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Since Etsy cannot seem to figure out how to add disclaimers to their Storque 'articles', we at EB are providing them ourselves. Luckily, we have many readers who are helping us sort through the mess.
Today's gem of wisdom is to always check with the postal regulations before mailing out what Etsy calls a "postcard". According to the Storque, you can knit one!
Just don't mail it on its own! According to the United States Postal Service a postcard is rectangular, at least 3-1/2 inches high x 5 inches long x 0.007 inch thick, and no more than 4-1/4 inches high x 6 inches long x 0.016 inches thick. It also has to be capable of being stamped with a postmark. Sorry, but knitting does not qualify. It will have to be in an envelope and will probably be too thick to be a letter and have to go parcel. A BIG difference from a postcard! For more information on mailability see here. (Disclaimer: Other countries may have different regulations)
It's nice to know that an ecommerce site cannot sort out the semantics of a term used to identify a mailed item. How about a knitted "card", Etsy?!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Don't Mail That!!
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23 Comments:
ummmm...my question would be ... why? why would you want to make a knitted postcard? I am not knocking knitting at all, I love to knit, crochet, etc. It just never occured to me to make a postcard let alone try to mail it. *sigh*
Maybe Etsy can knit itself a customer service department.
From the comments on the Storque it seems that some people view them as ways to use up extra bits of yarn or as something novel.
Which is cool.
Just don't mail it. It's NOT a postcard.
We were confused, too, confused. Why couldn't it just be a card? Calling them postcards implies they can be mailed...
Ladies Auxilliary said...
Maybe Etsy can knit itself a customer service department.
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genius.
knitted postcard=potholder
Ladies Auxilliary said...
Maybe Etsy can knit itself a customer service department.
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Only too TRUE! *sigh
I have nothing else to do tonight. I'll make one and mail it to a friend. Lets see what happens. My guess, she never gets it!
"knitted postcard=potholder"
Heh heh, it's like an etsy game!
Let me try...ummm...
storque=dodo
If I were a knitter, I'd be worried. Come to think of it, if I made hammocks, paper airplanes, non-breeder-goods, things with evil eyes on them, or baked goods of any kind, please don't put me in any Storque "article".
It could mean instant death!
No thanks, I'll tinker in my own little corner, all alone, just like Etsy has left my store for 3 years, aaaaalll alooonnnne, no help to be found!
A knitted postcard, duct taped to a brick, and addressed to Etsy Labs? With the knitted instructions: postage to be paid by addressee? Sounds brilliant...
before the postal regulations became more strict, my brother mailed a neon green plastic fish with the letter stuffed into its belly... the mail was more fun back then, really.
as for a knitted postcard, it's really not that practical... it would be too floppy!
Did everyone watch the video? Unlike Bre, this seller is talented and has a nice shop.
I think the project was more like an embellished piece of paper or cardboard.
Definitely not a postcard, but if everything is written and stamped on the paper part, with the recommended dollar postage, it will travel thru the USPS without a problem.
I still think the Storque is ridiculously silly and unneeded, but etsy makes far bigger mistakes than this one.
(see: quit-your-day-job fallacy series with the copyright debacle)
I hate to ruin the fun, but if you look at the comments on that article, it actually has been tested and can be mailed.
"If you watch the entire video you'll see the swatch is attached to a heavy card. This is where the address and postage goes. We've mailed a few of these and they've arrived safely so try it out!"
As long as there's somewhere to put the address and stand, it's totally mailable. Probably not for regular postcard price, but neither are the novelty wooden ones you can buy at quaint "Ye Ole Shoppe" type places.
What does one do with a knitted postcard that one receives? What is the point of it? I am confused...
Is it supposed to double as something? Like a hot-pad or mitten or something? Or do you just stare at it and then throw it away?
headbonk said...
I hate to ruin the fun, but if you look at the comments on that article, it actually has been tested and can be mailed.
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So very Etsy! Wasting time (to make this crap), materials (ditto) and energy (lots of ways) to do...what??? With the downfall of usenet, Etsy takes the honor of most amusing collection of real k00ks on the web!
"And by the way. You are not allowed to put postage string around packages in the US because it gets caught in the machines. Can you imagine the damage a knitted postcard would inflict? ASSHOLES!"
It's called "nonmachinable surcharge" for a reason. A few knitted postcards aren't going to damage the system. Amazingly, I think the post office will survive this maniacal and deliberate attack on their machinery.
Boy, there are some real knitted postcard lovers out there waiting to defend this stupidity at every turn!
Can we try to reduce waste please? That thing is not recyclable so it ends up in a land fill after the brief novelty wears off.
impetuous said...
Boy, there are some real knitted postcard lovers out there waiting to defend this stupidity at every turn!
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The op was about how stupid Etsy is because these could not be mailed as postcards, not that they were wasteful. Clearly they can be mailed. I just thought you guys might like to know. Apparently not.
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impetuous said...
Can we try to reduce waste please? That thing is not recyclable so it ends up in a land fill after the brief novelty wears off.
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Seriously? This is going to be the thing that finally pushes the planet over the edge? You realize that when you just have a couple of yards of yarn left, it just ends up getting thrown away or shoved on the bottom of a bin, right? It's already wasted. As for the paper, you could use anything to attach it to, including recycled cardboard.
If you're so concerned about waste and useless items, then you might want to look at about 80% of the stuff on Etsy. Most of it is decorative and includes -gasp- handmade cards that some barbarians would actually mail!
Sometimes people do a little too much reaching to bitch about Etsy. This is not their biggest mistake yet. It's not even on the list.
headbonk and ohnoes...they can NOT be mailed as POSTCARDS, which is what Etsy called them. They need a disclaimer that says "these go at a higher class of mail"
That was the point.
Just like people who don't understand the delivery confirmation requirements and their customers get charged priority rate, someone's recipient is going to be charged for parcel because they used a postcard stamp.
And then we'll have those wonderful forum threads "etsy said it's a postcard but the post office said it isn't! who's right?"
Not the worst offense, but still part of a pattern of being unable to provide information/disclaimers.
The Righteous One said...
headbonk and ohnoes...they can NOT be mailed as POSTCARDS, which is what Etsy called them. They need a disclaimer that says "these go at a higher class of mail"
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Well, then it's a good thing that in the video, the creator mentions that it costs more than a regular postcard to mail, probably around a dollar.
ladies auxilliary said...
Maybe Etsy can knit itself a customer service department.
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LMAO...best bitchy response of the day. Oops, of 2 days ago (sorry, fewer brain cells ya know).
AND
eclipse said:
knitted postcard=potholder
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Exactly.
"Well, then it's a good thing that in the video, the creator mentions that it costs more than a regular postcard to mail, probably around a dollar."
For every one person that watched the video, there's probably several that just saw Etsy's blurb and rolled with it, therefore the disclaimer should be written out also.
It's irresponsible to just post and run when encouraging people to do something. (referring to Etsy)
I had a drunken moment in high school and wrote my then-boyfriend's address on a leaf and put it in the mail box. Not only did it arrive, but they tried to charge him for insufficient postage.
Perhaps we should just all knit postcards and send them to the Etsy Labs without stamps. After all, how would you stick a stamp to a knit postcard anyway?
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