^A^D^OTIMELESS BATTLE^P^E
If I asked you what battle has been going on for all of time, you would
probably answer "the battle of the sexes" or "the battle between good &
evil" and you would probably be right.

But what is the next longest battle that has been going on
???????????????????????

RIGHT, the battle between the post office and those of us who mail
software.    Have you ever received  a disk in the mail which was not
only folded in half or 3rds or 4ths ????

What to do about this.  There are several avenues of approach to this
problem which I will list below.  I am also interested in your approach
to this problem, anything you have tried that works, etc.

Some people mail their disks in plain unidentified envelopes, figuring
that postal office will not intentionally bind, fold, staple and mutilate
them as that does take some effort and without being sure there is a
software disk inside, will probably not waste the energy.

I personally use this approach sometimes but combine it with the decoy
approach, in which you also simultaneously mail an identical package to
the same person but mark this one with two or three of the following: (l)
Fragile; (2) Do Not Bend; (3) Magnetic Media; (4) Do not Fold; (5)
Computer Disk, etc.

Of course, they then put all their effort into folding, bending,
staplling, mutilating, x-raying, holding under water, etc. the package
marked with the caution warning.  While they are doing this the unmarked
package will often get through unharmed.

Another approach is to hand carry your software to the person you wish to
have it.  This is time consuming, especially if they live many miles from
you.

Another approach is to label the package, explosive, hazardous material,
etc.  However this approach can led to your arrest which is at best an
inconvenience and at worse puts another layer of mail handler (at the
jail) between you and your software correspondant.  The mail handler at
the jail will also fold, staple, shoot, electricute, etc. your packages
just for the sheer joy of it, so I do not suggest this approach.

One I like is to pay a auto body shop to cut a slice of the strongest
metal they can find on your car, our of your car, then cut it into the
shape of a computer disk.  Sometimes it is necessary to sandwich several
of these together until you get a piece of metal several inches thick.
This is then mailed marked fragile, do not bend.   You will notice that
your mail man will have his hand bandaged or in a sling from his efforts
to bend, fold and mutilate this piece of metal.   Also the hole in your
auto is really not big enough to cause much of a draft, except in
extremely cold climates.

There are other approaches such using 12 boxes, each slightly larger than
the other and placing the disk in the smaller box, adding insulation,
then putting this in the next larger box, etc.   But this takes time and
is expensive.  Further if you are not careful, the final package may be
over their size limits and they will not mail it.  I must warn you there
have been l or 2 reported cases of reciptients dying in the midst of
unwrapping their packages.

I realize that this issue will cause much controversy in the Adam and
Postal world and am prepare to attempt to handle this problem.  I am
suggesting you mark your letters with comments, "URGENT, FRAGILE, TIME
SENSITIVE, DELIVER PROMPTLY", thereby insuring that most will not reach
me.
^D^IBarry Wilson^F^J^E
^B

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