^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
 

