Rebecca A. Foster

Why are all FedEx delivery drivers so hot? For reals, I don't think I've ever seen one that's not. I can't decide if it's their actual looks or just that I really, really like getting packages. I take that back, it must be their looks. In my office job I had before I went to China, we had deliveries from both FedEx and UPS at least once a day, and they had to walk past our department on the way to the mailroom. So of course we took the opportunity to rate them against each other. FedEx always won! This is sad for us, but it was a little highlight of our day to see a FedEx guy in the building. So cute. (Although, I didn't always like the work he brought me.) Then again, I might just have a thing for delivery guys. My freshman year of college I worked on campus and our campus mail delivery guy was really cute. His name was Chad, from Kentucky. The non-student, male staff in the department heard me and my fellow student worker Holly talking about him all the ti...

Did you know Amazon will mail books, CDs and DVDs to many countries around the world? They do, for pretty reasonable rates. (Shipping a book to China costs about $10.) But it appears thieves have figured out Amazon boxes contain items that can be easily resold on the black market. If you send someone a package in a less-reliable country, DON'T use an Amazon box. It's very easy to slit open the bottom, steal the resellable items, and retape. I know this from personal experience. At least they left the candy inside! If I buy something online, I have it sent to my mom's house and she sends it to me in a Priority International box. She puts it on the customs declaration, but I guess those aren't read in-country because nothing has been taken from these boxes. The Post Office International Priority boxes are very reliable; they arrive in about 10 days. First class mail is currently taking about 6 weeks to get here. Things I send to the U.S. and Canada are taking 2-3 months...

Who sends real mail anymore? Exactly. So double the shock factor to your postperson and recipient by making your own saucy envelopes. 11 x 17 magazine pages work well for this. Just pull apart a standard sized envelope and use it as a pattern for cutting the magazine page. Fold the cut magazine page along the pattern fold lines, tape everything but the top flap together, insert mail contents, tape the top flap down, and then I recommend covering the whole thing with packing tape so it doesn't rip in transit. Cut up an index card or business card for the To and From. Tape those down too. If you need Martha Stewart-like instructions, ask and I'll try my best. I made these two envelopes for male friends. The one on the left is an ad for something or other from 'W' magazine and the full text says, 'God Save Queens, NY'. The one on the right is from a photo spread of Eva Mendes and inside it included, among other things, a condom lolly. I know, I'm pretty much th...