If I am supposed to portray having a laptop battery, I tell them exactly that after I either press "Yes" or verbally say "Yes" if they ask for more information (some don't seem to respond at all when I say yes). When they ask what kind of battery, I tell them that it is a lithium battery as the instructions say that I should. If they ask if it is inside a computer or a phone or a camera, I say no as the instructions say I should. Similarly, if I am to portray mailing perfume, that is what I say I am mailing and I provide other information as per the instructions when they ask. For the third scenario, since I am youth challenged, I received permission to say that my daughter asked me to mail the package rather than my mother. As Sergeant Shultz used to say, "I know nothing!"
When mailing to my mailing buddy, I actually ship newspapers or magazines. Edited to add the rest of this paragraph: For lithium batteries or perfume, they might offer you Standard Mail (which has some other name now) which goes by ground. You have to decline. That is the reason for Zone 5 or further - Priority Mail goes by air and that is the issue. "I don't know" should not be accepted for even ground transportation.
During a non-shop trip, I learned about the "liquids" issue. If you say yes, I am shopping liquids, that is supposed to trigger additional verbal questions about what kind of liquid. If you say that you are shipping battery acid (= impure sulfuric acid), they should tell you that they can't. I saw a woman ship two 1/2 gallon jugs of Wawa brand iced tea from NJ to her son in the Navy Seals in San Diego by Priority Mail. It was not cheap (1 gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds) last week. I only know what she was shipping because I heard the sequence of questions from the clerk. Off if went. Fragile generally means that they are going to stamp "Fragile" all over the box. If you tell them that you are shipping eggs from your farm, for instance, they should ask questions to ensure that the eggs are 1) individually cushioned, 2) packed to withstand shocks encountered during normal Postal Service handling, and 3) the eggs are not likely to be harmed by anticipated temperature changes while in Postal Service custody. Answer yes to those three questions, and off they go.
Did you know that you can ship baby chicks via the post office? I grew up on a poultry farm and thousands of baby chicks arrived that way. They still accept baby chicks, and there are additional questions and requirements. Same thing if you want to ship bee hives.
You can ship a can of stewed tomatoes.
Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/2016 06:49PM by myst4au.