Letters
Atlas Insider: The Yarny Express
Well, here we are in the aftermath of a holiday weekend sale and it always surprises me that the absolute disaster that’s the usual result of that at MDK World Headquarters manages to right itself so quickly. Things get put back up, trash gets bagged and put in the appropriate container, three thousand coffees get quaffed and hundreds of packages get picked up by the trusty USPS.
About that last: yes, I said “trusty.”
We love the USPS here—almost all of our packages go out in their care, and despite the extremely occasional wrong turn a package might take (hellllooo, Dubrovnik! which, as far as I can tell is not really very near Enid, Oklahoma), the percentage of packages that actually disappear forever is so infinitesimal that that number doesn’t even register as a wedge on the pie chart—if I were the type who made pie charts involving keeping up with such things. Spoiler: I am not that type, though we can talk about pie all you want. Team chess!
It’s been a difficult year for the USPS, and I’m always impressed by the equanimity our multiple mail carriers show on a daily basis. The regular pickup folks usually come twice a day and they put up with a lot from us. “Wait! Can you hang on while we print and apply ONE HUNDRED AND NINE LABELS?”
“Sure,” they say, and from outer space you can hear the sound of them rolling their eyes. And then they wait for us to do it, even though I feel fairly sure they aren’t supposed to. Then they come again two hours later and we’re still making them wait for some dumb thing we forgot to do.
I really do think it takes a particular type of person to do our pickups. Mainly someone who won’t call us “hot messes” to our faces, but you know … I’ll take it.
We used to have a different pickup guy; he was animated and chitchatty and revealed one day that he and his wife made and sold elaborate costumes for Renaissance Faires and whatnot. I went and looked at his online shop and, hmmm, well, color me surprised that there was a whole division of what can only be called “Miss Kitty from Dodge City’s Loungewear Collection,” but what do I know about Old West cosplay? For all I know, it’s sweeping the nation.
Anyway, he’s not our pickup person any longer; I guess the market for saloonwear really exploded and took him away from us. So now we’ve got good old reliable Chris and Eddie, who as far as I know do not have a side gig devoted to cowgirl nightgowns.
Wait, what am I going on about? We are a loooong way from USPS-admiration now. But I’ll circle back, don’t worry.
Your packages leave here every day in dependable hands and sometimes a couple of days after one leaves, I’ll randomly click on a tracking number and I always always always experience a little thrill when it says “Delivered.” We really shouldn’t take the USPS for granted; it still feels like a miracle to me that something can get from here to wherever (hello, Dubrovnik!) so quickly via the good old Pony Express.
OH WAIT! The Pony Express! Now the Wild West peignoirs make PERFECT SENSE!
A Giveaway
In the USPS appreciation spirit, here’s a little giveaway.
The prize? A Freia Shawl Ball in Canyon—whether or not it has to travel through a canyon on its way to you from MDK World Headquarters. (Ravines, gullies, highways, byways: also acceptable.)
How to enter? Two steps:
Step 1: Sign up for our weekly newsletter, Snippets, right here. If you’re already subscribed, you’re set.
Step 2: Leave a comment below with the most unusual thing the USPS ever delivered to you. Feel free to make it up—all in good fun and to keep us guessing.
Deadline for entries: Sunday, June 13, 11:59 PM Central time. We’ll draw a random winner from the entries. Winner will be notified by email.
If comments here are busted, please leave your comment here.
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We so take the postal system for granted in this country (UK). It’s a national sport complaining about them but still they deliver come rain or shine.
I’ve recently had a small orchards worth of trees delivered in the post. Not sure how wild or wonderful that is but they make me happy!
Yes! I the USPS..
One of my “do for good of us all” is to keep a P.O. Box and have things shipped to it on purpose despite the fact that I live in century old house with one of biggest front porches in my neighborhood.
When my daughter returned home from her freshman year of college she received Iowa cornstalks at 2 week intervals from a guy who was interested in her. It did not win her heart.
Once, when we lived in an apartment (Windsor Park, Bayside NY) Bob the mailman delivered 2 cups of flour from me to a friend 3 buildings over during a snowstorm. She was making cookies with the kids and ran out, and Bob was right by me, so…
Coyote Urine. To fight off the muskrat we have on our property our Lake House!! Freeked out our grand daughters.
My beloved Casper mattress, back when they were the only company shipping them in a smallish box. It changed my life, at least my sleep life.
That’s a good one!
Love this so much!
Airplane parts. My husband restores antique airplanes.
My MIL mailed my husband sweet potatoes…cooked sweet potatoes wrapped in foil from her oven several states away.
Our neighborhood mailman delivered a 911 call. When he opened the mail slot on a neighboring home, he smelled smoke. He alerted the fire dept and the adjoining neighbors. His alertness saved the townhouse and the dog. We love him.
No crazy or mistaken deliveries that I can think of. I think that is a miracle in itself!
Your deliveries are always on time. We just received bagels and locks from our favorite Bagel shop in NYC.
I love my local Post Office and the wonderful, funny, super cheerful post,I stress who has worked there for years! It is so fun to see her that I sometimes make up excuses to go in to her Post office (“ Why yes, I do need more stamps…only have 6 books left at home!”). I am so sad she will be retiring at the end of the year.
Best thing I ever got in the mail – 25 one-day-old Barred Rock chicks!
Oops, silly auto-correct! Should have been Post Mistress
Ess-a Bagel?
They’re the best. And Bagel Oasis in Fresh Meadows
Bagel Oasis gets my vote!
that would be my favorite, too.
Earlier today, the post office delivered coffee! (Not brewed, just ground beans.)
A ladder.about 20 feet long fortunately of the folding variety
The USPC happily delivers a steady supply of yarn, secondhand clothing, and the occasional package of mushroom spawn to me! Because gardening is funner than knitting in the summer. Or knitting in the garden is the best, actually!
Bags of kitty litter ordered by my husband. So heavy, We took pity on our USPS carrier and didn’t re-order.
Live lobsters from Maine
Friends have ordered the live lobsters from Maine, delivered to their small town in Northern California, and we enjoyed the New Years Eve feast with them – Wonderful!!
The most unusual thing I’ve receive was a cornet in the mail (pandemic hobby that my hubs picked up; I wish he took up knitting (with me!) instead! ;))
So…did you order earplugs?
My ex husband once had a car engine delivered to the house. I think they do a remarkable job!
We love our Canada Post too…99.9% of the time 🙂 One of my recent deliveries was a garden hose – they saved our garden this lockdown!
We were sent a sample of potato flakes. Apparently, someone thought we were missing out on this product. If only we tasted them, then we would be hooked. Lol
The most unusual post office delivery has to be baby chicks! They arrive in a cardboard with plenty of air holes and the box is a chorus of tiny, muffled peeps.
It seems every other day we are getting something strange: a Lumiere costume, a small bottle of blue nail polish in a hard to find shade, a hard cover edition of David Copperfield by Dickens only didn’t read fine print and it was a very small book so rather enormous in depth due to page length.
Love your articles.
My kids were always looking for crawlies outside, so we sent for tadpoles, and sea monkeys and ants (via coupons enclosed inside kits). USPS delivered these live wonders for our educational projects.
Oh I forgot the caterpillars too! Such a zoo. Our postman was always interested in what we were up to.
Worst thing that ever showed up was a gift of chocolate covered strawberries that had gotten lost in transit. By the time they arrived at my house they wee spoiled. It was summer so they were really bad. I called the company and they offered to resend them or an item of equivalent value. I ordered soaps.
Though certainly not unusual to me, most would say the large quantity of yarn over the years
When my kids were little I had a bad habit of buying lots of handmade nappies (diapers to you) delivered from the states. Stakes were high, no kid should be seen without a nappy that matched its hand knit wool soaker, and your post office and ours always delivered :-D.
My USPS guy hand delivered my keys that I had somehow left in our community mail box. They must have looked up my address as they brought them over to me before I even realized they were gone.
Chickens. Live, chirping day-old Shetland Hens. USPS is the only delivery service that ships live animals. And they do an amazing job!
USPS delivered a pair of handmade hiking boots. I love the idea that the boots meant for rugged terrain got a lift to their destination.
Ksufar crystals to make yummy chocolate cookies!
Same here (NZ) the various delivery companies that I’ve dealt with over the years have been awesome! And the drivers – always with a smile as they run from the van to our door, rushing to get the next parcel delivered… Gets me thinking: they’re like Santa everyday!!
Most unusual delivery? A fishing rod and a wedding ring, for Christmas, to make a guy happy!
My friend shipped honeybees to her brother across state since he wanted to add a new hive to his collection
Hmmm…5 pounds of BBBats – I had a nostalgic craving for those taffy lollipops and went a little overboard.
I would have to say- a utility scissors that was packaged in an excessive amount of heavy duty plastic… which needed a utility scissors to cut open….so…
A large metal bathtub. There was no box, just a label on the tub.
I love the USPS (although our UPS driver is pretty easy on the eyes). The most unusual delivery? MDK yarn. I live a sheltered life
This has already been mentioned but I was so amazed when I went to pick up packages at post office and the lady in front on me was receiving baby chicks. It was a hot summer day snd she was worried if they all survived the journey. Every little chick was alive and chirping away. Amazing!!!
A large metal bathtub. No box, just a label on a tub.
true story – USPS delivered a full size styrofoam head hand decorated in zentangle, w/ an address label stuck to it. You can imagine my surprise when I opened my mailbox to discover that head, unwrapped, just sit’n there, beautifully decorated, just for me!! I hope the woman who sent that to me reads this & knows I still brag on her doings & my appreciation! Since then I zentangle stryo balls & mail them. First time I did so the postman weighing them trying to figure out postage had a fun time keeping one on the scale. Then he laughed & said he could see his workers having a “ball” tossing them around 🙂
Learned something new today! I think mosaic squares will make a lovely zentangle throw!
I had to look up zentangle to learn what it was. It is awesome art! How do you do it on styrofoam?
A gigantic parcel of cloves and peppercorns—used to create homemade moth repellent of course!
I love my postwoman who delivers my big packages right to my door instead of at the roadside( I live 1/4 of a mile from my mailbox). The oddest thing I’ve ever recieved was a box of glazier hotdogs.
I live in a very rural area. The USPS is vitally important to us. The most unusual thing they have ever delivered was a Root Slayer. If you are unfamiliar with this, give it a google. It was a life saver! It makes me feel very powerful,lol.
We had a rootslayer delivered also! It is my husband’s favorite tool as he built trails in our woods to the creek and to connect to the neighbors for covid exercise. All the neighbors borrow it!!
I received a letter from the USPS, handwritten with just my name on it. No address, no stamp, no return address. It was a thank-you note from my local post office for providing them with just-sewn masks that I had made for all of them in the beginning of the pandemic.
You are a wonderful person!! I’m sure they never saw that coming!! (So to speak!)
A bag of low carb cake flour, which I have not yet baked with.
Love my mailman, he’s the best!
I order so many things via mail, even pre-Covid, that I can’t even remember the oddest thing.
So, many moons ago, we lived in India for a time. We faithfully received huge sacks of books and supplies for school once a year, unscathed via USPS. But some friends sent us a box, 6×6,full of cheese. To India. Unrefrigerated. Unscathed. In all it’s deliciousness. Promptly. (Where we lived there was only tinned cheese that didn’t even melt.) That still goes down a a minor miracle in my book.
Training wheels and a bicycle horn from my brother after I fell off a bike at age 55.
Storage containers before a yarn crawl because we all know what happens on yarn crawls
That made me laugh! We have talked about getting bicycles and we are 62 & 63.
I have my coffee delivered from Michigan (thank you CoffeeGuys). Our mailman said he loves coffee delivery day because his truck smells so good.
Coffee! I get my coffee deliverd too, and yes, my mail carrier, Brian, loves it when my coffee comes. It’s Colectivo’s Black and Tan from Milwaukee WI. The day after I get my coffee there’s a ZipLok bag of beans in my mailbox for Brian.
Our postal carriers do an amazing job, especially since we recently found out they are on mandatory 12 hour
shifts!
When my dad died he donated his body to a medical school. When it was time to get his ashes we had a problem coordinating schedules so they were shipped USPS. My mom had to sign for the box and she told the mailman what was in it. I guess he turned white. Wish I had been there that day. Crazy but true!
Ditto on the baby chicks! We have to pick them up from the post office in the village. I love the sound of peeping chicks while waiting for them to be handed over.
the most unusual thing ever delivered to me was a wedding dress (true!)…there was no zip code, and it was supposed to go to Plainview Texas, not Plainview NY
the most unusual thing ever delivered to me was a wedding dress (true!)…there was no zip code, and it was supposed to go to Plainview Texas, not Plainview NY
One day our letter carrier delivered a computer, one that no one in my family had ordered. It turned out that my credit card number had been stolen and the not-so-bright thief didn’t realize that the computer would be delivered to me! This was years ago before there were many safeguards on our cards so that was an alert for me to cancel that card – and return that computer!
That happened to me a few years ago, only it was giant floor cushions from Kohl’s that were delivered to my house. Not sure what was up with that.
Not delivered to me, but I once mailed a box of Cheerios cereal to Australia, after a comment on a Girl Scout/Girl Guide bulletin board caused an Aussie to ask what they were. In the spirit of international friendship I mailed a box to Australia, don’t ask about the cost!
I’ve mailed Lucky Charms and Kraft Mac and Cheese to France. My cousin lives there, and fell in love with those items as a teenager visiting USA in summers. She still loves getting them
The most unusual thing UPSP has ever delivered to me was a gold lame jacket from a Goodwill store someone sent me as a present. Years later, I am still bewildered.
The past year+ has been a nightmare for our USPS, but most mail has arrived. Especially critical have been our coffee orders and live plants for the garden. Oh, and yarn, of course! Thank you, USPS!
The craziest thing ever delivered was a bundle of envelopes tied with a rubber band and all envelopes were empty.
I’ve had many deliveries over the years, soup from CA to NY, yarn from different countries, a weight set for my boys (sorry to Bob my mail carrier). The best is the smile and wave from an ever pleasant USPS mail carrier.
The most unusual thing USPS ever delivered to me was a gold lame sport jacket from a Goodwill store that someone sent me as a present. Years later, I am still bewildered.
A letter that my Mum wrote me about my grandads death full of memories and keepsakes. In her grief she posted it without stamps and no return address. Six months later the package arrived via the postal list mail service with everything intact!
I get lots of deliveries- but most impressive is that the mailman even comes to my door. I have a huge Great Dane who goes crazy every. Single. Time. The mailman delivers the mail ( as if something different may happen). If the screen door is unlocked, he leaves the mail in my car;)
Homemade Chinese dumplings from a friend in California – yum!
Tires for my car. They didn’t fit in the mailbox though.
Two different things (at two different times): 1) baby poultry – chicks, ducklings, goslings; and 2) a sert of bagpipes! All true.
An ordinarily unflappable postal worker sounded a bit agitated when he called us to request that we come to the post office right away to pick up three pounds of honeybees—about 10,000 workers and their queen in her little chamber.
Years ago my daughter was taking a semester abroad in South Africa. I mailed her a pair of expensive sandals and she never got them. Between the cost of the sandals and the cost of postage I was out a bunch of money. Imagine my delight when 4 months later those sandals showed up in my US mail box ! I had put an incorrect SA address on them. The box showed every sign of having been around the world but the shoes were fine! I’m squarely on team USPS, too.
I accidentally left my keys in our mailbox lock and Brenda, our mail carrier, brought them to the house to me. They are not supposed to deliver packages if your house is more than half a mile from the box but she brought my keys a full mile out of her way. It’s been 4 years but I still gratefully remember this kindness.
Wooden sock blockers from Poland (on which I now have socks blocking!)
I’ve been a mail-order fan as long as I can remember and may have been the happiest person alive when online ordering became a thing. Always fond of my mail carrier! Although not unusual, the Sears’ Look Book that came around the holidays when I was a child was the most anticipated and enjoyed. And now, yarn! Lots and lots of yarn!
Ditto! Many happy memories!
Agreed. The Sears’ and Eaton’s catalogues were highlights, especially at Christmas.
A mattress! It did not fit in the mailbox.
The oddest thing the mailman ever brought? Live fish I hadn’t ordered! When I called the company to tell them they had the wrong address they assured me they’d issue me a refund. Couldn’t make them understand they hadn’t charged me!
My life is pretty tame compared to some of you. I mostly just get junk and bills! But, when I’m starting a new batch of scrapbooks for the grandchildren, the USPS always faithfully delivers the 300 pictures or so I have ordered.
My USPS Lady is always cheerful; letters, squishy yarn packages and even when she has to get out to bring a bulkier package directly to the door.
Steaks from Omaha!
Steaks from Omaha Steaks!
I could say it was live chicks but instead I’ve recently gotten hooked on Peeps (candy). Of course now they are out of season so I try to find them where available and have them mailed (eye roll). Last year during the height of the pandemic I ordered and received a case of paper towels. I’ve also had yarn go missing for months-the PO investigator thinks it gets left in a collapsible container and is found when it’s used again later. But my Memorial Day MDK purchase traveled halfway across Tennessee in just 2 days – yippee-Happy mail!
I love the USPS, too. I’ve gotten lawn fertilizer delivered!
Not once but twice, we received some very naughty ladies undies in a size much larger than I wear.
Fresh green Chiles from New Mexico!
In the middle of the coldest weather we had expericed in Virginia and coupled with snow they delivered my yarn! I bundled up in my long down coat, hat, boots and struck off to the mailbox!!!!
Christmas. My first Christmas after moving south, a family member mailed me a fresh wreath from VT. 80 degrees and shorts did not feel like Christmas, but the smell of fresh pine boughs – it suddenly smelled like Christmas. And that restored the holiday cheer.
We’ve had Australia Post deliver queen bees for our hives. They come in a little wooden box with a sugar plug that they chew their way out of when you put them into their new home.
The most unusual item delivered were live worms for my garden. The first package arrived empty and the replacement shipment arrived fine. I think some USPS delivery guy was chasing worms around his truck for a while.
I’ve had tortillas delivered, fresh from Arizona! I’m so glad we have reliable delivery services that rarely make mistakes.
I love love love our post office personnel!!! The people who work behind the counter, the ones on foot, and the ones in the wee trucks. We live in a small rural town and everyone knows everyone else, so any “comments” about mail service get an immediate response. The most important and unusual delivery was my engagement ring—33 years ago next month. I cried, the groom-to-be-still-my-beloved beamed, and the postman (it was a guy) giggled and blushed. While there have been a few others, HE IS STILL DELIVERING OUR MAIL!
Not unusual but treasured! I was born and raised in Hawaii and left for Tacoma, WA for college never having been to the mainland (1966). I always looked forward to the cookies my mom would send in the coffee cans, along with other delights only found in Hawaii. Hail to USPS for making sure they made it all that way!
For several years now I have ordered online and received in the post live ladybirds and ladybird larva from Green Gardeners to release in our garden and eat the aphids and greenfly only roses. I’m in the UK.
Lyn- as a woman in my early 60’s it was interesting to receive a “ welcome to your new baby” kit in the mail!
Same here! I was furious though because no one was home when they tried to deliver it so I had to go to the PO and wait in a long line for at least half an hour to pick it up. And I’m older than you. What were they thinking?
I love USPS. Do you all know you can legally tip the carrier? A desperately needed knne scooter that allows the surgical leg to remain straight and extended.
Did not know this!! Thanks!!!!! And my carrier thanks you too!
Nothing too crazy here but we love our mail carriers – they are unflappable! One of my kids did have a phase of wanting elaborate Japanese model kits – those taught them patience and delaying gratification since they always took awhile!
Christmas fruitcake
I sent a year’s supply birth control pills from the US to a friend in Portugal. She couldn’t get them there. I was supposed to give them to an Embassy clerk to send tvia Embassy mail. He proved to be very unreliable in terms of rendezvous dates. So I took them to USPS. USPS was very helpful with the customs documents. It was a legal shipment. The pills arrived in a timely fashion. So did the baby eight months after.
I love the baby chicks. I go to the local feed store in the spring just to see them. I didn’t know they could be shipped.
LOL!
I am know for my unusual orders since have been ordering by mail for 50 years. Most unusual item is an inflatable bed.
One of my college types actually mailed a large box of laundry, nope not the clean stuff either. It’s a long story but yup the package arrived safely and poor fellow had no clue
Realistically? A large amount of chick-fil-a sauce because my mom doesn’t like to waste space in a flat rate box. But also, entertainment – our toddler has been running to the door to greet our carrier all through COVID and I think she may be her best friend at this point. We love her!
Although a retirement card is not usual, one that the USPS delivered nearly six years ago came from England & was signed by someone with a very recognizable name. Think British Invasion musician!!! (We have a mutual friend who thought it would make my heart flutter. It did 🙂
The USPS delivered chocolate-covered strawberries to me—still perfectly chilled!
Our mail carrier is a loverly woman – I will miss her smiling face when she retires later this month! We had live caterpillars for our butterfly habitat delivered in the mail (all survived), and I’ve seen people dropping off live chicks at the post office, too.
Nothing crazy, but I ordered a yarn swift when I was on vacation in Argentina and when I got back from my trip it was waiting for me.
A birthday card that was lost in the mail for 18 months
My most unusual item delivered by USPS was a packet of sourdough starter.
Plymouth Navy Strength Gin!
Love letters and mix tapes
My husband is a letter carrier so I’ve heard just about everything you can imagine! We haven’t had anything super unusual delivered to us so I’ll just go with an adult kiddie pool and it’s certainly going to come in handy this week! Thanks for the great tribute to the USPS and this giveaway!
A grub hoe (like a regular hoe on steroids, with a 6lb cast iron head). I love the USPS, it’s an amazing service. A few days ago I came around the corner of the house and my mailman had parked and was playing with my dog in the front yard – when he leaves a package on the porch he always puts a few Milk Bones on top of it, so my dog loves the USPS too!
I have to add to the baby chicks chorus here. It is obviously not unusual since that is how baby chicks are sent to gazillions pof people but they are the most fun box ever!
A donkey. A teeny tiny donkey.
It’s what I’ve mailed. For almost a decade every October I mail out a “a prize of no particular worth” for people on a online knit group. They finish something, anything, crafty and I mail out a small token. Around 60 to 70 of them. In hand decorated envelopes – by cats. Not of cats (mostly), BY cats. And then my daughter or I trek to the post office. All month. They know me. The new people always look a little frazzled and whisper to their co-workers “her?” To which they get a minuscule nod and a pat on the arm.
And the packages almost always get where to were meant to go,
Postal customer service person weighing package “what have you got in here? Rocks?” Geologist “As a matter of fact, yes”
Zoo Poo – it’s organic fertilizer…..from the zoo!
Two dozen bagels from Zabar’s, every two weeks! And sometimes a babka!
20 ft of gas station pump hose instead of – well I forget since the gas hose was so far away from what was ordered- but I think it was the shippers fault- not USPS! The shipper barcoded the item incorrectly!
Ice cream sandwiches…only slightly melted.
I’ve received nothing really strange, in my mind, but USPS has been the thread that held us together for the last year and some. They kept our home safe and functional. Many thanks.
Earlier in the pandemic I got a case of PPE gloves (very fancy expensive ones) instead of a wire basket for my freezer. I sent the PPE back and it hopefully got to where it was needed.
Flies-a specific type that would help control the everyday type of flies that multiplied on the manure pile next to the barn.
Mmmm dark chocolate coffee candies!! In perfect condition! Yes! Sadly apparently out of stock globally at the moment….thanks, covid….
A box of See’s candy that we had sent to friends in Germany, apparently to the wrong address, and was returned to us … almost a year later.
A hula hoop, wrapped all the way around in some kind of plastic. It arrived undamaged, delivered to the door because it would not fit in the mailbox.
A bad story first, then a funny story. 1) I had ordered an expensive, out-of-print book online as a gift. It came in a very padded mailer envelope via USPS. But it had been driven over; the envelope was ripped, and there was a tire print across the cover! 2) At the PO, the postal worker lifted the quite large, very light box I was mailing, and asked me suspiciously, “What’s in this?” The answer – dog hair. (It was being sent to a spinner so I could knit something for friends with a beloved Chow Chow.)
Bees, they’re always eager to make that delivery quickly.
My mail lady, Pat, delivered a bag of yarn while I was waiting at the mailbox. She said”oooh, what did you get?” I opened the bag and we got to squish the yarn together. Turns out that she managed her friends lys. All the designs “By Pat” I saw in the store were hers! She left us far too early, but I still have a few of her patterns.
what a nice story!
I love the USPS. Many years ago I received a coconut through the mail. New Years Eve 1975 to be exact. A boy sent it to me in Illinois from his vacation in Florida. We were friends until his death in 2016.
I once received a coconut, too… from friends who were vacationing in Hawaii, with the message and address written directly on the coconut shell, just like a big round postcard! It arrived in perfect condition, and we enjoyed eating the coconut meat.
My dad mailed us a coconut from Hawaii. It was not packaged at all, just had the address written on the outer husk. Very unusual for Pittsburgh PA postman.
Growing up, my family had our own chickens. We would order a bunch of baby chicks each Spring and they came to the post office. Our mailman wouldn’t deliver though; we had to pick them up at the post office.
Hundreds of live worms! The small box was warm and when you held it you could feel the slight bit of motion that was unmistakably the wiggle of life 🙂
Stepped on. Smashed flat. Footprints on BOTH sides. A box of pancake mix.
I received a package from Berlin, Germany that said it contained autographed photo of Daniel Radcliffe. The paid shipping was $68.20! The return address was smudged/unreadable and it was addressed to Vern (no Vern here!). I took it back to the Post Office and often wonder about poor, disappointed Vern.
Way back when, in the late 1950’s my husband was in college and I was home with two boys under two years of age,(one was a toddler, the other a baby in arms). The doorbell rang and the three of us answered it. It was the postman delivering a package. He said, “Lady, I’ve got a bird for you!” It was a parakeet in a cage. My parents were moving to Puerto Rico and my brother’s bird wasn’t allowed to accompany them. It was a surprise to me! Needless to say I know the postman was thinking, just what she needs!
Not so much unusual but years ago I received a package that had my maiden last name, my ex’s last name and then my soon to be new last name. Luckily our wonderful driver (who is retired and still a friend) knew who I was.
The most unusual thing from the USPS is not getting a piece of mail from the USPS!
Nothing all that unusual to us yarnies, but odd to the uninitiated, lol. I ordered yarn to make unicorn slippers, to reproduce a worn-out storebought pair.
Cremated pet remains have arrived twice. Still not sure how I feel about that…and once in a while completely destroyed bits of letters sent that were damaged in transit and somehow returned to us.
Long live the USPS!
One time a postal worker carried into my work a medium-sized box. He said “What did you order?! A big box of rocks?!” Well, yes I did. For our adult clients with I/DD to paint Random Rocks of Kindness then place them in the park.
Our faithful USPS driver is amazing! Snow up to her elbows, then 90 degrees the next week and there she is putting each little postcard and package into our mailbox. Wow! So dependable. I love the yarn she brings
Bees
A tire rim for my trusty old Volvo, when I could not afford a new one.From a CALIFORNIA scrap yard. That I located in the still-new Internet, but had to call because it did not have a website.
Was waiting for that 3.25 cm 24” round needle so I could keep knitting and what arrived? A “live, live, laugh” keychain! Haven’t learned how to do the body of a children’s sweater with that tool yet!
Fresh fiddleheads from a farm in Maine…arrived dripping wet thru the packaging. They sure were picked FRESH from the field! Or secret spot. as is often the case when talking FRESH FIDDLEHEADS!
I received an empty envelope with a label that said it had been received like that by my local post office. 3 months later I received the contents of said empty envelope witn a note – “we found this!”
At Christmas, I received a bag of black rocks. It was supposed be included with a patio fountain but the black rocks arrived looking like a sack of coal.
My Shetland Island WoolWeek package!! Love receiving knitting treats from other countries.
My husband’s mother once sent him an umbrella and a dozen tomatoes . They ripened en route and the umbrella was never the same!
I had a peach subscription last year, so I got a box of peaches every week for a month. That’s was a bit wild, but very tasty.
A whole bunch of beneficial insects from the Bug Store for the garden.
My unusual deliveries seem to lean toward the live…..honeybees, chicken eggs for the incubator, and another respondent reminded me of our sea monkey delivery. (I was called to pick the eggs up. The box emblazoned with a large red THIS END UP. Was the box that direction…..nope.) I love our rural carrier. She does not mind when our Lab excitedly jumps into the mail truck as she unloads our daily fare.
DJ, I want to load my yarn stash and earthly belongings into a truck, move to Nashville, and work with you at MDK. When I see that you are “columnist for the day”, I clap my hands with delight.
No job for me at MDK. It would have helped if I typed DG. Autocorrect!!!!
In my old neighborhood, we had the same postman, Tom, for 17 years. He knew everyone in the neighborhood, shared plants from his garden with those of us who gardened, etc. When he retired, the neighborhood threw a party for him at the little park in the center of the neighborhood. It was extremely well attended. We each contributed stories, and one woman commented that her relationship with him had lasted longer than whe had been married to any of her three husbands.
The strangest thing he ever brought me was yarn, but it was not any old delivery. My Moms Weavers Guild was breaking up (too many members were in failing health). They had met in a “clubhouse”, the loft over the garage on one members property, where they had maintained a swap table where them members could leave yarn or fleece that they didn’t want, for others to take. Cleaning out the loft, my mom (always a little eccentric) scooped up all of that yarn and boxed it up to send to me. It was a lot of yarn, and the biggest box she could find from the grocery store had the word “Kotex” stamped on all four sides in very large letters.
My teenage daughters came home from school with their boyfriends, to find this giant Kotex box sitting by the door, visiblke to the whole street, and “were more embarrassed than they had ever been in their whole lives”. What was Grandma thinking of, and how could I stand there laughing? Tom admitted that he wondered about leaving it there, but he laughed with me about the outcome.
Great story!
Thank you, Ellen. I belly laughed at this one!
Still love receiving mail from USPS. I like getting my stamps on line and they come in the mail!
Spoons…silver spoons with family engraved letter from a cousin in my maternal side. She’d moved to Australia and they were downsizing. So she wanted to return them to the states. Bless her.
Good site.. our USPS person is the greatest and we have received nothing that was unusual.
I just received a tub of garlic pickles! Best mail day EVER!!
When my son was away in college, he sent me a stuffed bunny rabbit in a brown paper envelope. The (lumpy) envelope was addressed to ‘Mom’ – street, city … Both envelope and bunny are still on my favorite bookshelf as symbols of love, from the son and maybe even the USPS.
On my 30th birthday I received a letter from AARP inviting me to join and get all the senior discounts that I’m now eligible for. I think it was sent 35 years too early.
God Bless the workers at the USPS. We ordered a Keurig coffee maker and then went wild ordering different coffees from different locations. ☕
My story about the USPS is a sad one! I worked for 1year on a special blanket for my daughter in California. The blanket was centered around a center cable pattern. The finished project was 4’x 5’. Embroidered the year, attached the MADE EITH LOVE charm, wrapped the precious blanket in plastic, added a card, taped the Flat RateMedium Size Box and mailed this on to my daughter.
The damaged box arrived several days late. I was holding my breath that she would love the unique blanket I had knitted as much as I did!
She called me with terrible news! The blanket was missing from the package! Someone had pulled it out of the box and delivered the damaged box!
We have no idea what happened and who would have dove this! Customer service at Post Office was no help! They have no cameras in facilities or on delivery vans or people!
I’ll begin another blanket for my daughter soon, but not til I mend from this!
My mom-in-law received frozen pork chops from her mom. Times were tough for young couples.
True story: I had a friend in college who tried to mail a syrupy plate of pancakes to a friend in army boot camp.
The weirdest thing I ever received in the mail was in California when I was a child: a live baby alligator from our relatives in Florida.
The most unusual thing I have received in the mail was a plumeria cutting. I was expecting a live rooted plant.
We once ordered a special cheese from Portugal that should’ve arrived in a sealed, metal container. Instead we received a tattered, cardboard box with letters, some clothes and broken pieces of pottery that had been sent home by an American student studying abroad in Spain. The address label read “Contem queijo” in Portuguese which meant “Contains cheese”, but that definitely wasn’t in the package we received!
It was mid-December, 1987. The mailman handed me a box and said, “I sure hope this is the one,” then rushed away. It was a package from my crazy brother. I unwrapped it and put it under the tree with all the rest. Then Cousin came by with another batch of gifts which also went under the tree. Shortly thereafter I heard a man say, “The time – is ten thirty.” Freaked me OUT! I searched the house. I was completely alone. Went into the kitchen to make a soothing cup of tea. A man said, “The time – is eleven AM.” The voice was in the living room. One of the stack of presents was talking to me. I separated them into two piles and sat between them with my knitting. Eventually, the pile on the left said, “The time – is eleven thirty.” Pile on the right went back under the tree. Pile on the left was again separated into two piles. Every half hour, I was able to cut the number of suspects by half. My brother had sent me a talking clock, turned on and announcing the time every half hour for the entire duration of its journey. The poor mailman had this friendly voice chatting to him for most of his morning. Must have driven him NUTS!
Not so unusual to receive a letter, but it came from a relative in Ireland who addressed it with my father’s name and “Bethel, near New York” it got to us!
We traveled the U.S in an RV for 3 years after we retired, visiting every state. We had our mail forwarded during that time and met many kind post office employees who had held our mail for us.
Chicks!
When I was a young girl, I entered a contest to win a Beatles poster from a local TV teen show, and promptly forgot about it. A few weeks later when I returned home from school, my Mom told me to wait before entering the kitchen. When she said “Okay”, I went in and she was holding up the giant unfolded picture of the Beatles. I was so thrilled and happy that the mailman had put it in our mailbox.
I can’t think of anything unusual, but like many of the people commenting, Our postal service does a great job
My my stintersting deluvery was supposed to be a special holiday cake, soaked in grand marnier and cornered in chocolate. What I received was a soggy flattened box that smelled great.
Periodically I receive mail for my father. He died in 2007. AND he NEVER lived at this address. (This is not personal mail but various “offers.”). This is so absurd it doesn’t even make me sad. USPS often gets a bad rap, in my opinion; the errors are a small percentage of the total volume.
During a long and exceptionally snowy winter when my 3 daughters were little we ordered meal worms and crickets to feed their pet tree frogs!!!
The weirdest thing the USPS ever delivered to be was Not Yarn. 😉 (I don’t even remember ordering anything besides yarn…)
I received ENORMOUS boxes of fencing, meant for the farm behind us, which had the same address as ours, plus “1/2” because we shared the same street frontage. It was an adventure getting it to our neighbor!
My new farmer’s sink! I love my new kitchen!
Tamales!
Strangest package: a large, light box of acupuncture needles in individual sterilized packets in a box that wasn’t quite strong enough, mailed from some somewhere in Asia (it was several years ago).
What’s unusual anymore? Also, is having a gallon of vodka delivered unusual? It was the early days of 2020 and I couldn’t find hand sanitizer.
My neighbor had chickens delivered. I don’t know where they lived until the cops confiscated them, they weren’t in the yard. That was definitely weird.
I can’t say for sure it was the USPS, but for several years my husband was in the Lions Club and one fund raiser was a turtle derby (yes, racing turtles in lanes – with betting and candy payoffs).
Each year days before the big race 2 huge boxes or live turtles were delivered to our house. After their speedy trip from the turtle commune, we unpacked them and placed them in baby pools to cool down and gett ready to race.
…..lots more to that story, including the time they did a jail break.
Ants for ant farms for my kids!
One day, the mailman knocked and apologized. He had a package for me that sounded like it was full of broken glass. After I opened it, there was a basket full of sea shells, none broken! I located the mailman further on in his route and explained what it was. I think it made his day, and it sure made mine.
One time I received something that would have fit in with the cosplay. I was expecting a package that day so I didn’t look at the address label until I had looked at the contents. It was for the people two doors down. I taped it up as professionally as possible and slipped it into their mailbox.
Imagine my surprise when the USPS carrier delivered tow huge boxes from a dear friend in AZ,,,they were the complete Toyota knitting machine complete with rubber and Everything needed! Big, heavy and oh so welcome!
I wish there was a way to proof the comment on my iPad before hitting ‘send’ two boxes arrived complete with Ribber!
Baby ducklings
Tea from Republic of Tea -yummy;but also for the hubs Jamaican Me Crazy coffee from Door County Coffee. Most recently yarn from you know who. Such an eclectic bunch of deliveries.
Cooked (moldy) blueberry waffles
No mail delivery at my house so I get it delivered to a post office box in Town. My coffee deliveries perfume the entire post office!
I feel pretty pedestrian in this group as far as what’s delivered. I am relieved when I see that a package will be delivered USPS. I know that the package will show up at my door behind the locked gate to my bldg. The other carriers don’t want a key. Some even leave packages in front of said gate on a busy street in a tourist area. I have always been partial to the USPS. Maybe it has something to do with the picture I cherish of my dad in his mail carrier uniform.
Dog food…..such a heavy package!
My favorite apple and date pound cakes sent to me by my mom while I was away at college. It wasn’t completely intact but it was a wonderful taste of home and much appreciated by me and my hall mates.
Handmade woven hammock from Sierra Leone, West Africa.
Soooo many packages. I’m sure my mail carrier must think I have a shopping addiction. This may or may not be true.
just received a small, portable, one-room air conditioner.
A box of 11 tiny succulents and instructions to keep them alive ☺️
I live in Canada. I have my whole life. That being said we often get packages from the US sent my USPS then Delivered by Canada Post. Strangest thing I’ve ever gotten was a pot, from Vancouver, BC (Canada) sent to Maine (maybe the person was new to Canada and didn’t realize New Brunswick was a province??) then USPS rerouted the package to me!
EMBRYOS. Taking care of my neighbor’s chickens one summer, I watched the mailman gingerly place the emblazoned box on their porch, TOP. SIDE. UP. I must admit it took me a few seconds to realize that they weren’t embarking on do-it-yourself IVF; they’d ordered fancy chicken eggs for their incubator.
Most unusual? Probably the ladybug eggs and baby preying mantis nests. Or was it the boxes of my husband’s dirty laundry from a trip to Death Valley (it was either mail them home or throw them away, as his luggage was full of rock specimens that were ‘more valuable’).
My son in law received a box of DOOR HANDLES from me for his birthday. Yup! The box and label were clearly mine BUT I had sent him a book! Turns out the USPS truck had an accident, boxes split open and they did “ the best they could” putting object back into boxes!!!!
I once received a meteorite in the post. (I’d ordered it, but it took so long to arrive that I had forgotten all about it by the time it appeared in my post office box.)
I received a small package of wool socks (I know I should have knit them). The way the UPS driver tossed this almost weightless package at the door somehow set off our alarm. We were out. We got a call from the alarm company and they called the police.
We arrived home to police cars and flashing lights! The neighbors all came out. The police very nicely checked our whole house for an intruder. We all got a good laugh when we watched the doorbell camera video of the enthusiastic sock delivery!
A WATER WEEDER!
Fruit trees!
12 boxes of drug samples – legal. It was a neighbor’s, who worked for a drug company. House number correct, but wrong street. Called my neighbor and we loaded up the trunk.
The necessities of life – cold brew coffee from Hawaii!
Shucked oysters from Washington, ready for the bbq!
I would have to say a pet snake.
They delivered very long boxes containing solar shades for very large windows. The postman did his best to hide them.
I love the USPS, because they’re so reliable, & choose them when sellers offer the choice.
A fully assembled, well packed, Columbine spinning wheel.
Live baby chicks all arrived safely!
The weirdest thing I’ve ever gotten in the mail was pizza.
Dragons! They now guard the back garden.
Nothing unusual for me mostly yarn, but I sure am enjoying reading everyone else’s posts.
Yarn. Wait not unusual for “us”. But packages from all over the globe, including TN. Inevitably a curious carrier asks and looks blank. Frankly, I’m gobsmacked. You’re buying it too!
I did have yarn coming from a friend in Dallas go by way of Dallas>>Manitoba>>Dallas>>Vermont! We had a good laugh about that!
My brother enjoyed sending food (inappropriately packaged) through the mail to my kids. A TV dinner arrived in a manilla envelope with peas squeezing out one of the corners.
A trombone that we bought on eBay!
My mom used to send see through valentine’s to the grandkids in clear plastic bottles – mailing labels tied around the neck of the bottle. All arrived on time and no damages.
The USPS takes a lot of heat but I’ve always had great service from them. We once had a box of live Ladybugs delivered. That’s about as unusual as it gets around here.
The grill for a 1936 Oldsmobile—-when my husband was restoring yet another antique car.
I loved your story. Yes, UPS employees are essential, just like knitters!
Breakfast cereal.
Knishes from Yonah Schimmel’s in NYC, mailed to my (then) husband in Los Angeles for his 40th birthday! They were still edible and delicious!
Most unusual things I’ve gotten in the mail was tires. They were shipped with just a label.
I mailed a package to Germany that, among other things, contained a hand knit sweater I made for my daughter. Months later, the day before my daughter arrived for a visit, the package was delivered to my door as it had never been claimed in customs (of course customs never let my daughter know they had it, but that is another story). The carrier said returns were included in the postage rate. I was so grateful to see that package again, even though my daughter had to come to it rather than it going to her.
Customs is insanely complicated (and it works differently from country to country — some notify you, some do not, some occasionally do but not reliably, etc etc). The hardest thing to try and do is ship a “surprise” gift internationally because if the recipient doesn’t know it’s coming, it can just sit in customs FOREVER waiting for pickup and – if it’s sent from a business rather than an individual – awaiting settlement of duties/import fees/taxes, which can really sour the experience for both the giver and the giftee. It’s such a headache!
Morel mushroom spores
Baklava! Saved me during the pandemic. We have a tiny post office and no delivery. Thankfully a new friendly post master.
I worked for an orchestra that was about to go under. The ship was sinking fast. One day, after a particularly bad board meeting, I came home to find a package of hand-dyed silk spinning fiber from Japan. The minute I started to spin, I knew I’d survive the day.
When we moved to Virginia from Texas in the early 80s, the grocery stores didn’t stock much Mexican food, so my mom mailed us care packages of salsa, tortillas and tortilla chips!
I worked as a letter carrier for a while. One day, one of those Christmas cards that plays music when you open it malfunctioned and played a faint tinny version of “Jingle Bells” over and over. So relieved when I delivered that!
The most unusual item I ever received was a bowling pin. It wasn’t in a box or any kind of wrapping — the postage and address were right on the pin.
It used to be that you could stick an address on anything and the USPS would deliver it – like a coconut. I wonder if that’s still true.
Live bees
I’ve had my share of other peoples deliveries to my door.
But I don’t know what the most unusual was because I don’t open their boxes.
I’ve received live chicks, live ducklings, and live plants. And did you know? People used to send live children through the post!
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/
Not shipped to me, but I’ve heard a story from a reliable source of someone just slapping a shipping label to the base of one of those mannequin heads that stylists use for practice and shipping it through USPS with no further packaging, just a disembodied head.
My dad was a lepidopterist, caterpillars and butterflies were delivered to our door regularly.
It’s not the most unusual but it certainly makes me the happiest. Yarn!
We received a 5’ x 8’ painting
We received a 5’x8’painting from an artist in Poland.
We started a worm box to recycle kitchen scraps to make fertilized soil for the garden. No internet then but after a phone call to Plains, Ga we got a pound of red worms in the mail. I always wondered if Billy Carter was the one who packed them.
My husband received a motorcycle engine, delivered on Christmas Eve one year!
I once had sea horses delivered.
A great big thank you to all the postal workers. You’e made staying home for the past year and a half possible. Years ago some one sent us a smoked turkey as a Christmas gift. The package was too large for the mailbox, so the mailman left it by our front door. We were out of town and not expecting the delivery, so by the time we got home the package was a smelly mess. Yuck.
Living in the country it’s not unusual to be at the post office in spring and hear PEEP PEEP PEEP coming from boxes waiting to be delivered. It’s awfully cute. They’re in good hands. Cheers to the USPS!
This is lovely 🙂 I’ve been amazed at the resilience of the USPS over the last year. One of the most interesting things I’ve had delivered to me was a necklace made with butterfly wings (gathered after they lived a happy life in a conservatory).
Cheers for your support of our wonderful postal system!
Packages at the door is one of few highlights for our pandemic time.
My wonderful USPS delivers HOPE & GOOD CHEER to me on a regular basis!
A Christmas gift basket three years in a row!
It started on a late Christmas Eve afternoon. Poor guy was still making deliveries. The basket had no sender name. The address was not our complete address but did have my husbands name. The delivery guy stood at our front door, snow coming down, saying “this belongs here, right?” So we took the package. When it happened two more years in a row we were shocked. It has stopped and now I miss our mystery package. We still have a great delivery guy.
Our most unusual and welcomed USPS package was a box of surgical masks, gloves, and alcohol wipes from my husband’s company, in 2020 when those items were hard to come by. All employees received the items to help keep them safe, even while working from home. The oddest package I’ve ever sent was a big box of pine cones, collected from my neighborhood, to a friend who wanted them for a children’s class project and lived in a part of our state that didn’t have pine trees. We love our long-time mail carrier, Maria!
We sent an unwrapped coconut from Hawaii and it came on schedule.
Nothing to do with the USPS but I’m jealous you get to work there.
My college reunion was cancelled so they sent out a “reunion in a box” that included a plant. I was expecting a hat, not an epiphyte.
I love to get packages of dried orange peel my friend sends me from Japan. Nothing like it here!
I sent a tumbleweed from Texas, where it grew, to my brother-in-law, a Texan moored in middle Florida. When I took the box into the post office to mail – a huge thing that weighed nothing, the mail clerk said, without much enthusiasm, ” tumbleweed.” He’d seen this before.
The biggest USPS surprise was going to the local main USPS branch to ask why our organization had received so little mail over several weeks. The postal clerk disappeared for some time and came out rolling a grocery cart full of mail for us.
I once got a potato, imprinted with “You’re the tater to my tot” from my daughter. Who knew these things existed!
Two 8 foot storage wardrobes that must have weighed 200 pounds each.
My ex husband and I used to have fresh green Chile mailed to us every September from New Mexico. We would get about 20 bushels, then have our own Chile roast with family and friends. The mail woman at the time said she loved the smell of the fresh chilies, and could we get some once a month!
A huge metal wash tub – no packaging; just a tag on the handle.
So much yarn!!! But that’s not really out of the norm. I’d say it’s the potato chips from my home town and deep dish pizza from Chicago. Both are big time cravings and the USPS helps me satisfy them!
We live in the middle of nowhere and completely rely on the USPS. On occasion when somebody else’s mail ends up in our box we note it must be ‘meet your neighbor day’ and go ahead and take it to the right person. Strangest thing received via USPS was addressed to my decades deceased father-in-law who has NEVER lived with us, never lived in Arizona, instructing him to report to jury duty.
Lately, I keep getting religious letters from people who live in my area, and I don’t know how to make it stop!
Our first child was born in Australia while there on a 2 year contract (we are from Canada) To make sure we could prove that he was truly born there we fed him the gooey Vitamin tar on toast, the Aussies call Vegemite. He is now in his 20’s. He still loves Vegemite and we still get packages via the post office with his beloved spread. In the years he has been getting these packages not one has gone missing or been damaged.
Duke’s Mayonnaise! Not available here in the Pacific Northwest so must be ordered. After living in the South for 30+ years, I can’t do without my Duke’s!
DG’s column on the USPS is priceless– and so true.
A bassoon bocal. Now you mad ask, what on earth is a bassoon vocal? And that’s why I am submitting this comment! Not because it is particularly weird to send one thru the mail (except you would expect it to be wrapped well in bubble wrap and then mailed in a rigid box instead of by itself in a flimsy plastic mailing bag) to prevent bending or dinging or other damage during shipping. A no SL is that curvy metal tube you stick in the top of a bassoon and then you stick the bassoon Reed into the bocal. And then you can try to play the bassoon. Oh, and it costs about $500. And yes, the fates smiled upon us snd it was delivered safely and I dinged. A miracle. 🙂
2 blueberry bushes recently came through in perfect shape! The mail lady for our neighborhood is a hometown girl who doesn’t hesitate to take the time to visit a little. That’s special!
Weirdest thing USPS delivered: I placed a yarn order which also had a couple notions. When the package arrived, the needle-size tags were missing, but in it’s place was a brand new package of Men’s Dr. Scholl’s gel shoe insoles. I contacted the yarn store, who confirmed they don’t SELL insoles. They suspect USPS “inspected” the package and swapped my $1.50 tiny package of tags for the obviously wrong shoe liners. I’m just thankful they didn’t take my much more expensive project yarn!
I’m just normal, don’t have any weird things delivered other than household items and yarn. However my grand daughters surprised me with 3 paintings they did for me for my new house.
About a year and a half after my wallet had been pickpocketed by a team of pros, emptied of cash and tossed into a mailbox, the USPS delivered it with everything else which, unfortunately, had to be replaced. Astonishing.
My granddaughter in Arizona sent a letter to Grandma at my street address, no city, province or country. She did include a postal code. It covered the whole envelope. She is six and learning to write. I was so pleased that ISPS and Canada Post worked together to deliver it safely to me
Maybe not the most unusual, but the most emotional for me was a Vermont “mom” Teddy Bear from my sons when they were both in college and had exams and couldn’t get home for Mother’s Day.
Not really unusual but my husband receives all sorts of interesting parts for his business. I’m looking forward to that pony you know so I can help with the pony express …….
My friend Rebecca lives one street over, I see her all the time. She’s a knitter who’s really gotten into quilting. For Valentine’s Day this year she mailed me a quilted postcard. Delightful!
Years ago I used to do altered books, and we did a round robin all around the country working on each other’s books. It was expensive to mail, but fun. I also sent Flat Deepa (inspired by Flat Stanley) around the country to see the sights, and got a book of her adventures back. Other flat people came to visit me. It really was a blast.
The USPS is absolutely incredible.
My most unusual delivery was a large, heavy bag from a pet supply shop. It was about 50 pounds of specialty dog food. We don’t have a dog, and I don’t know how our name and address found its way to an order! Dog food was donated after reconciling with the pet supply company.
Fresh holly leaves from Vancouver Island packaged in a shoe box! It was the Christmas Season so the smell was so festive!
Baby chicks would be the most unusual thing I’ve received by USPS–a long time ago. I understand it still happens now and then.
My Granddad was a postal worker (back in the day). I am always heartened when I see a postman trudging thru the worst weather to deliver the mail. I received my last spinning wheel (in perfect shape) via USPS. Thank you!
Not too strange except when you consider the size of the package…a 6 ft. tall decorative wood ladder to hang my handknit throws on. I keep thinking about how much room it took up in that little delivery vehicle!
Live fish, in their own water filled baggies!! My brother STILL owes me for agreeing to accept delivery on that one
we treasure our letter carriers
1000 dead house flies, packed lovingly in Petrie dishes (250 per dish) and cotton. Suppliers instructions- keep chilled.
Not so unusual as surprizing… a package from Latvia which contained some wonderful Alpaca yarn sent by my daughter. It was wrapped so beautifully in heart-sprinkled tissue with a metal butterfly tied around it. Needless to say the USPS handled it with care.
My mom was a USPS postmistress so I have a love for the USPS. My mail lady, Stephanie, is the best.
I received aUSPS “package” from my daughter who was moving home from Denmark. It was a cloth tote bag duct-taped to a box, which was duct-taped to a duffel bag. It got lost on the way, because she failed to properly secure the label with a power-tape, you know, like duct tape.
USPS has never disappointed me. Our most unusual delivery through USPS were lobsta’s from Maine
I’ve seen honeybees and baby chickens delivered. Always cute the chick’s peeping, not so cute when a couple of the bees escaped and were flying around the post office.
Probably the most unusual package delivered from USPS was coffee, however, my favorite package to receive is yarn! When I used to belong to a yarn club one of my cats would be as excited as I was to open the package, the dyer always wrapped the skein in tissue tied with a ribbon and my cat went nuts for the ribbon!
We received a huge 15 foot x 30 foot flag in the mail unsolicited and have no idea where it came from . We now hang it from a deck so passing boaters can see it on Canada Day.
OMG— Chess pie! Be still my heart. My favorite, esp. lemon chess, and such does not exist in NYC. I haven’t had any in years, but it brings back memories of the wonderful southern cafeterias (including the ones in hospitals, strangely) of my childhood. Hmmm. Maybe this is something the USPS could deliver…
Goldbelly.com ships both regular AND lemon chess pies from several different pie emporiums!
Back in the 1960s, my husband successfully mailed an orange (yes, the fruit) to his friend in the next town. He wrote the name and address directly on the orange and his friend recieved it in good time & good condition! Don’t think an orange meets today’s mailing requirments!
Years ago when I was in grad school, I got a call saying there was a USPS package waiting at our apartment complex’s front desk. I went to get it, and heard the young woman who went back to find it scream. I asked if everything was okay, and she came out blushing – my Dad thought it was hilarious to put a trail of ant stickers around the package, and the poor lady understandably thought they were real! Over 20 years later, my Dad still sends me one ant sticker per package or card to find – and I always hope the carriers realize they are stickers while being grateful my Dad is still sending me packages and laughing at his joke.
A postcard from the former DDR, (mailed in East Berlin, to be exact) delivered to my husbands friend one year after we mailed it, and to the wrong Uni building.
By then, I believe, East Germany no longer existed.
Somewhere along the way, something happened!
I love your service and your help and I have recommended you to several
Monarch butterfly caterpillars
A bag of grit for my husband’s fish tank!
My husband orders stone ground grits from South Carolina – can’t get anything near as delicious here in California!
My brother once ordered a boa constrictor. It came in a box that said “live turtles.” I wonder if it had it had said “live snake” if he ever would have received it. But the snake was fine and he (my brother) was very happy.
Ha ha, great article! We live in Maine and our UPS guy is a delight. He has to manoever manouever?? his big truck in our little turn around driveway and does it with aplomb. (I can spell that one) Funniest thing he delivered was my big heavy porch swing set that he had to come back and get a few days later coz we didn’t like it. Love this yarn, hope I win. Or I will have to buy it. And I still haven’t even started on the Aperture Shawl.
A queen bee!
I definitely ❤️ the USPS! I once ordered a batch of ladybugs to help combat the aphids on my roses. I don’t think they really helped (most of them flew away), but it was a fun experiment.
Okay, while I’m Team USPS all the way, my most unusual item received from them is a disaster story. What I ordered/expected to receive was about 60 skeins of yarn (I have a custom knitting business, so I knit up A LOT of yarn every year). What I got was a plastic bag with the sad remains of the shipping box that contained the shipping label. That’s it. Just a piece of what had to have been a very large box, and a letter saying that my package had met with some “issues” along the way. Ummmm…okay. My imagination went into overdrive. Was the mail carrier assaulted by a knitting gang, on the lookout for fiber goodies, and all he was able to retain from these renegades was the scrap of box top, while they made off with with the yarn? Was the sorting facility invaded by feral cats, each of whom made off with his/her own ball of yarn? We shall never know. It still makes me laugh every time I think about it, though.
Ok, I haven’t had this delivered to me, but I’m amazed that people get baby chicks delivered to them through USPS! My cousin was a bit worried about her turkey delivery last year due to COVID, but they all came through fine.
Replacement ants for my son’s ant farm. Don’t ask me what happened to the original ants…LOL
Condoms
Potato starts come via mail. They really look dead when they arrive but recover and grow quite well.
There were four things the post office delivered to me that were not our normal. Baby chicks, ducklings, goslings, and tires for my husbands car. The best part when the ducklings, goslings, and chicks came was that the postman called me and let me pick them up before the post office was open.
My mother in law sent my husband’s ll6 do it leather rhino-shaped couch to us and the last leg of the journey was USPS.
Many moons ago when my husband was a young lawyer one of the Parteners in the firm called UPS to pick up her kids from school. ‘Truth’
Many, many, many deliveries of yarn. Building materials for my hubby, and worms for the garden.
A dozen, live, baby chickens!
Twenty-five pounds of oat bran. I don’t think it is that strange–oat bran is so yummy!!–but my family made fun of me for it.
Once delivered to us by the wonderful Pist Office was a box of worn underwear. I cannot help but wonder what was in the box that went to Goidwill.
A new toilet seat – during quarantine of course! It was in just the toilet seat box and left on our porch. All the neighbors and anyone that drove by could totally see how classy we are!!?
Such a great tribute and funny stories! Mine would be send, not receiving. My older son was going to school in Florida while my younger one was at home in Ohio in high school. Whenever I would make monster cookies (oatmeal with peanut butter, peanuts, chocolate chips and m&ms), the one at home would immediately gloat about having cookies when his brother did not, triggering an immediate phone call. “Where are my cookies??!!!”. I always mailed them from the airport post office in hopes that they would get there more quickly. Every time I answered the “is it perishable” question with, “yes, it’s cookies” they would ask where their cookies were. It got to the point where I automatically made a plate for the postal workers too. It was great to see the huge smiles. What a fun memory! Thanks for that and to all the postal workers who keep everyone going!
So many things come by mail. Nothing sticks out as the strangest
Live crawfish
My yarn from Germany!
Not delivered to me, but the president of our company once put postage and an address on an unwrapped trash can lid just to prove to his significant other that the post office would deliver just about anything. Yes, it was delivered.
He delivered fresh cinamon rolls from my mother
When I was very little, we got our baby chickens in the mail.. came in a smaller box with tiny screen windows in it.. and little cheeps coming from inside! I was fascinated. Chickens!!
I mostly love the postal service. I was going to leave a sad comment about the thing that was shipped to me via USPS that did NOT arrive this year, a real kudu horn. But even as I write it…I’m not sure I’m actually so sorry to not be in possession of that burden.
USPS, winning even at the misses.
In the fall of 2019 or maybe early 2020 (pre-pandemic, anyway) my office called and said there was a BIG box for me. Someone for whom I had done a tiny and insignificant favor had had me sent a giant basket of chocolate (The basket was 2 1/2 feet tall, and it was very carefully packed in a box that was over 3 feet tall – it was hard to get into the car to take home.) Thank you, USPS.
Well, usually yarn orders from USA are exempt from duty, and I always order more or less the same amount, but sometimes, for whatever reason, Canada Post tacks on the duties, and you have to pay or else not delivery! Not fun, but I WANT my yarn!
I moved just before the pandemic attacked. My poor postal carrier has delivered all sorts of needed items to help me get my home ready. The most unusual item was a The Baker’s Piston Funnel. I’m looking forward to decorating cookies and cakes with it. And in terms of weird I once had a butterfly farm delivered. I set it up and hatched some real beauties.
A clock that went tick-tock. Can’t think of anything unusual.
I have heard of people who get live crickets via the post office but the most I have to brag about getting in the mail is yarn and cat litter. However, before we moved into our current house 20 years ago it was owned by a couple who ran a mail-order fetish-wear business, so I am sure that our local post office has seen a thing or two.
Our financial advisor sent us a Moneytree through the mail- when it arrived it had like 3 leaves on it. I proudly not only kept it going but it is now 5 feet tall! Only wish my finances were doing quite as well!
I have made so many online purchases this year my dining room looks like a USPS receiving dock. Or, Amazon central. I’ve purchased a lot of essentials, and non-essentials (powdered everything), from spending hours perusing. I’ve also purchased lots of vintage car parts for my husband’s restoration projects. Oh, and the yarn…my yarn closet is barfing bags of yarny finds and treasures…
Not to me, but our granddaughter. When we were in Kauai, we wrote her address on a coconut and mailed it to her. We had as much fun doing it as she did receiving it in the mail.
My MDK packages have always arrived in good time and perfect condition. My brother-in-law is a hard-working USPS mail carrier. I admire his dedication and perseverance in doing his difficult job during the pandemic.
Worms! 3 bags of worms for my garden that needed help
I decided I wanted to raise alpacas so I could spin their fleece. I live in a high-rise, one bedroom apartment, but I figured I could share it with one alpaca. The USPS delivered the lovely alpaca to the 25th floor.
We were allowed to make things up, so I hope everyone knew I was kidding!!
The post office delivered a package of “heat tape” I ordered to use on my well next winter in case of another arctic blast!
I am 68 years old which means that I have experienced many profound changes in every single thing. My grandfather lived in Davenport, Iowa and we lived in Denver. He used to send my mother fresh eggs in a wooden crate and what I remember is when he would send my mother a set of sterling silver in my mother’s pattern. A full place setting would arrive and it was placed in the mail box on the front porch. No one thought that it would be stolen then…
Nothing too strange, but my mom will often order fancy chocolates or baked goods for holidays…For my birthday this year a got an assortment of tiny, one-bite sized cupcakes.
Real, honest-to-goodness LETTERS—hand written, by someone, in ink, front and back, signed with love, sealed and stamped and delivered into the hands of the USPS whereupon it’s delivered to the addressee!! Few and far between but SO welcome!
The blue airmail letters from friends who were traveling.
We have the Worlds Greatest Postman, Mr. Scott. He is so nice and wonderful to the neighborhood kids. I’m not sure if we have anything unusual delivered besides vintage crewel kits and eBay shoes!
We recently received a ham radio antenna – it wouldn’t fit in our mailbox (or the delivery vehicle) so they made me come to the Post Office for it. The antenna was in three sections so the package was only 6″ in diameter but at least 5 feet long.
Thanks for the opportunity!
Oh boy….I remember years back when a guy my husband knew from work decided to send him some beer through the mail service. It was apparently a beer that we couldn’t buy here. Anyway, my husband neglected to tell me this treasure was arriving. I went out to get the mail, opened the mailbox and the aroma of a brewery immediately hit me. The bag that the USPS decided to put the box in was wedged into the mailbox so tight I had a dickens of a time getting it out. Once I did, I saw that the bag was filled with…..beer. You guessed it…..the beer didn’t fare well in transit. Two bottles survived the journey. I spent part of the day outside scrubbing out the mailbox……
I do believe it was shortly after that debacle that the USPS sent out new guidelines about what could and couldn’t be shipped through the mail. I don’t believe beer made the cut. Ahhhh me……
Correct – you can no longer ship spirits of any sort via USPS (but ppl do it ALL the time anyway). There are many many beer/wine/alcohol subscription services, but thy have to ship via one of the private carriers (UPS/FedEx, etc). You’re not even supposed to use liquor BOXES to ship through the post office, even if there’s really yarn or whatever else inside. No visible alcohol branding is the rule, though again, people still do it.
My Airbnb weekend renters! They were lost and stopped my local USPS delivery man, Rick, god bless him. You know, he had them follow his cute truck straight to my driveway! Love that guy.
A box containing a wonderful assortment of handmade ceramic buttons from England for the sweater I had just finished knitting 35 years ago, The sweater is long gone, but I still have the buttons.
Live millipedes.
When I was in college a friend in London sent me a letter but I guess she forgot the address. All she put on the front of the envelope was my name, Marycrest Hall, and the zipcode. The letter found me! Good old USPS!
My most unusual delivery was a five pound bag of dried meal worms for the Bluebirds.
I’m Janoour regular mail carrier of many, many years retired. Before he retired we got him a VIsa gift card and I wrote him a note thanking him for for his years of service and his wonderful cheery disposition. A few days later we had the most amazingly kind and humble thank you note from his and his wife. It really touched my heart.
It’s more the combinations that turn up that get me. A recent delivery included a capacitor, charging cables, and nipple jewelry, all for someone else in my household, but believe me, I was rather glad the driver couldn’t see into the packages!! ♀️
I once received a box of fresh corn on the cob in the mail from my SIL in the midwest.
You can mail anything that doesn’t violate USPS rules. I once received a plastic carrier pigeon with address and stamps taped over the wing. It was a foot long in life-like full color with orange feet and arrived without issue!
My sister sent me a coconut from Hawaii! It wasn’t wrapped or anything. The label was stapled to the coconut! The guy delivered it right to my door because he was so puzzled!
These days I would have to say a hand written letter!
My teenage brother to my grandparents in rural Montana.
The USPS delivered 18 day-old chicks to me on Friday. Actually I had to pick them up early at the post office, but when they called to tell me the chicks were there they also told me how to come in the back door to get them before the post office opened. Yay USPS!!!
ok! the weirdest thing that I ever got was a package from my brother in MN (I live in Oregon.) He had sent me a couple of bottles of honey. Unfortunately one of the bottles broke in route and the delivery came to a screeching halt and they had to inspect what the heck was in it. There was a delay and when it was delivered the really nice postal employee had to explain to me what a mess it was. I was able to “harvest” the honey from the other jar and it was DELICIOUS.
I bought a wooly jumper board in Shetland. Took it to their local pack and ship place where I bought lots of bubble wrap, tape and brown paper and packaged it the best I could. Putting it in a box would have cost more, already the shipping cost nearly as much as the item. Folded up it was about 4′ long and very awkward. Sent by ship, delivered by USPS intact, none of the paper ripped and it came sooner than the expected 3 months. Yes I too love the USPS!
I order 4” potted shrubs and am always amazed that they arrive unscathed and thrive in my garden!
Years ago, a Gateway brand computer. Came in a large box patterned like a cow. Still have that box, but not the computer!
I remember those boxes!
We get 40 pound bags of dog food delivered to our front door which is one flight of stairs up from street. My friend gets boxes of live bees. Alive.
A previously owned but very lovely and warm silk chapan from Uzbekistan
Not so unusual really, but I’m still impressed whenever I order fancy perishable food and it arrives in edible condition!
Around 30+ years ago I when I was weaving I ordered a Harrisville 36″ 4 harness jack loom kit. It came in multiple packages and some were pretty heavy. On the 3rd day the mail carrier knocked on the door and asked what I had ordered and asked how many more boxes I was expecting.
The best cat litter I’ve found was discontinued in the stores…USPS has been delivering 20# of that
cat litter every month for a year now. I really do owe my carrier some cookies.
I remember being a little kid and getting an ant farm with LIVE ANTS in the mail! Most of them still living lol. Also whenever I have to mail something using the USPS website an see the “My package contains baby chicks” checkbox it cracks me up imagining the delivery person for that : )
Maybe not so unusual but I can imagine my carrier was confused. When my husband and I first married, my copy of Vegetarian Times magazine would usually arrive the same day as his copy of North American Hunter.
As a proud retired employee of the USPS I will add that not many folks know that the postal service delivers baby chicks and ducks. It was always an exciting morning when they arrived. Immediate calls to the receiving person so that they could be picked up quickly. They are very cute, especially the little ducks.
Just before Christmas several years ago UPS delivered a box of jars of jam. The box was huge. It was different kinds of jam and must have weighed at least 50 pounds and it belonged about a mile up the road. UPS wasnt as efficient as it is now and the service rep wanted me to pick up the box and walk it down the road and deliver it. It sat about a month until I convinced UPS deliver it to the right person. My coworkers thought I was dumb not to keep it and use it but honesty is the very best policy.
A package of salmon (frozen, thank godness) from my son in Seattle. In July.
Frozen Maryland Crabs! They were for a neighbor you couldn’t read name as box had gotten damaged and address was mine…delivered on a Saturday
They stayed frozen in my freezer till company opened up on Monday and told me name of person they were sent to..
Don’t know how unusual it is but they deliver a ‘happy mail day’ every time they bring art and craft supplies.
I love the USPS and UPS. I live cross country from my daughter and grandkids. I have sent them crazy things. This last Christmas I sent all three boys bean bag chairs. The boxes were huge but weighed almost nothing. Not something weird for me but something I sent with no problem
A box of candy from General.? I was in college, took me awhile to realize it was from my Mother’s dog
A thank you note for a handknit Christmas gift – with a stamp on it – when you know they’re the one that delivers it! (every year 🙂 )
My son once got ashes from a dearly departed delivered to his address- delivered to the wrong address! Actually a mislabeled address. Quite a surprise.
1,000 tubes of Superglue!
We got a huge box of storage boxes delivered in the early pandemic to hold—-yarn of course
Getting a box of bees w/queen that my husband had forgotten to tell me was on its way surprised me. But my carrier said it was not a very rare occurrence in some places.
A baby alligator. In the late fifties my dad worked on the Mercury program as an engineer. He was sent down to Coco Beach, Florida one summer, so the engineers could hear what the astronauts thought of their capsule designs. One hot day, a cardboard tube arrived at our central Illinois mailbox marked ‘Souvenir from Coco Beach’. Intense excitement! It contained a lot of excelsior and a baby alligator — like Monty Python’s parrot, a very deceased baby alligator. (Back then, it was legal to ship baby alligators as souvenirs.) My mother was less thrilled than all us kids.
We little kids refused to believe it was it was dead; it didn’t *look* dead, though rather rigid; so we took it down to the spring that ran through our yard and carefully slid it into a little pool, then hunkered down and waited for it to revive. It didn’t, even after swishing it around.
Eventually my mom insisted that we bury it behind the chicken house. Years later another bunch of little kids were digging around behind the chicken house, as one does, and found the baby alligator (remarkably well preserved, and still rigid.) They almost perished with excitement because they thought they had discovered a fossil dinosaur. They crowded into the kitchen to show it to mom. She managed not to lose her cool, but it went back behind the chicken house.
This is wonderful! Thank you!
A roto tiller. Back in the day we had to mail order it.
I get all sorts of goodies, from bees, to cream chhese stuffed pepperoncini,
Live Lobsters from Maine and of course my favorite squishy yarn orders!
The most unusual thing just came in the mail last week. From China, all in Chinese, with copious amounts of hand stamping and approvals. It was a big, plush, protective envelope that, when cautiously opened, revealed a tiny plastic cat on a keychain. Absolutely curious and positively unwanted. What in the world?!
A cinnamon cream face cockatiel for my granddaughter—named Cinnamon Creamface!
First of all I don’t want to win the giveaway. But I just love MDK! And I want to share this story with you as a gesture of appreciation.
When I was five minutes into my ten minutes of fame, many years ago… I was anxiously enjoying the three – four month period when one of my recordings was hitting the charts, climbing the charts, peaking, and sinking. I began getting fan mail, both from the record company but also privately. One day an envelope appeared my mailbox. My name and address were hand written in pencil and it was wasn’t in a child’s handwriting. That meant it was coming from a prison. I opened the letter and as I unfolded the paper several hairpins fell out onto my lap. I was shocked and frankly a little frightened that someone in prison knew my home address.
I remember reading his praise of my voice, feeling repulsed inwardly a little at his longer mention of my air brushed beauty, and desperately wanting to throw those hairpins away… without touching them.
Now many years later I realize that that was the only thing this poor human being had to give me. It was a GIFT.
Now I am seventy. I spend many hours knitting beautiful things and I gift some of those things to people who are meaningful to me. While I knit that gift I reflect on all sorts of things. My reflections, my broodings, attach themselves to the yarn as it goes through my fingers.
I get it.
All my memories, my ambivalences, mistakes, contradictions as well as my love and good intention go into that garment which will be gifted. And I find I am like that prisoner who sent me six hairpins from his cell. Perhaps that’s the nature of the gift.
And aren’t the workers of USPS often the good bearers of such gifts?
Some Christmas gifts that my folks had sent Parcel post. Do you know how much longer it takes by Parcel post? I think the Post Office puts it on the back dock and waits until someone thinks it’s convenient. Needless to say it was January before we got the gifts. LOL
When my sons learned that you could put a stamp most anything, they went through a spell of seeing what they could mail. A kitschy souvenir…put a label in it, send it on its way. A football…slap postage on it and off it goes. So funny.
I have very little trouble with the mail. So fast, things arrive in great condition. They get a bad, undeserved, in my opinion, rap. For 55c you can mail some love anywhere in the country. What else can you do for 55c? Not much.
OMG a small tree! Have to love those USPS folks.
I got nothin, but the comments are the bomb!
My sister shipped me a gift in a box that had contained a replacement part for her exercise bike. It was trapezoidal. But when I opened the box, out popped a three-foot-tall stuffed alpaca. 🙂
Bees. I was setting up a beehive and mail ordered a package of bees. They came in a wire cage, with several clinging to the outside. The mailman rang the doorbell, pointed to the box sitting on the lawn about 20 feet away and said, “Your package is over there.” Then he ran back to his truck.
My husband mailed home an antique rifle he bought while on a military deploy. Totally legal, but the postmaster of our small town called me and asked me to personally pick it up because it “looked suspicious.”
For all of the yarn the USPS delivers, I could open a mini LYS! They must wonder what all those squishy packages are! Of course they never ask! I think a knit gift would be a nice thing for the carrriers!
I don’t own a business but have a son very handy repairing things. The other day I had a set of shocks for my pick up delivered. Usually it’s something yarn related but this time the box was heavy. Fun!!!
When I was a kid and lived on a farm, the USPS regularly delivered baby chicks.
The strangest thing we received was actually a misdelivery and it was by UPS. Our house number was used 3 times in our neighborhood (all on different streets of course), but we all have to deal with the misdeliveries by the USPS too. In this case it was a huge car part. There was no way I was going to be able to lift it, so I walked down and told them. The son and husband quickly retrieved it.
Nothing Unusual — but I’m so grateful to our USPS — especially over the last year — heroes do not always perform grand / visible deeds — sometimes it’s those who work away quietly in the background gains all odds that we need to recognize. I think the past year has really emphasized that. We have a new gentleman delivering our mail these days and I do so miss Elmer!! 🙂
Four GIANT balls–did I say “balls?” I meant HONKIN’ HUGE SKEINS–of acrylic yarn ordered for a reason I do not remember at. all.
Live baby chick. About one dozen actually. The were all chirping at the post office.
Every year my uncle in Florida sends us a box of fresh mangoes from his tree! He uses the prepaid express boxes and we have the best smelling (and tasting) mail ever!
I got Tamalss..
I <3 USPS as well! They almost always do a great job getting our mail delivered 🙂 I the most unusual thing they've delivered to us is a vacuum cleaner.
My favourite package is the annual spring box of little.chirpong chicks. Love this one
7-layer torte from Brooklyn
My chicks, last summer’s quarantine project. The courier services (UPS, FedEx) don’t deliver livestock, but the good old U.S. Postal Service does!
Nothing too unusual for me, but am enjoying all the comments! I’m sort of addicted to a certain soap I get by USPS delivery (deliciously fir scented)…a lot since I also gift it…
Nothing unusual delivered to me but I do love my postman, Russ. He is so kind and helpful.
I once got a bunch of swag from the National Science Bowl.
I have never in my life participated in or been anywhere adjacent to the National Science Bowl.
In college my Grandmother would send me packages. One October she sent me a package. The mailroom called me that I had a package. When I got there they gave me a funny look. They gave me a package soaking wet on the bottom and sides and coming apart. Inside was a pumpkin with candy inside. Too bad it was a real pumpkin! It was solid mush by the time I got it! My roommates and I got a big laugh out of that one – while we ate the candy of course…
The most unusual has to be a portion of my brothers cremains, in the tiniest urn imaginable
Found in my mailbox last summer: Yellowjackets starting to build a nest, yikes!
Sourdough starter!
My husband worked for USPS for 33 years – the best man ever. Carrier and later window clerk – check. Best husband – double check.
We have had chickens delivered – the post office will call and we have to go get the baby chicks at the local office. Little peepy friends in a box! Joy is a thing with feathers…..not just hope…..
100 milkweed plants.. elementary school Monarch butterfly volunteer. We have to give them cats and enough live milkweed to last until they spin their cocoons.)
Baby chicks….dozens of baby chicks. The staff at the post office called me to come to pick them up the moment they arrived…
I got a home plate once. Maybe someone thought I needed more exercise.
During a bathroom renovation, I ordered a vanity. He said he could only leave it at the bottom of the front porch and could not bring it in. Sigh.
I think the most exotic things I get in the mail are yarns and books from all over the world! Usually the tricky part is the ordering – whether it’s getting up early to get part of a batch of yarn from South Africa, or figuring out how to order a book from Amazon.jp (if you open up the US site and the Japanese, you can figure out most of the order form – so that your address and credit card fields don’t get mixed up).
We may complain, but we ARE fortunate to get things delivered safely and mostly on time.
My husband recently ordered the worlds heaviest car jack for his truck. It came without any sort of wrapping and the only label I could see on it was a barcode – no name or address listed. Yet is somehow still arrived outside my door! I pity and appreciate the poor mail carrier who carried it down the hallway to my apartment door – I barely managed to get it inside! My packages of yarn however are always much lighter…
Crazy amounts of yarn I think my mail carrier probably thinks I have a crafting business (but no just an addiction to all the yarn!)
Two large, rather smelly bags of chicken manure fertilizer for my lawn.
When I was going through paper after my mom and dad had died, I found an envelope they had saved from 1976. It was addressed to my parents but the street address was
across burnt corn creek
on hill top
After see that I had a new respect for the USPS.
A heart shaped cake from my mom when I was in college. What a treat!
My sister knit me a pair of scrappy shortie socks which she posted in January at USPS. The said socks never arrived but were alerted as delivered. Now she knit another pair to replace the original, those arrived. After questioning the local delivery person about the missing package along with other missing important mail my missing packaged and mail mysteriously appeared in May, 5 months late. Neither rain or sleet or snow or some other unidentifiable event interrupts the US Postal system. All you have to do is not “go postal” and wait, and wait, and wait.
Baby ducklings!
I’m not sure how weird this is, but we have received occasional mail to a person unknown to us since we have lived here-27 years! Betty Donte, I’m sorry if you have needed any of that junk mail. It has been recycled.
My husband’s birthday gift last year was a rack for his sword collection that came by post from the Ukraine. 😀
After vandals broke down our mailbox the second time, I was at the post office collecting my mail because I hadn’t found anyone to put up a new one yet. My letter carrier happened to overhear my conversation and came to the window. He volunteered to put it back together for me. And he did. For FREE. He delivered my repaired mailbox to me and set it back up at the street, all ready to use. How’s that for exceptionally fine service from the USPS?!
My mortgage check and envelope half burned
Day old chicks
Oh my, I don’t think I’ve ever received anything nearly as interesting as what I’m enjoying reading about in the comments section today, but I’m happy to add my praise for the USPS along with everyone else. I’ve had MANY different carriers over the years, and at least 99% of them were wonderful!
A very fancy advertisement, specially printed and boxed up, from Porsche, for their new electric model. Not sure how I ended up on that mailing list, as I drive a Toyota Rav4. Maybe it’s the hybrid part?
Well, others have beat me to the general idea, but I was going to say that most would think a ball winder and swift are pretty odd items!
(Warning: This story is made up!)
One time I was expecting a package and when the UPS man came and gave me the package, I noticed that there were holes punched in it and I started to get curious. When I opened it up, the box contained a package of poppy seed bagels, a box of snails and a live goose with a tag and a ribbon around his neck. The goose was contentedly eating a bagel and his tag said that his name was Alphonse(?) All that trouble for a few boxes of cereal!!!
I forgot to mention, the goose was wearing a very cute red and white color-work sweater with a hood!!!
I love the USPS. We have a friendly post office crew and I like to purchase the pretty padded envelopes. You can mail socks and dishcloths in them. And they deliver walking sticks. My late father-in-law made walking sticks and my sister-in-law mailed us one. It made it just fine.
The weirdest thing ever delivered to my house is many varieties of plants that aren’t commonly planted around here, like Sea buckthorn and various fruiting Quinces.
2# of pink Himalayan bath salts! It was a gift.
When my dad was alive, he use to send me beautiful blooming phalenopsis orchids. He lived in CA and I live in Boston! The florist would do a terrifc job of wrapping them and UPS always handled them with care.
Love UPS too. The best/weirdest thing they delivered to us was the queen size canopy top, 4 poster bed we ordered from the East Coast. We lived in CA at that time. Lots of boxes.
Probably the most unusual thing was two pounds of smoked brisket shipped from Texas to Alaska on dry ice. We were stationed in Alaska. I was pregnant with our first child and just really homesick. And the bbq place in my hometown agreed to ship brisket ..but it’s Alaska so they couldn’t overnight it. USPS delivered for me! I got my taste of home in two days.
Art made from dryer lint. Someone on Facebook fabric group asked us to send her ours, and promised an artwork at the holidays. She sent prints of what she’d made and they’re really beautiful! Search for Heidi Hooper.
Not really so strange, but my grandmother sent my mom a linen tablecloth from Ireland, and the postman in our small town was so excited by the overseas package that he brought it to the door and made my mother open it while he watched!
A baby bearded dragon was left on front porch in January (norther Virginia). Poor little guy survived but I’m sure was a little chilly.
A suitcase I shipped home after a semester in London. I literally glued my address to the fabric and held my breath. It made it and I always thought that the letter carrier might have appreciated the handle on it (this was LONG before roller bags!)
I once received salted frozen fish from Norway! And I live in the desert southwest! It was actually meant for a restaurant in Iceland!
I bought a thermos from a (now) well-known company that had just started up in my state. It didn’t keep things warm, so I called the company. The gal told me to return it by USPS, & write their address on the thermos itself! Said they had a low- waste agreement with the USPS, & sure enough, the gal behind the counter didn’t even flinch when I brought in a thermos addressed to Bend, Oregon!
In the 80’s I worked at a farm supply as my first job out of high school. My favorite thing that the postman would bring was newly hatched baby chicks. They would come in a cardboard box with air holes in the side and gobs of lick and stick stamps on top!!
BIG fan of USPS here. They regularly deliver all sorts of odd doggie items to our house– probably the most unusual are gallon-sized tubs of doggie shampoo/conditioner and show leads. 🙂
Our mailman recently wrote my husband a letter, leaving it in our new (husband-made) mailbox-made from an old wooden airplane propeller. Said mailman is aware we receive a lot of airplane-related magazines and complimented my husband in the note on the fact it was so “you”. (We surmise he was also grateful that he no longer needed to bend over to put our mail in a contractor mailbox on a small, low pile of bricks.)
In college I got a free sample pack of condoms (unsolicited). The timing on this was perfect, as my mom was visiting me on campus at the time.
Cheese 🙂
The various delivery services have been very busy for these COVID-19 times, I am happy that so much gets delivered to people who are hunkered down in quarantine.
As for the most interesting thing ever delivered to my home? Frozen mice. Yes, mousesickles. My son had a pet snake who was a picky eater, I am not making this up. She lived in our dining room for 24 years because boys grow up and go to college, snakes do not.
My mother-in-law’s ashes. Even in death, she wouldn’t spring for overnight shipping.
My doorbell rang and when I opened it, the USPS man was sitting out front in his truck. He had rung the doorbell and run back to his truck. He said he had a package but I had to come get it. I said the ground was wet and could he please bring it to me as I had slippers on. He said No, he was afraid of my dog and refused to get out of the truck. I explained the dog was not even in the house, she was locked in the back yard, and the front door was closed behind me, He refused, and I walked the 6 feet through the puddles in my knit slippers. I don’t even remember what that package was, probably yarn, but I will never forget his method of delivery.
My daughter got a package from Kenyon College when she was accepted. It was a cool box with a book inside — a book! It made so much sense I can’t believe I haven’t seen a college do it before.
ps. She accepted and loves Kenyon.
Definitely tractor parts! Or refrigerator coil vacuums. I have a serious DIY handyman in my house…
my toilet paper arrives in a big box marked “Who gives a crap”. probably not unusual to recieve TP by post, but the box sure makes me giggle
Growing up we had a real large brown coconut MAILED to my family from Puerto Rico. The address was written on the coconut with a black marker.
We’ve had pearl oysters from China delivered to us, along with yarn from all over the world.
One summer when I was at camp, a friend mailed me a salami sub. It was delivered quickly and was delicious.
I sent an entire Super Bowl party for my husbands Army unit. Had to work the hospital and had a party in the break room between patients. Sent food and decorations and small foam footballs for everyone
Ants. Ants, ya say? Um, are you sure? Yup. Ants for an ant farm.
A hand made, posted-sized Mother’s Day card from my son.
Back in October I asked DH to FedEx a couple of vaporizers to the head of our software development team in Dubai. He mailed them USPS instead. Guess what traveled to Asia and just made it back to my doorstep? Yup! Gotta hand it to the USPS — at least we got them returned after all this time.
I think USPS does an amazing job. The most unusual thing we’ve had delivered was a circular sock machine. The box was cobbled together from other boxes, but it was packed so well it arrived in perfect condition!
After my Dad passed, I received an envelope with some papers and a small vile with nice rich Dirt in it! Unbeknownst to me, before he passed, my Dad had contacted the Folks in Mexico, who had been caring for my Grandad’s grave. Down there you have to buy the cemetery plot, or after 4 years your dug up and discarded! So dad literally had a deed to my Grandad’s Grave plot and this couple and their Family cared for it. They would send Dad pictures each year and if there were any repairs needed dad made sure they were taken care of!
Anyway, after Dad passed, I was the one that was to handle my Grandad’s grave plot. One day I received this envelope with pictures of my Grandad’s grave, and up dated deed with my name and a vile of the dirt from the plot! A nice letter explaining that things were doing fine, the vile of dirt was incase the Govt ever needed more proof than the deed! Seems I would need that little vile of dirt for confirmation and soil comparison! Seems over crowding was causing them to subdivide plots unless you could prove deed and dirt ownership! The USPS delivered everything and not one crack in the glass soil vile! It could have been a catastrophe if the vile had broken…I mean, how do you track down lost Dirt?!
Every year the post office would call and say (for my dad), “Mr. Coulter, your chickens are here!” In the background you could hear 800 peeps!!!!
I was sure that the DEA would be watching me after the drying racks for ‘herbs arrived. The online shop was careful to say that they would be discreetly packaged. I don’t care if my neighbors know that I spread out scoured fleece to dry in my basement.
Not myself, but I watched a pickup truck pull up next to me in the PO parking lot, go in and get one of those big canvas rolling bins, then proceed to fill the bin with boxes of live bees. There must have been a hundred boxes, wood sides framing screen on either large side. Yep, apparently USPS will deliver to you a new hive of bees, should you need them.
A live frog. It was for a science frog habitat that our daughter purchased – which included a coupon for the frog.
Botarga: mullet roe
I live in Canada and seldom order from the USA due to cost and dollar differences. However I recently purchased a book and it arrived after a while, in the end delivered by Canada Post. But while it was enroute I got an official looking email saying I owed $3.00 in customs duties, strange, had not paid customs on previous orders. As I scrolled thru the email, I was directed to pick a method of payment, but there was no actual way to pay. So I left it for a few days and then saw an alert attached saying it was a hoax, a few days later the email had disappeared. Most strange. However the book arrived, no customs due and I hope no harm done as I have not noticed anything else going wrong,
one tiny bottle of a hot japanese spice.
A bottle ( no box or wrapper) with a party invitation inside!
Not unusual, but I ordered single teaspoons in different patterns. I was trying to pick a pattern for my stainless steel.
Last month I went to the PO and there was a package for my husband: a set of brake drums he had ordered & never happened to mention, that weighed 45 lbs. I had to lug it from the counter to my car … . But what really impressed me that trip was the cheerful din of chirping chicks behind the counter, several boxes of them waiting to be picked up. The PO ladies said, raising their voices a little so I could hear them, that for three wks each spring it’s a constant sound there & they stop noticing it after the first day or two.
My favorite, and most unusual, mail deliveries were the fresh padron peppers (delicious fried!) and all the makings for Asturian Bean Stew, which we had discovered on a trip to northern Spain, including large Spanish beans (dried), fresh Spanish chorizo and blood sausage. It made a wonderful feast.
Three banker’s boxes full of sewing notions that had been in storage since 1972 when my girlfriend’s grandparents moved in with their daughter. This week, after not seeing my friend since childhood for a year and a half, we are meeting up and sorting through more boxes from storage.
Sparkly pink dance shoes – my first official pair of legit dance shoes since I started swing dancing 6 years ago! But alas, I got them right before quarantine started, and they have yet to see an actual dance floor!
Lobsters from Maine
I too love the USPS! I live in a high rise condo and all packages get delivered to our mail room. I have been in there when our trusty USPS delivery person has been sorting and delivering stuff. She is a gem and always goes the extra mile, and it is not just because I plied her with Mr. Goodbars that one time. Most unusual thing delivered . . . hmmmm . . . maybe hjorthornssalt airmailed from Sweden?
Probably worms for composting. I had to sign for them. He remembered the next time I had to sign for a package a year later.
Recently the USPS delivered a box of chocolates to me from North Carolina. They did a fine job and left it at the front door. Unfortunately, the squirrels got to it before I did. All that was left was an empty box, a ribbon, and a few wrappers. There is one happy, chocolate loving squirrel roaming the streets. Watch out!
I once got a baby snake in the mail.
A small carved totem pole made by Salish Indigenous Canadians. Really,it’s 4 feet tall so it was a big box!
Loved reading all the unusual deliveries. We have a postal route that is unassigned to a regular person, so it’s kind of a pick up route. We have our delivery at different times and different ways regularly. Sometimes we are surprised with no delivery. Just shows how varied the PO is. I make handmade greeting cards and support the PO often, sharing them with family & friends.
We love the USPS! They saved us more than once during the pandemic. Last week they delivered a dust bag for a hand planer.
Nothing too usual delivered . I am thankful for all out delivery drivers since COVID lockdowns , they are still working when we are not able . We order clothes , food , toys , diapers and yarn ( thank goodness for yarn) Anything needed has been ordered and delivered safely and cheerfully.
Years ago, my best friend mailed me a postcard from Maine. Wanting it to be authentic, I suppose, she wrote the card on a piece of bark with a nickel taped to the corner! It arrived safe with the tape but the nickel was gone.
Not unusual, but unusually plentiful: seeds for our new pollinator garden. Who knew there were so many forms of milkweed??
Some great posts here 🙂 For us, it was an envelope stuffed with 10,000 crickets. Don’t ask…
A mat with a million little plastic stabby points that my husband swears cured his back pain.
My aunt is notorious for testing the limits of USPS packaging standards – many years of lumpy packages of brown paper held together with dubious tape – but they always make it from the midwest to the east coast. (Well, maybe not that one year that she sent a jar of homemade chokecherry jelly, and the box arrived looking like a crime scene inside…)
Love USPS! In all this pandemic hot mess, they have been my most reliable delivery service, hands down, and last week delivered my spanking new circular knitting machine!
One more time with feeling (my comment which was awaiting approval this AM is now gone).
I once shipped a pair of expensive sandals to my daughter when she was having a semester abroad in South Africa. The sandals were pricey as was the shipping. She never got them and I was very sad because I was out a bunch of money. Imagine my surprise and delight when those sandals showed up in my mailbox 4 months later. The box showed every sign of having been around the world but the sandals were fine. I’m squarely on team USPS.
It’s not necessarily a delivery, but my small dog Maisy developed a crush on Mark the Mailman when we lived in Seattle. She could tell if it was HIS mail truck and not just any ole’ mail truck. He was incredible sweet to her. After we moved to FL in January, a package was delivered to the old place and Mark the Mailman wrote a note on the package “Tell Maisy I miss her….Mark”. I guess you could say he delivered love and affection to my Maisy girl.
A friend of mine in Denmark made a knit hat for me. The package came totally empty. It was a first for me,.
Nothing outstanding, just continuous good service!
20# of live lobsters – yummm 🙂
During the shutdown I got an exploded package of yarn! Yes my precious was actually hanging out of the package! Thankfully it was not damaged!
My USPS dude is amazing. He delivers yarn without commenting, rolling his eyes or asking for proof of a finished product.
The strangest delivery we ever received was two giant 40 lb boxes of dog food. We don’t have a dog. The strangeness was quickly put to rest when our friends texted us to say that they were now using our address for the chewy.com orders because such things couldn’t be delivered to their PO Box.
As a retired teacher, I relied on the USPS to deliver live animals to my classroom as part of our Science curriculum. Over the years, I’ve gotten caterpillars, ladybugs, tadpoles and mealworms, all perfectly maintained and usually snoozing!
We never get anything too surprising but we are always pleasantly surprised when something arrives on time. The last MDK package arrived SUPER FAST so you must have special powers with the USPS pickup person (still waiting for things I ordered from elsewhere before I ordered from you).
It was new to me but probably not all that unusual. I wanted some house plants and found that I could order them online. They showed up in good condition and are thriving in their new pots.
Fresh honey !!! And socks. Quite a combo.
Sun dried spirulina from India. It took months!
I am a big fan of USPS. I still mail bill payments, etc., because one of life’s pleasures for me is to purchase commemorate stamps and share the stamp love. A favorite recent “delivery” to me was actually a new friend trying to locate where I live. She had forgotten my address at home, called and was nearby from what she thought my address was. Serendipity provided that she stopped one street away from mine and questioned the postal carrier out on his delivery if he was familiar with my name. YES, he directed her to my address and followed along behind to make sure we connected!!!
My parents run a post office (which is a room in their house!) I loved that we got the post first as kids! I wish I could think of something exciting I got delivered, but honestly, I get excited by any delivery that isn’t a bill!
During the height of the Pandemic lock-down I had a bag of dirt delivered so I could repot my plants.
The USPS delivered our mailman to us on a daily basis when I was a kid in Cleveland, Ohio. He always made time to chit chat with my brother and me. And when he left to continue his rounds, he always said: “See you in the funny papers!” We thought that was hilarious and we say it to each other to this day.
Silly putty sprayed out and sealed in a box left in my porch.
A pogo stick.
Frozen meat from a relative in a different state. It’s always a little embarrassing getting a soggy, poorly wrapped package smelling of meat…
A burka and a bedazzler ordered by my son for his sister who was shopping for a prom dress.
Ordered a sleeper chair folding foam bed. It came in to small of a box or so we thought. Turns out it was vacuum sealed and puffed up when it was opened. Really weird to watch.
Tadpoles!
And then mealworms to feed the eventual frogs.
Growing up, my next door neighbor was a retired mailman. Every morning, rain or shine, he and his little dachshund Brownie would walk his 7 mile former mail route to be sure all his people were doing OK.
When you live abroad, it is odd how you begin to crave foods that are unavailable in your host country. Living in France, I craved tortilla chips of all things, along with chili seasoning. Another expat craved marshmallow creme. Before Thanksgiving, we would order pecans and Karo syrup to make traditional pies. And Jiffy cornbread mix. Although we had to substitute goose, duck or game for the turkey. The Post managed to deliver them all. I can still remember sitting around a friend’s kitchen table, tablespoons in hand, passing a big jar of that marshmallow creme.
My father had passed out of state & a small urn of his ashes was to be sent to me from the funeral home in Maine. I had no idea when to expect it nor what service would deliver it. It showed up one day via USPS with a very quisical look on the mailman when I had to sign the receipt in FL.
I received a plastic bottle with a card in it!
My great aunt’s knitting needles arrived via USPS just this month! She (and my mother) taught me to knit, so this gift, sent by her daughter, is very much cherished.
For me, the most unusual thing would be flour last year during the pandemic. It was 25 lbs!
The BEST deliveries are yarn and fabric! xo
When I was a kid, my dad once had a tarantula delivered by USPS.
A coconut!
Our dear letter carrier Jonathan delivered his friendly self during the COVID lockdown. We had precious little in-person communication outside our tiny pod. A few moments of daily chat was uplifting. Standing ovations to the bravery of all our USPS workers for delivering our mail throughout the pandemic.
A camp bucket toilet. No discreet packaging, just this lady is gonna pee in this bucket.
Most unusual delivery… snails, to abate problem snails in the garden.
Weirdest? I think the Nixon presidential library catalogue for a prior resident has to be it.
A burrito from Taco Bell! By boyfriend at the time (now my husband) sent it to me because he felt sorry for me that I didn’t have access to a Taco Bell when I was in college. I actually ate it, I was that hungry for one!
An entire meal of Chicago hot dogs — Vienna Red Hots, buns, mustard, emerald green relish, sport peppers and celery salt. We had to supply our own tomatoes and pickles. I have a homesick husband — almost 50 years of homesick.
To most people, I would think my knitting, crochet, and spinning supplies/tools would count as weird. But I’ve also done the 50 lb bags of flour, a large array of baked goods (two days in the freezer and priority mail works great for baked goods), nursing mother (dog) pheromones, hiking/backpacking equipment, etc. We are “rural” so the stores are a long way off and they expect me to wear shoes and frown when I wear pjs to shop. Our local USPS employees are lovely. However, they were slightly understaffed to begin with and recent budget cuts have exacerbated the problem. Packages will sit for a few days (to weeks) and the routing has gotten significantly less logical. None of this is the fault of our lovely local workers though.
Hypodermic needles that weren’t meant for our house, and toy parts from the 80’s GI Joe dolls.
A fistful of ancient Roman coins. They arrived as a clump and have been soaking in olive oil for almost a decade. (Soaking them encourages them to separate.)
I honestly don’t recall anything unusual cause everything is fair game right now for mail deliveries it seems. My favorites are yarn, books and gifts for my grandkids.
Way too many things to even decide on the most unusual!
We’ve received many things through the mail, but one unusual thing we SENT was a garbage can to our daughter. Full disclosure, it was a handmade wooden garbage can with a pull-out door designed and made of oak by my husband.
My then-friend and future spouse sent me a wee box of Mexican jumping beans. I was enchanted. They hatched and departed, he stayed.
I had an MDK package that took a 3,000 mile detour between Nashville and my home in Michigan. When I contacted you all I was SO IMPRESSED with the gracious human interaction that occurred to get my package to me. Nearly a year later I’m still telling people about it! Keep on doing what you are doing, we are all around you cheering!!
My son left a desk job, because it was making him fat, stressed, and out of shape, to become a mail carrier. He is in the best shape of his life now. He lives in a small community that doesn’t mind seeing him pull up to the ball field during his lunch to see his son get in a few innings and his best route ever was the street he grew up on, where neighbors had refreshments for him and had him sit for a spell to “catch” up ….it’s a hot, dirty, job sometimes…and many times they will finish their route and go help another carrier who has had truck problems, or an overload of packages that day…they are truly heroes…
Tires. Always weird to see a tire with a shipping label.
Oh dear. I read about a yarn shop you mentioned in the last few months on your daily emails and looked it up and found a gorgeous chevron baby blanket kit I gorgeous colors. Now my son’sBFF is having a baby boy soon( my son forgot to tell me!) and Iam dying to knit that blanket. It was lovely? I know it is a long shot , but would it jog anyone’s memory. I don’t think it was around me( NJ area). Any help would be so appreciated! Bonnie