As a hobby over the last couple years I sell Rock & Roll Memorabilia
on Ebay and now Yahoo.  A large percentage of which are posters. I too
use the FREE poster tubes from the USPS.  I too have run into the same
problem having to fill out forms stating that I will use the tubes for
their designated purpose and "nothing else".  I too am having trouble
getting these tubes to fill orders.

I have never loved the things the USPS has done over the years,
especially the new price increase which for sure is going to dip into
Wirt's bottom line as well as mine for shipping already promised items
with a 75 cent per shipment increased to the new 2lb Priority Rate.

Wirt, I suggest a company called Bags Unlimited for buying Tri-Tubes.
On quantity they drop to about $1.00 each.  Considering the new postal
rates, you may actually wind up saving money by being able to ship at
a lower rate.  If you need their info, I would be happy to provide it
for you…. After all I too am waiting for my calendar!

Take care,

Craig S.

Craig L. Solomon
The  IT Consulting Consortium
Office: 541-924-0736 / eFax: 561-760-0179
Mobile: 503-580-5127 / [log in to unmask]
http://www.craigs.com


<<<<<<>>>>><
On Sat, 30 Dec 2000 15:00:39 -0600 (Central Standard Time), Wirt Atmar
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I received a great deal of private mail concerning my comments about the post
>office, much of asking why would the post office warn/threaten you about
>defrauding the government?
>
>I can't answer the question directly, but I can say that we've gotten the
>same lecture two years in a row now. But let me also say, to be fair, we
>always ask for these large number of mailing tubes just right before
>Christmas and they may believe that there is some sort of connection (perhaps
>with us using them as free present wrappers or something).
>
>What I particularly want to emphasize is that our relationship with the post
>office is not nearly as negative as it may seem. Like any large organization,
>the entire face of the company is taken on by the last person you speak to.
>It's just that with UPS and FedEx, you're much more likely to get a uniformly
>friendly and helpful person on the other end of the phone. But the post
>office is improving.
>
>And also to be fair, when you ask UPS or FedEx for a large number of
>supplies, they too sometimes get a little grouchy. It's obvious that their
>supplies do cost money, and they want to run in as cost-effective a manner as
>possible.
>
>Nevertheless, in the last two days we have received 140 mailing tubes, with
>another 760 on order. We are back in business now and the calendars have
>begun shipping again. Hopefully we will be able to complete the run with no
>further interruptions with the remaining supplies arriving soon.
>
>I still now anticipate that we'll be printing calendars until the end of
>January.
>
>Wirt Atmar