Community | April 30, 2008 | 16 comments

US Post Office says NO to reusing boxes

source: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/16072154/detail.html

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http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/16072154/detail.html

A Castle Rock man has been warned that reusing a United States Postal Service "Priority Mail" cardboard box is against federal law.
Gary Adler said he was just recycling a box that was going to be thrown in the trash, but the Postal Service said that kind of repurposing is illegal. Adler uses the boxes to mail sports memorabilia for his nonprofit organization Pro-Players Association.
"We recycle old boxes that we get at the grocery store or from other merchants, and Dumpster dive sometimes," said Adler.

Sometimes, Adler used the "Priority Mail" boxes that were left in the trash near the P.O. boxes.

"We took off the tape and we took off the old label that was on there originally," said Adler, describing a box he recently sent that was returned by the Postal Service.

"And we re-taped this box that was originally this way and we made it this way," showing how he turned the box inside-out so it's brown on the outside and not white.

But the Postal Service said what Adler did is against postal regulations. He is being warned not to do it again, but if he continues to reuse "Priority Mail" boxes, he could be charged with misuse of postal property.
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16 comments // US Post Office says NO to reusing boxes

  • patsarts
    • 0
      patsarts  

    • Actually, they're not such a bargain - they are quite heavy compared with amazon or other cardboard boxes - so you pay more in postage. Maybe composting them would be a better value.

      Stupid not to allow them to be reused - I guess because they're 'free' - they don't want you to get tons of them for free and then turn them inside out and mail book rate?

    • 3 years ago
  • Stephanie53
    • 0
      Stephanie53  

    • I've always found it utterly amazing how people will tell us NO and not have an intelligent answer as to WHY. "Because I said so" is not intelligent. "Because it's the law" is straight out avoidance. We are always left wondering why and guessing what could be why, but in the end, we have no straight answers. Are these people afraid to tell us? Maybe they need to recycle the boxes themselves? Maybe there were drugs or hazardous items inside the boxes and they're afraid they will touch them when the box is inside out? Throw us a bone, Postal folks! I am left to think that there really is no reason. It's all the same crap it ever was - a ploy to control the masses. And they wonder why people get mad?

    • 3 years ago
  • nwillens
    • 0
      nwillens  

    • There should be no law which prevents recycling...unless of course the thing to be reused is dangerous. Is Priority Mail dangerous?

    • 5 years ago
  • CharlieG
    • 0
      CharlieG  

    • Misuse of postal property? So why doesn't the USPS retrieve "their" property from the garbage dumpsters of America so citizens can't misuse "their" property?

    • 5 years ago
  • iknew
    • 0
      iknew  

    • I'm gonna go send something to myself in a reused boxand see what they say. Like woah though, it's a box, it holds things, who cares if it's 10 minutes or 10 years old? In this case i guess you have to throw out all of your good boxes. Everyone, quick, go into storage and remove the tainted boxes!!

    • 5 years ago
  • keeshii768
  • stephenthomson
  • patsarts
    • 0
      patsarts  

    • This sounds like something the postals would do. The priority boxes are free - so, they want you to pay the "Priority Rate" is you use the box.

    • 5 years ago
  • Dave_in_FL
    • 0
      Dave_in_FL  

    • I'm missing something here. How does the U.S.P.S. know that it is a priority mail box turned wrong side out? Does it say priority mail on the brown side?

    • 5 years ago
  • Egnatius212
  • Allsunday
  • _Hayko
  • Hawkmang
    • 0
      Hawkmang  
    • Image

    • At the risk of getting my libertarian self lambasted I would like to say this is yet another prime example of our wonderfully gigantic if incompetent government failing us. Mr. Adler is doing something good for the environment and not harming anyone yet "Big Brother" has to get it's tentacles involved. Ridiculous!

    • 5 years ago
  • cfitz1488
  • digitrash
    • 0
      digitrash  

    • The USPS has some strange regulations, and I've always been puzzled by the logic of this one. If somebody paid the USPS for a box, then how is it still USPS property?

    • 5 years ago

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