Great story!
 
Scott Jordan
-----Original Message-----
From: Kim C. Hutsell <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, March 25, 1999 8:55 AM
Subject: Shells and Postal Service
 
 
>Tom,
>
>With all the various discussion about shells being lost in the mail, I
>thought you might enjoy hearing about a related incident that happened a
>few years back.
>
>In the summer of 1988, our son Jeremy went to Seattle for a visit. Of
>course, while he was there he took every opportunity to go shell
>collecting in Puget Sound and found some really spectacular specimens of
>Nucella lamellosa and Ceratostoma foliatum. But...being a teenager...he
>didn't want to spend his vacation time cleaning shells...just collecting
>them. So, he called me and asked if he could send them home to San Diego
>and asked if I would clean them for him. I was more than happy to do
>that.  I told him to freeze the shells, then to wrap them up air tight,
>use a big box with lots of packing and send them 'Next Day Air Mail'.
>That way they would be just about thawed, but still fresh. I'd even pay
>the postage for him.
>Well...Jeremy followed my instructions exactly. The post office, however,
>didn't honor the 'Next Day Air'. Five days later...I got a notice to pick
>up the package. When I went to get it, they couldn't find the package.
>Finally, they located the parcel where they'd put it out BEHIND the post
>office and brought it out to the front counter, wheeling it along in a
>cart at arm's length. The pungent odor of rotting shells immediately
>filled the room.
>        "What IS this?" the postal worker asked.
>        Seeing the size of the package and thinking about the extra money
>we'd paid for a service the post office failed to perform, I gave the
>clerk my most horrified expression. "OH, MY GOD...MY DOG!"
>My expression of horror was nothing compared to that of the one I got
>from the clerk.
>
>I never actually told them what was in the package but, for some
>reason...for a long time after that, they always called me immediately if
>I recieved any mail bigger than a postcard.
>
>Kim Hutsell
>San Diego