Cardboard stamp

I've concluded that the USPS doesn't want 'ordinary' citizens to use the
mail.

The new US Domestic Mail Manual is rather labyrinthine, and the
information on the USPS site for "calculate postage" is less than
helpful. "Large" is not defined, for instance. "Thick" is not
defined. "Non-machinable" is not defined.

But as a stamp and cover collector, and someone insistent about the
continuation of an easy-to-use "Universal People's Post", I want to do
something to help.

I'm planning on creating a free website so that people can follow a
"Wizard"-type system to go through the steps and land at the right
postage ("What are the dimensions"? "How thick is it"? "Is it
bumpy"?) I could even sell plastic templates with slots and
measurements, at my purchase cost, to help. I've found many people
just say "forget it" and just stick on two or three first-class stamps
and hope it's enough, frequently wasting as much as 65 cents in the
process. If I make this user-friendly enough, it could save people
some significant money, and save them a trip to the post office.

I would also have a form where the user could format an address to
USPS specs (something easier to use than the USPS "Find a ZIP code"
feature), and maybe even print a bar code, to shave a day or two off
delivery time.

The end result would be something like a formatted address and words
like "NON-MACHINABLE 2 OZ. FIRST-CLASS DOMESTIC LETTER", that they
could write or print on the envelope, or produce a print-out. The
print-out would have page number references for the DMM so that, if
the mailer decides to take it to a postal counter, the mailer could
insist to the clerk who is possibly not fully familiar with the regs
that the postage is correct and save money.

Anybody have ideas or interested in being a beta-tester, contact me
off-list.

Best,

Joshua McGee
APS, ATA, ISWSC, MPBC, BPS, MCC
http://www.mcgees.org
http://www.mcgees.org/postalcancel/p...celintro.shtml