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Re: mailing with USPS
Most of the USPS concerns have come up on the killitalk list over the past
month or two. The general concensus there (from folks who mail out LOTS of
fish and eggs regularly) is that 1) mail is slow...especially if you mark it
as "live" anything. If it is unmarked, priority mail still seems to take
about 3 days (and Saturday shipping seems to be the most favorable). If it
is live, it seems that it now takes longer (significantly so). 2)
irradiation is an option that the USPS has talked about, and they even say
some could be in effect by Nov. 1, but it is unlikely to be any problem for
us any time soon (some said it would require the devices at all
international arrival points, but to stop it domestically would also require
the devices at ALL post offices...not very cheap to say the least). If this
goes forward, it will probably be slow, and if the source of the anthrax is
found soon, this idea is likely to go the way of the dodo before ever being
implemented. 3) even if irradiation (I suppose I'm using the correct word,
but I think you know what I mean) is used on the mail, there will almost
HAVE to be ways to get your packages safely mailed when they contain such
things as plants/fish/eggs/film/etc. For now it is probably just something
to keep in mind as a possible problem in the future. And, if worse comes to
worst, there are other carriers besides the USPS that we may have to turn
to. So, for now the best option seems to be to continue mailing out
plants/fish/eggs, but if you can, do so on Saturday, and don't mark them as
"live."
Cameron, who is just paraphrasing a lengthy discussion on killitalk, so if
you haven't heard it there, you can check their archives
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