BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) -- Drop that box!If you're headed to the post office to package an item to send, you may be surprised to hear, you might not need a box. Of course it makes sense to send items encased in a box or envelope, but it's not completely necessary.
When asked what one woman at the post office thought, April Mena told KBOI she thinks the idea is crazy.
The idea is crazy enough that Ripley's Believe it or Not created a contest for the strangest mailed item. Pat from North Carolina received first prize one week for sending a tree stump with an encased horse shoe. Other oddities sent through the mail: a boxing glove, large fan, blow-up animals, skull, and more.
And talking to those in the mailing industry, this isn't as out-of-the-box as it may seem. Many postal workers KBOI spoke with had a lot of stories.
"I remember seeing the coconuts from Hawaii, flip flops, seashells: we see that quite a bit," said the Boise Postmaster Dan Corral. "We've (also) seen sneakers, (which is) just kind of odd."
He also mentioned the strangest item he's heard of sent through the mail was a child. Yes, a child. It was back in 1914, but is now illegal, as of 1920.
So I decided to try this out myself.
And what better item to send from the Gem State than our state's vegetable: a potato?!
But when I arrived to the post office, I found out it's harder to send a spud than I thought, because postage stamps don't stick to it very well. So I had to cheat a bit and wrap it in saran wrap. I also sent two, just in case one of them got lost.
And then I shipped them... all the way to Buffalo, NY (that's where my parents live).
And I followed them.
And what do you know, they arrived several days later!
The postmaster does ask if you decide to send certain objects in the mail, go to the post office instead of just dropping it in a mailbox.
"Anything liquid, fragile, perishable, hazardous, anything flammable, lithium batteries, we're going to ask you to bring it to the post office and we're going to ask you some questions (to) make sure it's actually mailable," Corral said.
And if you do want to try this out, you should send the item with a loose deadline. Corral said without packaging, mail can get lost and not show up on time.
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