my, how time flies

wrote:
jmcquown wrote:
mlbriggs wrote:
On Wed, 08 Feb 2006 01:07:30 +0000, Christina Websell wrote:

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
A while ago, just a few weeks to my memory, I got a PO Box. Paid
for 6 months.

I kept telling myself I'd check it soon, but hadn't.

Well. I finally got my butt into the post office (just a half
mile
or
so from where I work) and ... the PO Box was locked. Seems I
haven't checked the damn thing in over 6 months.

It hadn't yet been reserved, so I was able to pay for another 6
months
and even get all the mail that had accumulated (not much).

Still. How did 6 months slip by so quickly?

I felt a little bit better when the guy behind the counter told me
this was a pretty common problem.

Why do you need a P.O. Box? Why can't your mail come directly to
your house like mine does?

Tweed


If no one is home during the day, it might be safer that way.
We have been told to watch our boxes carefully because there have
been mail thieves active in this region.-- especially those who
have a mailbox
at the curb rather than the house. MLB

I get my mail at the curb and even when I'm not home during the day
I pick it up when I come home in the evening. It's no more fearful
than renting a P.O. box and walking in to get something in a quiet
enclosed unguarded space.

Jill

I think she means your *mail* is much safer, not you. Most home
mailboxes don't lock (although I think some apartments do). Anyone can
steal your mail, and that's one way identity theives work. At a PO
box,
no one has access to your mail.
A friend of mine had a box of new checks stolen from her front door
mailbox. It was a real nightmare for her.

Sherry

If anyone wants to steal my identity they are welcome to it! I am in debt
up to my ears although I'm holding my own. They are welcome to my credit
cards (on which they can charge nothing) and hey, I don't get checks in the
mail every week! Have fun being me, guys! LOL

Jill

On 2006-02-08, jmcquown penned:
Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

My personal mail does. I've been trying to start a little
business, and my husband didn't feel comfortable advertising our
home address as the contact location. Thus the box.

Obviously you aren't all that excited about this business or you
would have been jumping at the chance to check the box every chance
you got. Who knows what you missed in 6 months?

Jill


Well, I got a lot of the pieces together, but I didn't advertise at
all. I had one advertising plan, and when that plan fell through, I
didn't have a backup plan. So, without advertising, I wasn't too
worried about missing anything. In any event, I didn't envision the
PO Box as the first means of contact.

It's not that I'm not excited about the business; it's that I have a
more than full time job already, and some other timesinks that have
come up. When I get home, it's hard to think of doing anything but
veg. Obviously, I need to make the time if I really care about it.

Argh, I feel like I'm being attacked when all I wanted to say is "wow,
I can't believe how fast 6 months flew by." I opened myself
up for commentary by posting, but sheesh. I don't see how it hurts
anyone for me to spend $14 on 6 months of a PO Box.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

On 2006-02-08, penned:

I think she means your *mail* is much safer, not you. Most home
mailboxes don't lock (although I think some apartments do). Anyone
can steal your mail, and that's one way identity theives work. At a
PO box, no one has access to your mail. A friend of mine had a box
of new checks stolen from her front door mailbox. It was a real
nightmare for her.


Our neighborhood has one communal mailbox area for every 10 or so
houses. It's an ugly beige box with a mail slot for each house, each
with its own lock. If you get a package, it gets put in one of the
two larger bins and the key is in your slot.

It's really ugly, but I guess it does keep people out of your mail.
And keeps kids from banging up your mailboxes.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

On 2006-02-08, jmcquown penned:

If anyone wants to steal my identity they are welcome to it! I am
in debt up to my ears although I'm holding my own. They are welcome
to my credit cards (on which they can charge nothing) and hey, I
don't get checks in the mail every week! Have fun being me, guys!
LOL


Argh. I see your point.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
On 2006-02-08, jmcquown penned:
Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

My personal mail does. I've been trying to start a little
business, and my husband didn't feel comfortable advertising our
home address as the contact location. Thus the box.

Obviously you aren't all that excited about this business or you
would have been jumping at the chance to check the box every chance
you got. Who knows what you missed in 6 months?

Jill


Argh, I feel like I'm being attacked when all I wanted to say is "wow,
I can't believe how fast 6 months flew by." I opened myself
up for commentary by posting, but sheesh. I don't see how it hurts
anyone for me to spend $14 on 6 months of a PO Box.

I'm not attacking you! Please don't feel that way, Monique! It' just
sounds a bit odd, is all. I would be interested in this business you are
trying to start up. But I can't send you money

Jill

On 2006-02-08, jmcquown penned:
Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
On 2006-02-08, jmcquown penned:

Obviously you aren't all that excited about this business or you
would have been jumping at the chance to check the box every
chance you got. Who knows what you missed in 6 months?

Jill

Argh, I feel like I'm being attacked when all I wanted to say is
"wow, I can't believe how fast 6 months flew by." I opened myself
up for commentary by posting, but sheesh. I don't see how it hurts
anyone for me to spend $14 on 6 months of a PO Box.

I'm not attacking you! Please don't feel that way, Monique! It'
just sounds a bit odd, is all. I would be interested in this
business you are trying to start up. But I can't send you money


Sorry; I guess I'm a little testy. I do feel foolish for opening a PO
Box and never checking it. So I read your post as "You shouldn't even
bother with this business." I do feel guilty for not spending more
time on it.

The business is cover letter consultation. I've seen a lot of bad
cover letters! I'm sure I could make a difference, if only I found
the time!

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

On Tue, 7 Feb 2006 15:42:25 -0700, "Monique Y. Mudama"
wrote:

A while ago, just a few weeks to my memory, I got a PO Box. Paid for
6 months.

I kept telling myself I'd check it soon, but hadn't.

Well. I finally got my butt into the post office (just a half mile or
so from where I work) and ... the PO Box was locked. Seems I haven't
checked the damn thing in over 6 months.

It hadn't yet been reserved, so I was able to pay for another 6 months
and even get all the mail that had accumulated (not much).

Still. How did 6 months slip by so quickly?

I felt a little bit better when the guy behind the counter told me
this was a pretty common problem.

I always worry about that with mine, too, since I do the six months
rather than a year. Somehow (so far) I've always remembered, even if
just barely! Glad you were able to keep it going.

Ginger-lyn
who rarely gets much in hers either, except lovely holiday cards for
you folks :-)

Home Pages:
http://www.moonsummer.com
http://www.angelfire.com/folk/glsummer (homepage & cats)
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb....mmer/index.htm (genealogy)
http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence Against
Animals in Movies Website)

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...
On 2006-02-08, Christina Websell penned:
Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
A while ago, just a few weeks to my memory, I got a PO Box. Paid
for 6 months.


[snip]


Why do you need a P.O. Box? Why can't your mail come directly to
your house like mine does?


My personal mail does. I've been trying to start a little business,
and my husband didn't feel comfortable advertising our home address as
the contact location. Thus the box.


Ah, I see, thank you for the explanation although I do realise it was none
of my business ;-)
It just seemed strange. Whilst some people (and businesses) here in the UK
use P.O. boxes it always makes me a bit suspicious if businesses use one, it
looks as if they don't want to be traced should things go wrong.
I hadn't thought about theft from mailboxes in the USA either.
I'm a bit spoilt, my postman puts my letters through my "letter box" which
is not a box at all, but a brass clad slit in my front door and they drop
safely on to the carpet in my hall.

Tweed

On 2006-02-08, Christina Websell penned:

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...

Why do you need a P.O. Box? Why can't your mail come directly to
your house like mine does?


My personal mail does. I've been trying to start a little business,
and my husband didn't feel comfortable advertising our home address as
the contact location. Thus the box.


Ah, I see, thank you for the explanation although I do realise it was none
of my business ;-)

I do recognize (now) that it was kind of an odd thing to post about
without giving a backstory.

It just seemed strange. Whilst some people (and businesses) here in the UK
use P.O. boxes it always makes me a bit suspicious if businesses use one, it
looks as if they don't want to be traced should things go wrong.

Me too. Much like companies that use a geocities etc. web address. I
think, if they can't be bothered to get their own domain (very easy
and cheap), how likely are they to stay around?

But my husband said that he didn't feel comfortable with our home
address being published; that unsavory people might use that
information to bad ends.

.... Although it just occured to me to check, and sure enough, he
doesn't have the contact info for his vanity domain obscured. (For
example, I own bounceswoosh.org, and my domain registrar allows me to
use them as a proxy address for a fee, so that no one can directly
contact me using whois records.) Sorry if that was all technobabble.

I hadn't thought about theft from mailboxes in the USA either.
I'm a bit spoilt, my postman puts my letters through my "letter box" which
is not a box at all, but a brass clad slit in my front door and they drop
safely on to the carpet in my hall.

I miss having my own mailbox in front of my house. As it turns out,
our mailbox is only a few steps away, but some people who get their
mail at that box have to take a short walk to get there. But
regardless, to me, these communal beasts look very ugly.

In contrast, where I grew up, we had a set of five or six mail boxes
for each cul de sac, but we each had a separate, traditional-looking
mailbox, and they had a wooden framework that looked pretty nice. The
ones we have where I live now are so ... institutional looking!

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

It just seemed strange. Whilst some people (and businesses) here in the UK
use P.O. boxes it always makes me a bit suspicious if businesses use one, it
looks as if they don't want to be traced should things go wrong.
I hadn't thought about theft from mailboxes in the USA either.

Unfortunately it's all too common. Nancy and I had have had such a problem
with mail theft out of our mailbox that we've had to switch our mail
delivery to our PO box.

Now if the post office would finally stop returning some of our mail to
the sender for no apparent reason we'd be all set.