[blindkid] Free Matter for the Blind Question

Heather Field missheather at comcast.net
Mon Feb 3 23:01:02 UTC 2014


Hello,
I Believe the following solution would be less expensive than a stamp and 
just as effective. It also looks very official.
You could create your own labels. that's what I have done.
We just went into Microsoft Word and clicked on "make mailing labels" and 
made a nice, official-looking "free matter for the blind" label and printed 
out a few pages of them on the Avery address labels. Now, whenever I need to 
send something post free, I just peel and stick one of my official labels.

This is a good opportunity to teach some self-advocacy skills to your blind 
child. Even if they're only little they will see you standing up for your 
rights calmly and with the necessary information. That's one of the 
wonderful things about homeschooling, they get to learn how to deal with 
real life blindness issues.

In preparation for the next uninformed Post Office employee you could go to
www.usps.com
and download and print out the list of items and materials which can be sent 
post free for the blind. Take it with you to the Post Office and, If they 
challenge you about your packages,  you can have your blind child give the 
information to them personally and have him/her say sweetly "We brought this 
for you so you could have your very own copy of the rules so you'd always 
know them."
It's so frustrating that they treat you as though you're trying to get away 
with something illegal when it's so obvious you're not. I've had to argue 
with them myself and I'm standing there with a long white cane and have been 
sending this stuff all my adult life; as if I wouldn't know the rules.
Hope this helps.
Warmly,
Heather


-----Original Message----- 
From: empwrn at bellsouth.net
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2014 2:21 PM
To: Blindkid email
Subject: [blindkid] Free Matter for the Blind Question

Hey guys,

I am still sitting outside the post office feeling quite annoyed. I am here 
to return some items borrowed from our "local" school for the blind. We are 
homeschoolers and order materials through them with federal quota funds. I 
had one box that came from the school that was already marked "free matter 
for the blind". The other box was not marked but had a "priority mail" 
sticker on the left side with $0 sticker in the upper right corner where 
you'd usually find the postage paid. One of the postal employees tried to 
tell me that I'd have to pay to ship that one back. Fortunately, an 
apparently more knowledgeable employee walked up at just the right moment 
and said, "No, there is no charge. It's free matter for the blind."

What do you do when you are mailing items? Where can I get a stamp so I 
don't run into this again?

Marie Smith, mother of Jack



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