Speaking of mail and Kentucky...Tom's right. The amount of mailing I do has
enabled me to make an observation or two. Tales of mailed magazines are
plentiful! And amazing things happen to some of the overseas magazines.
Emilio Garcia and I mail publications back and forth a lot so that he can
do his new species listings on the Conch-Net, COA's webpage.  We've never
had a problem mailing them til last year...then a package containing about
4 very information-filled and expensive publications simply went missing,
and they have never showed up. The post office knows nothing of them, of
course, and that is that!  End of subject.  The publications are apparently
gone forever. We have enquired. The post office could care less.
 
I get a lot of sadly maimed shell club newsletters enclosed in the post
office's version of "body bags."  I should mention that almost invariably
they are the ones that are folded in half and stapled shut...the staples
seem to stick in the machinery. I also get about two rent or phone bill
checks or electric bill payments a month that are not meant for me...they
arrive inside newsletters that are not stapled on the ends. I always rush
them back to the mailman, but I wonder how many people's utilities have
been cut off because I didn't open my newsletter mail right away.   Best
route:  use those little round (or squared) stickers on the sides and ends.
Tape is also a beast to get open. The stickers will tear in half easily.
 
And while we are talking about mailing things shelly, inside or outside the
U.S. let me take this opportunity to mention package wrapping. (Shell
dealers, take heed!) When you wrap up a little box with that brown shiny
plastic packaging tape and obscure all the seams with the tape, getting the
package open is guaranteed to bring out some strong language..You can slit
and peel forever, and still not find the seam that opens!  The best
packaging I ever saw was by Rosemary Adams. She made a little dotted line
on top of the tape to show just where to slit the package open! A Flying
Tape Dispenser Award goes to you, Rosie! Thanks for your thoughtfulness!
 
Lynn Scheu
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Louisvlle, KY, Home of the 1999 COA Convention
Louavull
Luhvul
Lewisville
Looaville
Looeyville
Louisville!
Your kind of place!