abbreviations
+ Addressing Mail
+ ZIP Code
+ ZIP+4
+ Minimum Size Standards
+ Nonstandard Size Mail
+ Packaging and Addressing Parcels
* USING SPECIAL MAILING SERVICES Available special services:
+ Certificate of Mailing
+ Certified Mail
+ Collect on Delivery (COD)
+ Insurance
+ Merchandise Return Service
+ Registered Mail
+ Restricted Delivery
+ Return Receipt
+ Return Receipt for Merchandise
+ Special Delivery
+ Special Handling
+ Special Service Endorsements
* BENEFITING FROM OTHER CUSTOMER SERVICES Other services
available at your Post Office:
+ Cash Receipt
+ Easy Stamp Services
+ Mailgram
+ Money Orders
+ Passport Application
+ Personal Checks
+ Postage Meters
+ Stamp Collecting
* USING OUR CONSUMER SERVICES How to deal with problems:
+ Claims
+ Complaints and Suggestions
+ Inquiries
+ Mail Fraud/Mail Order Problems
+ Pornographic and Undesirable Mail
+ Postal Answer Line
+ Refunds
+ Unsolicited Merchandise
Address comments to: customer@email.usps.gov
-----
GETTING MAIL TO YOU
Our mission is to provide you with daily mail service. Our
responsibility is to deliver this service as efficiently as possible.
There are many ways in which an individual customer may receive mail.
The type of delivery you receive depends on several factors, primarily
physical location. Some of the common delivery methods are described
below.
CENTRAL POINT DELIVERY
Central point service provides delivery to several addresses at one
delivery point. Carriers can serve customers quickly and at less cost
than if boxes were located separately. This, along with curbline
delivery, is one of the two service options offered to new residential
areas.
Neighborhood delivery and collection box units (NDCBUs) are one
example of central point service. These units are conveniently located
and provide for the delivery and collection of mail. The delivery
compartments are individually locked and large enough to accommodate
magazines, merchandise samples, and several days' accumulation of
mail. Outgoing mail may be deposited in a designated compartment.
Parcel lockers, which are installed in many locations alongside
NDCBUs, save the customer trips to the post office to pick up
packages. With this service, customers enjoy greater mail security and
convenience.
CITY AND RURAL DELIVERY
City and rural delivery services are provided from more than 30,000
delivery post offices across the nation. Generally, for rural delivery
to be established, roads must be passable year-round; mailboxes must
be on the right-hand side of the road on the carrier's line of travel;
and extensions of delivery routes must serve at least one family for
each additional mile of carrier travel.
Areas to be served by city delivery must have paved or improved
streets; street signs and house numbers displayed; and 50 percent of
the building lots developed with residences or other structures. For
more information, call or visit your local post office.
CURBLINE DELIVERY
Curbside service provides delivery to customer boxes located at curbs
that can be safely and conveniently served by carriers from their
vehicles. If there are unusual conditions that make it impractical or
difficult to serve boxes at the curb such as excessive street parking/
customers may install boxes at the edge of the sidewalk closest to
their homes where they can all be served by the carrier from the
sidewalk. The local post office makes this determination after all
other delivery options, including central point delivery, have been
explored.
GENERAL DELIVERY
General delivery is used primarily at offices without carrier delivery
or those serving transients and other customers who do not have a
permanent mailing address. Mail endorsed "General Delivery" is placed
in a general delivery case. It is delivered to the addressee upon
request at a retail window and with proper identification. In offices
with carrier delivery, customers with sufficient reasons may also
receive their mail through general delivery.
MAIL FORWARDING
Before you move, complete Form 3575, Change of Address Order, at your
local post office. Whenever possible, notify your post office at least
one month before your move so that we can keep your cards and letters
coming. Also, be sure to notify your correspondents.
Be sure that the effective date of the change is on all notification
forms. Your complete new address should include any directional
(north, east, south, west); the correct suffix (ST,AVE, RD, etc.);
apartment number, rural route number, box number; and correct ZIP Code
or ZIP+4 code (if known). These are all essential to proper
addressing.
First-Class Mail, such as cards and letters, is forwarded for one year
only. There is no charge for this service. Second-class mail,
including magazines and newspapers, is forwarded at no charge for 60
days from the effective date of your change-of-address order.
Publishers are required to subscribe to our address correction
services. So, normally, your second-class publications will not need
to be forwarded for longer than 60 days. This applies to permanent
moves only. Publishers are not provided address correction information
for temporary moves. So, if you file a temporary change of address,
you will need to notify the publisher in advance of your move and
again before you return.