LPMA Mail Reception

From Libertarian Wiki

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Problem 3 Options 3.1 Post office box 3.2 Private mail box 3.2.1 Mail Boxes Etc. 3.2.2 Mr. D Enterprises 3.2.3 Other private mail boxes? 3.3 Other options? 4 Questions 5 Solution 6 Comments

Introduction

This is a brainstorming page for helping LPMA activists select the best way to receive their postal mail.

There was a consensus that we shouldn't make any changes in this until after the 2004 election at the earliest. But when we make a change we want to make the best choice. Hence this page.

You can contribute to this page using only your Web browser. If you have an answer, idea, correction, clarification, or anything else that might be helpful, then simply click on the (Edit this page) link, make your change, and click on the (Save page) button.

Problem

What is the best way for the LPMA, which does not have a permanent office, to receive its postal mail? The goals are:

• Move the mail from our postal address to the person that receives it and distributes it within the organization.
• Be able to easilly switch the person that receives the mail as activist availability changes.
• Minimize $ expense.
• Minimize volunteer labor and other resources spent by our activists on this process.
• Minimize mail delivery delay. (Is there a specific minimum?)
• Minimize the probability of needing to change our postal address again, which means replacing our literature, transition confusion, etc.
• Other goals?

Options

Post office box

• Box rental per year: (depends on location?)
• Forwarding: no. (I think somebody told me the post office does only temporary forwarding for when somebody moves. Is this really true? ADL: this does not apply to businesses, like LPMA)
•  ?

Private mail box

Mail Boxes Etc.

(THIS IS WHAT WE ARE USING NOW)

• Box rental per year: over $300 annual (depends on location?)
• Forwarding: yes, $3 plus postage each time (But see Questions about forwarding.)
• Postage due stuff is held at the locate USPS and Mailboxes won't pick it up and forward it to us.
• They might be willing to pick up the postage due mail for us, but for an additional fee. [dwr]
• Individual Franchises: we can re-locate to another from the one in Salem.
• Currently, it is forwarded every two weeks at Ann's request. We could have it forwarded more frequently at $3 plus postage each time. - Side note some of it has arrived later than two weeks and appears trampled.
• At first it seemed that they might be willing to get our postage-due mail, but later they seemed to no longer be willing.

Mr. D Enterprises

Mr. D Enterprises is a business owned by libertarian Steve Drobnis.

• Box rental per year: $80.
• Forwarding: They will do forwarding for a fee. The charge each time mail is forwarded is $1, plus postage, plus $0.50 per envelope unless we provide preaddressed forwarding envelopes. The present understanding is that mail will be forwarded every 3 weeks, but this can be changed at any time.
• Sorting: Steve Drobnis has volunteered to do sorting at no charge for forwarding to multiple persons unless the volume becomes excessive, but the forwarding charges described above apply to each seperate forwarding address to which mail is sent.
• They will pick up our postage-due mail at the post office if we prepay money to an account that they can use to pay the postage.
• They will notify us when we need to send money to cover postage-due and forwarding costs.
• There is a $2.50 charge per box key that we want, including replacements for lost keys. However we might not need any keys.
• Although we will have only a box, our postal mailing address will appear as the following street address: LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF MASSACHUSETTS; 30 EAST CHESTNUT ST; SHARON MA 02067

Other private mail boxes?

Other options?

Questions

Here are some questions to answer about each mailing option under consideration.

• Questions about forwarding.
  • Is forwarding available?
  • Costs (labor, postage, etc.)?
  • How often is forwording done? The period between forwardings adds to delivery delay.
  • What happens if mail will not fit in the box? Will mail be returned? Will somebody need to make a special trip to the post office to get it? Some possible causes of overfilling are:
    • a burst of mail, which can happen after a large mailing, fills the box before a scheduled forwarding;
    • somebody mails a large package to the box.
  • What happens with postage-due mail, such as return-to-sender newsletters and such which we receive regularly? Does somebody need to go to the post office to get it, or is there a way to avoid this trip?

• If the forwarding service is not satisfactory then somebody must go to the box to get the mail. This can be costly for some activists depending on location. So:
  • How physically accessible is the box?
  • When: Business hours? After business hours? Weekdays? Weekends?
  • Location relative to activists or major roads?
  • Road traffic along the route to the box?

• Other questions?

Solution

• We decided to continue using the Mail Boxes Etc box until after the 2004 election, after which we would switch to a private mailbox provided by Mr. D Enterprises. This is what we did. Our new postal mailing address became: LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF MASSACHUSETTS; 30 EAST CHESTNUT ST; SHARON MA 02067

Comments

If you have an idea but don't know where or how to put it in the sections above, then put it below. Somebody can integrate it later.

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