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donnay said:
"Mailing copies of his newspaper for free" -- what does that mean? That he used the funds of the Postal Department? Or did he mail them out for free to people who signed up to receive them?
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His job as postmaster of philadelphia "entitled" him to send copies of the pennsylvania Gazette through the mail for free. He didn't have to pay to send the mail because he was postmaster. I don't know how much more clear I can be.

And hundreds of people had to come to his print shop and general store because it was the city's post office.

donnay said:
I am sure none of his inventions got him his wealth--the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'.
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They aren't what got him his wealth. By 1748 he was earning 2,000 pounds a year (about 300k/year in today's dollars).
Which put him as one of the wealthier people BEFORe a fair number of those inventions. Also he never sought patents an wanted to give his inventions away for the betterment of others.

edit: btw if you are interested in learning more on the subject I have an excellent book I recommend
"the intimate lives of the founding fathers" by Thomas Fleming.
 
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Steve-in-NY said:
At least they cant go through your snail mail without a warrant.
Right?
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Isn't that likely covered under the Not Patriot Act? They can write their own warrents now. So they do not have to wake up the judge for a warrent. :D
 
Krugerrand said:
We can all rest easily knowing that physical mail has never been lost or stolen.

That said, I am all about having my various statements mailed to me rather than sent electronically.
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I love snail mail ! Would not use it in Saudi though ...
 
amy31416 said:
Yes. However, it'd be far more difficult and actually take physical effort for them to go through snail mail on a large scale--and it'd be obvious. Can you imagine all of our very competent postal workers standing there with their steam kettles going, covertly opening grandma's birthday card?

That said, I sent a bottle of wine to my cousin as a thank-you, and the bitches didn't deliver it. Probably drinking it and eating the chocolates too. Bastards.
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What kind of wine ? To test the service , you should send me one :)
 
specsaregood said:
His job as postmaster of philadelphia "entitled" him to send copies of the pennsylvania Gazette through the mail for free. He didn't have to pay to send the mail because he was postmaster. I don't know how much more clear I can be.

And hundreds of people had to come to his print shop and general store because it was the city's post office.



They aren't what got him his wealth. By 1748 he was earning 2,000 pounds a year (about 300k/year in today's dollars).
Which put him as one of the wealthier people BEFORe a fair number of those inventions. Also he never sought patents an wanted to give his inventions away for the betterment of others.

edit: btw if you are interested in learning more on the subject I have an excellent book I recommend
"the intimate lives of the founding fathers" by Thomas Fleming.
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Well according to this historian it was the practice of the times since there was no numbering of houses and businesses.

In Scharf and Westcott's "History of Philadelphia" there is a list, compiled from many sources, yet incomplete, of the names of the postmasters of Philadelphia. From this it appears that Henry Flower filled the position in 1698, Captain John Hamilton in 1707, and Henry Flower again in 1722. It is reasonable to suppose that each of these gentlemen received and distributed the mail at his own home, whose exact location, could it be determined in each case, would establish the position of the Post Office building of that day.

In 1728, Andrew Bradford became postmaster. He was the son of William Bradford, the printer, and had established a printery and bindery of his own at his house in Second Street — "at his paternal sign of the Bible" — where he published his newspaper, the "American Weekly Mercury," and kept, besides, a large store. One of his advertisements reads:

"choice parcels of stationery lately imported from London, Dutch quills, blank books, royal, medium, demy and post paper, good slates, choice ink powders and japanned ink, sealing-wax and wafers, including crown and half-crown wafers for offices, folio letter cases, very good paper, as royal demy, superfine large post, foolscap, gilt paper for letters, fine glass ink fonts, very fine inkstands of various sort, and most kinds of stationery ware."

The printing office was the Post Office as well, according to the "Mercury's" issue of April 4, 1728, which announced that "the Post Office will be kept at the house of Andrew Bradford."

The postmaster seems to have combined the two with profit to himself, much to the discomfiture of his rival, Benjamin Franklin, publisher of "The Pennsylvania Gazette," who found it impracticable to have his own newspapers delivered by post as long as Bradford held office. But in 1737 the tables were turned when Bradford, whose returns had been unsatisfactory, was removed by the Postmaster General, Colonel William Spotswood, who thereupon appointed Franklin to the office. "I accepted it readily," says Franklin in his "Autobiography," "and found it of great advantage; for, tho' the salary was small, it facilitated, the correspondence that improved my newspaper...My old competitor's newspaper declined proportionately, and I was satisfy'd without retaliating his refusal, while postmaster, to permit my papers being carried by the riders."

http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/philadelphia/postoffice.htm
 
BTW, USPS contacted me about the package which disappeared in a nearby post office on September 20th.

"Dear Mr. Malec,

Please accept our apology for the inconvenience you have experienced regarding late delivery of a Priority Mail shipment.

We work very hard to offer good service to our customers, and it is genuinely disappointing to hear about instances when we simply do not meet your needs or achieve our service standards. Our operating standard for Priority Mail is 2-3 days, measured from Post Office™ to Post Office™. Due to the economical and competitive rates of Priority Mail, we do not provide a guarantee like our Express Mail service, nor can we track shipments as they move through our network. The delivery period you reported is certainly beyond our service standard, and I apologize for the inconvenience you incurred as a result. It is also possible that the item may have been delivered without the required delivery scan.

The Postal Service™ monitors feedback from customers like yourself, identifying patterns that permit us to take corrective measures in certain areas. Despite your obvious disappointment with this mailing, we assure you it does not reflect our usual service and hope you permit us another opportunity to serve you in the future.

**Your case has been investigated and a solution has been provided to you. Should you have any additional concerns, please return towww.usps.com to send them to the appropriate office. Please do not reply to this message.**"

1) tracking was paid for. It clearly went from the post office I dropped it off at to another office, and was not sent out again.

[TABLE="width: 958"]
[TR="class: details single-details, bgcolor: #FFFEEC"]
[/TR]
[TR="class: shaded, bgcolor: #FFFEEC"]
[TD="class: status"]Processed through Sort Facility
[/TD]
[TD="class: date-time"]September 20, 2011, 2:11 am
[/TD]
[TD="class: location"]WARRENDALE, PA 15086
[/TD]
[TD="class: features"]Expected Delivery By:
September 21, 2011

Delivery Confirmation[SUP]™[/SUP]


[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: details single-details, bgcolor: #FFFEEC"]
[TD="class: select"]Acceptance[/TD]
[TD="class: label"]September 19, 2011, 1:23 pm[/TD]
[TD="class: service"]ERIE, PA 16508[/TD]
[TD="class: status"][/TD]
[TD="class: date-time"][/TD]
[TD="class: location"][/TD]
[TD="class: features"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: details single-details, bgcolor: #FFFEEC"]
[TD="class: select"]Electronic Shipping Info Received [/TD]
[TD="class: label"]September 19, 2011[/TD]
[TD="class: service"][/TD]
[TD="class: status"]
[/TD]
[TD="class: date-time"]
[/TD]
[TD="class: location"][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

So.... Yes, you track shipments as they move through your network.

2) "Your case has been investigated and a solution has been provided to you." ..... No.
 
specsaregood said:
you do realize it isn't legal to send beer, wine or liquor through the USPS, right?
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It can be confiscated if they suspect it enough to open it, but AFAIK, there are no penalties beyond that. There'd be no reason to suspect it, unless the bottle broke, but it was packaged quite well.... they would have had to jump on the package or something.

In fairness to USPS, I once sent cooked bacon via mail as a joke since I couldn't get an urn open to send a cremated corpse, and the bacon in the envelope stuck in a processing machine, ending up tearing open the envelope. The USPS was generous enough to re-package the contents of the envelope and finish delivery.
 
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Kludge said:
It can be confiscated if they suspect it enough to open it, but AFAIK, there are no penalties beyond that. There'd be no reason to suspect it, unless the bottle broke, but it was packaged quite well.... they would have had to jump on the package or something.
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Ok, just checking. I mail homebrew to friends back and forth all the time; but just wanted to make sure you knew since you were getting them all into investigating. I too just package it up really well. I haven't had one break, yet. *knock on wood.
 
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