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| Global USPS Forever Stamps |
We rely heavily on the United States Postal Service here in rural Alaska. There is no Fed Ex or UPS delivery, only mail. We can get the other two, but those items are turned over to the Postal Service or contractor for delivery. The cheapest way to send and receive packages to and from the Interior of Alaska is USPS. There has been lots of press lately about the financial situation of the Postal Service, mostly negative. A revenue based operation that has seen their income stream dwindle due to modern technology. From the amount of credit card solicitations we still get by mail along with the other junk mail, you gotta wonder how bad off they would be without that garbage. I for one, especially living here, am very thankful for the USPS. Even though it can take days to get packages, they can arrive looking like they went through a war zone and were run over by a dump truck, it's still our best bang for the buck. Thankfully, some ham radio stores understand this and will ship items to Alaska via USPS. Sadly, a few stores do not. So, they don't get my business when I feel the urge to stimulate the economy. Even many postings on eBay will say "Continental United States Only" or "Lower 48 States Only" and oddly enough, USPS Priority Mail is an option. Yes, Alaska is a DXCC entity but the United States Postal Service does deliver here! Flat Rate is Flat Rate, even to Alaska (have you seen the commercial?)! So, to the Postal Service, thanks! We are glad you are here. And to those who will ship USPS for us here in remote parts of Alaska, "Thank You!" The United States Postal Service might not be here forever but their stamps will last that long! Or so they say...
Asked my post office for these a while back. They where on order so I should check again. Nice. Have recycled my IRCs out to others to confirm new DXCC countries as the Nenana Post office didn't want to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteCarl, I have not tried using the IRC's at Denali. Figured they were a contracted Post Office so they would have a tougher time dealing with them. Healy however, does. I worked with the staff there and when I first attempted to use and IRC, they did not know how to redeem it. (I purchased them more than cashing them in when I lived back in Ohio). I explained to Healy crew what they were and how they worked. They asked me to come back after they did some research. They figured it out and they now keep a "cheat sheet" for when I produce them. Smooth sailing since then.
ReplyDeletePhil,
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of the United States Postal Service as one who served in the Military Postal System in places like the Philippines, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Sometimes, I wonder, if we have forgotten their cred that is delivering the mail in rain, snow, or good weather? For me, USPS, remains very important to our country.
73, DRR