It’s been a long time since we’ve opened the mailbox and found one of these waiting for us…
POSTAGE DUE. 
And this one definitely made us do a little double take.
With all the Pin Pal mail that travels back and forth, we’ve learned quite a bit about mailing cheer pins and other random items. Most of the time, everything sails through the postal system without a second thought. Same type of envelope. Same type of pins. Same general way of mailing them.
Then every once in a while, an envelope apparently reaches a post office that looks at it and says…
“Nope. That’ll be another $7.48, please.” 
The interesting part is that the postal rules themselves haven’t changed. What does seem to change is how those rules are interpreted and applied from one post office—or even one postal employee—to another.
One location may happily process an envelope one way, while another decides the exact same type of mailpiece belongs in an entirely different category. And suddenly, something that has traveled successfully dozens of times before arrives wearing a bright little POSTAGE DUE announcement.
It’s one of those quirky things we’ve discovered through Pin Pals: mailing something that isn’t just a perfectly flat piece of paper can sometimes be a bit of an adventure.
Thankfully, we really haven’t encountered this in quite a while, so it certainly isn’t an everyday occurrence. Considering how many pins have traveled through the mail, the overwhelming majority seem to make their journey without any trouble at all.
But every now and then, the postal system likes to remind us that even though the rules may be the same everywhere…
the interpretation of those rules isn’t always quite as consistent.
So today’s Pin Pal adventure came with a little extra postage, a little confusion, and apparently a very expensive ride for one envelope.
But it made it here.
And at the end of the day, we’re still absolutely thrilled every time we discover cheer pins waiting for us in the mailbox.
Because apparently even POSTAGE DUE looks a little better when there are bows and glitter involved.
Big Bows and Best Wishes,
Veronica