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