At 15:16 2/9/02, George S. wrote:
I totally agree with your sentiments re: money orders for "domestic"
purchases.
As do I. They are very, very convenient and Mail Fraud is a "federal"
crime although it requires getting the USPS interested in investigating a
problem. Since fraud is also a "state" crime, they can easily decide not
to take jurisdiction and defer to local authorities, especially for "small
stuff."
Recently, when I went to my local Post office to get an "International
Money Order", the postal employee actually talked me out of it. I have
used them in the past and found it to be a slow process indeed, but what
he told me surprised me. He said there have recently been a huge increase
in complaints about Int'l MOs taking an extremely long time to arrive, as
well as them getting lost and never showing up. I placed the $65 in an
envelope and crossed my fingers. All went well, the money arrived in the
U.K. in only 3 days. (Now, if only the purchased items would arrive here...)
There are two types of USPS Int'l MO's. One works much like the domestic
on a similar form, but for a limited number of countries; current fee is
$3.25 (pink MP1). The other, which George S. refers to, is for a longer
list of countries; current fee for it is $8.50 ("Application to Issue an
Int'l MO"). I've only dealt with the former, not the latter, which is (as
George puts it in so many words) a PITA. In those cases I've gone to the
bank and purchased an Int'l MO from the bank.
See the International Mail Manual, Section 371 which lists the fees and
countries applicable for each of the two types. Sounds like George S. was
sending one to the U.K. which falls under the second, more expensive
one. OTOH Canada falls under the first, less expensive that's nearly as
simple as the domestic MO. The Domestic Mail Manual and International Mail
Manual can be accessed and searched on-line here (enter key words and check
the boxes for areas to search):
http://pe.usps.gov/
-- John
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