Sending yourself through the mail

[bandit957]

Would it be possible or legal to send yourself through the mail?

I've actually considered this to cut down on travel costs. But I don't know if it would work.

My idea was to climb into a cardboard box and mail it somewhere. The postage costs are less than the cost of fuel or bus or air fare.

[kphoger]

Would it be possible or legal to send yourself through the mail?

I've actually considered this to cut down on travel costs. But I don't know if it would work.

My idea was to climb into a cardboard box and mail it somewhere. The postage costs are less than the cost of fuel or bus or air fare.

After you get into the box, how will you tape it up and get it to the post office?

[triplemultiplex]

Hopefully you don't get snatched up by a porch pirate!

[kphoger]

For a serious answer:

Possible — No.  They'd find you upon the package's being x-ray scanned.  Also, there's a decent chance you'd run our of air.  And every person handling the package would realize you were in there anyway.

Legal — No.  While there may or may not be an actual law on the books to prohibit mailing yourself, it's still true that live humans aren't listed as deliverable mail in the way that live birds are.

[JayhawkCO]

I still think I'm batting 1.000 on guessing who started a thread just by seeing the title for two or three posters here.

[kphoger]

Wouldn't it be fun to dress up as a Sesame Street character, mail yourself to another state for some roads scholaring, and deliver a bunker blaster inside the box while bubbling?  That would totally bip.

[Mr_Northside]

The Velvet Underground had a song that involved this idea.

https://youtu.be/_Gwth0jfdfc?si=f4iq9wn9L6UDpkho

[Rothman]

I'm a-gonna wrap myself in paper
I'm gonna dab myself with glue
Stick some stamps on top of my head
I'm a-gonna mail myself to you.

...

Only on AARoads would such a suggestion need to be taken seriously...

[tmoore952]

The Velvet Underground had a song that involved this idea.

https://youtu.be/_Gwth0jfdfc?si=f4iq9wn9L6UDpkho

For which anyone interested should either listen to, or read the lyrics to find out what happened. (it's humorous)

[Big John]

No: https://www.shippingschool.com/can-you-legally-ship-a-person/

[Brandon]

People actually used to send children through the mail, as odd as that might seem.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/

Just a few weeks after Parcel Post began, an Ohio couple named Jesse and Mathilda Beagle "mailed" their 8-month-old son James to his grandmother, who lived just a few miles away in Batavia. According to Lynch, Baby James was just shy of the 11-pound weight limit for packages sent via Parcel Post, and his "delivery" cost his parents only 15 cents in postage (although they did insure him for $50). The quirky story soon made newspapers, and for the next several years, similar stories would occasionally surface as other parents followed suit.

Apparently postage was cheaper than a train ticket.

[kphoger]

No: https://www.shippingschool.com/can-you-legally-ship-a-person/

I saw that.  It claims it's illegal but does not supply a reference to the actual regulation.  I'm unable to find one.  Plenty of regulations about medical specimens, body parts, etc, but not actual live human beings.  The section about mailing live animals does mention that they have to be mailed without any food or water in the container.

[kphoger]

People actually used to send children through the mail, as odd as that might seem.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/

Just a few weeks after Parcel Post began, an Ohio couple named Jesse and Mathilda Beagle "mailed" their 8-month-old son James to his grandmother, who lived just a few miles away in Batavia. According to Lynch, Baby James was just shy of the 11-pound weight limit for packages sent via Parcel Post, and his "delivery" cost his parents only 15 cents in postage (although they did insure him for $50). The quirky story soon made newspapers, and for the next several years, similar stories would occasionally surface as other parents followed suit.

Apparently postage was cheaper than a train ticket.

Translation:  the mail carrier agreed to let their kid ride with him for "about a mile (according to the actual newspaper article)", they thought it would be funny to pay postage and insurance, and the anecdote has survived to this day.

[epzik8]

People actually used to send children through the mail, as odd as that might seem.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/

Just a few weeks after Parcel Post began, an Ohio couple named Jesse and Mathilda Beagle "mailed" their 8-month-old son James to his grandmother, who lived just a few miles away in Batavia. According to Lynch, Baby James was just shy of the 11-pound weight limit for packages sent via Parcel Post, and his "delivery" cost his parents only 15 cents in postage (although they did insure him for $50). The quirky story soon made newspapers, and for the next several years, similar stories would occasionally surface as other parents followed suit.

Apparently postage was cheaper than a train ticket.

Translation:  the mail carrier agreed to let their kid ride with him for "about a mile (according to the actual newspaper article)", they thought it would be funny to pay postage and insurance, and the anecdote has survived to this day.

I believe it in the context of that day and age.

[Road Hog]

Be quicker to just fax yourself. 

[GaryV]

Be quicker to just fax yourself. 

Make sure the other end still has a landline.   

[Big John]

Be quicker to just fax yourself. 

copy that

[jeffandnicole]

How many people does it take before the bulk rate kicks in?

[SectorZ]

The max weight is 70 pounds, so you're SOL unless you can really attain the most unhealthy of weights while not dying.

[Brandon]

People actually used to send children through the mail, as odd as that might seem.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/

Just a few weeks after Parcel Post began, an Ohio couple named Jesse and Mathilda Beagle "mailed" their 8-month-old son James to his grandmother, who lived just a few miles away in Batavia. According to Lynch, Baby James was just shy of the 11-pound weight limit for packages sent via Parcel Post, and his "delivery" cost his parents only 15 cents in postage (although they did insure him for $50). The quirky story soon made newspapers, and for the next several years, similar stories would occasionally surface as other parents followed suit.

Apparently postage was cheaper than a train ticket.

Translation:  the mail carrier agreed to let their kid ride with him for "about a mile (according to the actual newspaper article)", they thought it would be funny to pay postage and insurance, and the anecdote has survived to this day.

Read the whole linked story.  There's more, including one who was mailed 73 miles.

[Plutonic Panda]

For a serious answer:

Possible — No.  They'd find you upon the package's being x-ray scanned.  Also, there's a decent chance you'd run our of air.  And every person handling the package would realize you were in there anyway.

Legal — No.  While there may or may not be an actual law on the books to prohibit mailing yourself, it's still true that live humans aren't listed as deliverable mail in the way that live birds are.

I may be crazy and I'll have to go research this but I believe somebody did that. I might be thinking of something else, but it seems like it would definitely be possible. Getting caught by an x-ray would fall into the legality issues. But theoretically it should be possible. Depending on how long it takes you, you could get away without needing food. You need water and oxygen though. Both of those things should be fairly easy to equip yourself with.

[kphoger]

People actually used to send children through the mail, as odd as that might seem.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/

Just a few weeks after Parcel Post began, an Ohio couple named Jesse and Mathilda Beagle "mailed" their 8-month-old son James to his grandmother, who lived just a few miles away in Batavia. According to Lynch, Baby James was just shy of the 11-pound weight limit for packages sent via Parcel Post, and his "delivery" cost his parents only 15 cents in postage (although they did insure him for $50). The quirky story soon made newspapers, and for the next several years, similar stories would occasionally surface as other parents followed suit.

Apparently postage was cheaper than a train ticket.

Translation:  the mail carrier agreed to let their kid ride with him for "about a mile (according to the actual newspaper article)", they thought it would be funny to pay postage and insurance, and the anecdote has survived to this day.

Read the whole linked story.  There's more, including one who was mailed 73 miles.

Read the whole linked story.  That girl who was "mailed" 73 miles:  her house was at the end of the rail line, the destination town was the other end of the line, and she was accompanied the whole way by a relative who was a clerk in the mail car.  Again, not exactly the same thing as what it might seem at first.  Translation:  they couldn't afford a train ticket, so their relative in the postal service had her tagged as a 48½-pound live baby chick and accompanied her on the journey in the mail car instead—with a stove in the mail car to keep her warm, by the way.  In between his duties as a mail clerk, he would occasionally open the door for his little second cousin so she could watch the scenery as it passed by.  When they arrived, she was accompanied the rest of the way on foot.  To me, the best part is that he apparently hadn't told the conductor, who at one point thought she was a stowaway and demanded that she show him her ticket.

[ZLoth]

If you mailed yourself, you better hope you aren't stuck in the postal distribution center in Missouri City, TX near Houston, TX. A good chunk of mail got stuck there for 30 days.

[kkt]

People actually used to send children through the mail, as odd as that might seem.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/

Just a few weeks after Parcel Post began, an Ohio couple named Jesse and Mathilda Beagle "mailed" their 8-month-old son James to his grandmother, who lived just a few miles away in Batavia. According to Lynch, Baby James was just shy of the 11-pound weight limit for packages sent via Parcel Post, and his "delivery" cost his parents only 15 cents in postage (although they did insure him for $50). The quirky story soon made newspapers, and for the next several years, similar stories would occasionally surface as other parents followed suit.

Apparently postage was cheaper than a train ticket.

Translation:  the mail carrier agreed to let their kid ride with him for "about a mile (according to the actual newspaper article)", they thought it would be funny to pay postage and insurance, and the anecdote has survived to this day.

Read the whole linked story.  There's more, including one who was mailed 73 miles.

Read the whole linked story.  That girl who was "mailed" 73 miles:  her house was at the end of the rail line, the destination town was the other end of the line, and she was accompanied the whole way by a relative who was a clerk in the mail car.  Again, not exactly the same thing as what it might seem at first.  Translation:  they couldn't afford a train ticket, so their relative in the postal service had her tagged as a 48½-pound live baby chick and accompanied her on the journey in the mail car instead—with a stove in the mail car to keep her warm, by the way.  In between his duties as a mail clerk, he would occasionally open the door for his little second cousin so she could watch the scenery as it passed by.  When they arrived, she was accompanied the rest of the way on foot.  To me, the best part is that he apparently hadn't told the conductor, who at one point thought she was a stowaway and demanded that she show him her ticket.

Is this the origin of "chick" as a slang term for a young woman?