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<DIV>Hi All, </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This after noon I went to the Oradell post office to ship a large box of
Braille books I no longer use. I was sending to another blind person who lives
in NC.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I had my sister tape it lightly so it could be opened easily for
inspection, and it contained 4 sizeable volumes of Braille in the box. My sister
wrote “Free Matter For The blind & Handicapped” on the outside of the box as
well. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>When we got to the counter, the postal worker said I could not ship these
free matter and that I needed to get a certification of some type. I debated the
point with them (nicely) saying that all it required was that braille only was
in the box and that they were able to look in the carton. Given, I haven’t
mailed anything in this way in a long time. They called their supervisor at some
other location and came back saying again it required I had to fill out some
form they would mail to me and I would get special certification to ship as Free
Matter. I was almost going to pay for it, but when they started looking shipping
rates up on their computer a choice for sending free Matter was an option. Then
they further went on to start reading postal guidelines in the back room.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Bottom line was the postal clerk said as a “one-time only” courtesy to me,
she would let it go through as free matter since she could clearly see I was
blind! I offered to show them both my non-drivers license as well as my
handicapped parking plaque as proof I am blind. She did not want to see either
of those things. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Finally it went through, but I m left wondering how does braille matter
ship and what do I need to do to take advantage of it. Honestly, I next to never
use it except in cases like this when I have a braille book that’s no longer
being used. Oh, the 4 volumes I was shipping were not bound or covered, the
pages were just rubber-banded together and they seemed to have an issue with
that as well! <geeish> What are the rules and what certification do I
need? I don’t abuse this as a lot of blind people think they can ship any old
item for free. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks for any information on this that is accurate.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Eileen </DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>