Perfect Poundage

This week I have to mail a  package to Alabama.

In preparation, today I boxed the item up and then used my kitchen scale to weigh it. The package was right on the border of being too heavy for First Class (which, according the Post Office website, is the best way to send something if it's 13 ounces or less. Otherwise the class isn't cost effective.) 

The handy USPS Retail Postage Price Calculator showed that I had multiple mailing options, but I needed the package to get there relatively quickly and decided that Priority was the best choice. As a bonus, the rate also comes with tracking and enough insurance to cover the cost of the item I was sending.

Priority pricing kicks in when a package is 14 ounces or more. I needed to add a little extra weight to get my box over the minimum.

Later in the day I was out in the neighborhood and walked past a place where the city recently replaced the sidewalk. As they do, when the job was finished the workers added new topsoil and grass seed in the area that had been dug up. Several pieces of the crushed stone base had worked their way up to the top of the soil. I brought home one of the pieces, slid it into my box, and weighed the whole thing again. Now the box was easily within the Priority class, but not excessively.

I wonder if the person receiving the box will wonder why there's a rock in there?

Five years ago: No Phone. No Problem?