Mailing information for a client

3ae1b9c1 · ‎03-26-2021

Good afternoon! I was just hired to print out documents for a client as well as a prepaid label and take these documents to the post office and mail them. I just want to feel assured this is legal and legit. The papers that I’m mailing are just about internet/network safety. Please give me and advice for feedback. Thank you!

petra_r · ‎03-26-2021

Kristin C wrote:
Good afternoon! I was just hired to print out documents for a client as well as a prepaid label and take these documents to the post office and mail them.

Why does the client not print and post them themselves?

3ae1b9c1 · ‎03-26-2021

Petra, I am not sure. Would you consider this legit work? They have set a milestone and set aside money for the job....

petra_r · ‎03-26-2021

Kristin C wrote:
Petra, I am not sure. Would you consider this legit work? They have set a milestone and set aside money for the job....

If you are not downloading and printing anything that is protected or only available via a subscription (for example) and you are not paying for anything I can't see anything wrong with it. Are you sending the material out of the country maybe? Are you sending it to the client or a third party?

feed_my_eyes · ‎03-26-2021

Even if your client lives in a really remote part of the world with no access to a printer, it's hard to imagine that he doesn't have even one acquaintance or relative who could print something out and send it to him. I would think it's more likely that he's trying to fake his location. Did you try asking him for a reason? That's really the only way to find out.

prestonhunter · ‎03-26-2021

Kristin:

Printing things and mailing them to people is not illegal.

You live in the United States.

If you are like me, then you receive mail every day (or nearly ever day) that was printed and mailed. Somebody has to do the printing and mailing.

It is NOT illegal to print information about Internet/network safety and mail that information to people. If a client hired a writer to write an article about Internet/network safety, the client is welcome to send that information to anybody she wants to. The client is welcome to hire somebody to print that information and send it. She doesn't need to do all the work herself.

3ae1b9c1 · ‎03-26-2021

Thanks, Preston. I was not worried about it until they sent me a USPS label and a UPS mail, which I do not believe the USPS will accept. That is what prompted me to reach out. Thank you for your response.

prestonhunter · ‎03-26-2021

re: "I was not worried about it until they sent me a USPS label and a UPS mail, which I do not believe the USPS will accept. That is what prompted me to reach out. Thank you for your response. "

I'm not sure why you were worried.

USPS and UPS customers routinely print labels from home.

If it is the UPS labels in particular that have you concerned... you could check them out at a UPS store. Maybe the client made a mistake. It is possible that he isn't very sophisticated in his understanding of mailing-from-home and bulk-mailing techniques. Or maybe there is no mistake at all and you end up leaning something you did not know before about UPS.

3ae1b9c1 · ‎03-26-2021

They asked me to go to the US Post Office to send these letters and they sent me postage - one postage stamp was for USPS (post office) and the other was UPS - UPS would not generally mail these kinds of letters and nothing was communicated about UPS, only the post office.

prestonhunter · ‎03-26-2021

I agree that it seems unusual to use UPS for letters instead of packages. But using home-printed labels is very common.

If you have any doubt about the veracity of the labels, you could of course have them scanned at the post office or UPS store. But it sounds like these are all legislators.

The client is not asking you to pay for his mailing costs. If he is paying you enough to cover your printing costs and pay you adequately for your time, then it seems fine to me.

You are ultimately the person who must decide if you want to work for this client. None of us here in the Forum have read what he is sending out or know all the details.

petra_r · ‎03-26-2021

Preston H wrote:
I'm not sure what you mean.

Clearly...

3ae1b9c1 · ‎03-26-2021

I am sorry if I wasn't clear.

Client asked me to print documents, put them in envelope and take to the post office daily at 4pm. She sent me the labels/postage for mailing. She sent two different postage stamps/labels, one is for USPS (United States Post Office) the other is for UPS (going to 2 different people). Because the two mailing labels are different, and they aren't both for USPS, which is what the agreement is, it made me second guess things. That's all. I just reached out here to inquire, and get some feedback. I will figure it out. Thank you.

mwiggenhorn · ‎03-26-2021

Perhaps the client is trying to prove a US address when he doesn't have one.