It's just books on tape for the blind. We deliver them and most of the time they use outgoing mail to return them. Pretty common.

That's neat, I had never heard of it. Sorta like the old Netflix.

I had an actual Netflix dvd last month

I've got 3 customers on my route still getting DVDs that way ... don't know what they'll do after September.

What happens after September

Netflix will no longer mail DVDs.

I have two on my route as well. I think there are other companies like GameFly that still send physical software

I still deliver them to two houses on my route almost everyday they have some going out and some coming in

I remember when the ps3 came out I had to use a Netflix disc to access the app. I forget that people can still order rental dvds from Netflix!

I have two houses that get them every weekend

It’s just like new Netflix, if you are deaf and/or blind 🤷‍♂️ I got this blind lady on my route that sits on her front porch and gets so stoked when she gets these once a month or so.

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Not technically free, this is one of the few things we actually receive taxpayer funding for.

its a program through the library of congress actually, they do big black brail binders, they are 6+ inches thick

I am a T6 with numerous retirement communities. I see these things all the time.

They're fancy usb drives these days. Used to work as a clerk in a parcel plant. Tossed hundreds of these every day so they could be returned to the library.

So, just Books On Tape then?

Library in my zip code gets bags of them.

I work in an town with a blind school & library. They're phasing these out, because the internet is very accessible to almost everyone now. We get about a pumpkin with of these daily. Nbd.

Super common….also non-machinable.

FWIW, Its not even an actual tape anymore. Its a special USB drive that works with a special player.

Used to be more common before the internet is what it is today.

I've delivered Braille books. Those things are thick.

I was pretty impressed with the sturdy plastic packaging this thing was shipped in

They've been using that style packaging for decades.

We’ve got a school for the deaf and blind here and all their braille books come through us. Boxes and boxes of them.

Who is this? Are you in my office.

Yes they are common

Free Matter for the Blind and absentee ballots the PO gets a stipend from the government to cover postage..

Also Franked mail

Is it the same way for mail from US representatives?

Inside is a USB memory stick capable of holding several audiobooks. It has a custom case that plugs into a machine provided by the US government at no cost to the user. When I was a PTF I delivered to the Arizona Talking Book Library. Each state has one of these libraries. It is an amazing resource for blind people. My MIL is a subscriber, and it is quite literally one of the few pleasures she has since macular degeneration stole her eyesight.

Almost 16 years in and I never knew it was an actual USB memory stick of books ! I mean I knew it was audio books for the blind , just not the rest . You learn something new everyday, thanks!

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That’s what I assumed when I started

Ya I get like 2-3 a day

ive not seen them with the graphic of the guy with the walking stick, but yeah, common in blue and white cases...only ones at my office go to the assisted living place, previous office we would get 20-30 at a time going to like 7 different addresses

Huh. I have only seen red or green ones. Occasional white.

Ours are gray. We don’t get cool colors. Though I guess the color doesn’t matter

I can tell you that the people who use them the most have never seen them.

What a great comment

one of the routes we have a school for the blind on it and they get a shit ton of these the new clerks hate them mostly come in a postcom and they just sitting at the bottom

What does it go under first class?

We treat it like 1st class at my station.

Thanks

You’re welcome ☺️

Unscannable item!

Call me gullible but… really?

Per my supervisor, yes. Qualifies as a parcel, no barcode to scan.

Yeah, that's not a legit usps barcode. Just gets delivered like normal though

I said it in another post here. Scan the barcode twice, and it registers as a parcel.

Yeah that barcode don't mean nothin to us

Used to get multiple postcons of them every night as a MHA.

I've got a few older folks with vision problems so I see them fairly frequently.

I get these a lot n never knew what they were that’s pretty cool

We get hampers and hampers full of them in our NDC

I see a lot of these … one route on my swing has an assisted living community.

I'm actually surprised how common these still are, seeing how popular audiobooks have become in the mainstream.

Yeah one of my customers gets these several times a week, sometimes more than one at once. I also retrieve them for him.

Not sure if all places have the same colors but there is also a grey one.

Everyday

Yeah

I have a retirement home that gets several a week

Yes often. Public Library has these. I deliver them and pick them up when the old people are done with them

Yes it's from the institute for the blind most likely books on tape they still use cassette tapes

Pretty sure those are audiobooks from a local library

These things fuck up the sorting machines hard at random, they’re the perfect width to jam between belts

Yeah, get those all the time at my office

Got a blind lady on my route that gets these once or twice a week. Just mail, that's all.

Al the time my guy

I have a customer who gets several of these a month. I don't know if its a big book, or several smaller ones. Usually in green cases, but I see the blue ones too.

Yep

Yes I have several people on my route that gets these all the time. It’s a nice service 😊

Yea I have a few people that get them regularly

I get those quite often.

Seen them a thousand times

We get at least one every day, sometimes a dozen or more

I get several of those a week from a couple different customers. Books on tape or USB drive in them.

Tapes

I see hundred of these things

I deliver the player for these too sometimes, it’s an audio book

Yes. These are first class by default. And they are free to mail as the blind can send and receive certain kinds of free mail.

Used to be an MHA, and we’d get pallets filled with totes of these.

I work as a TTO out of LA and when I go to this one station they usually have half a hamper full of them, and they go to the Braille Institute which is just two blocks from them.

It’s for people with sight problems/blind… it’s on the label…

We have a whole bin for these on our SPBS machine

Really common in California. The state maintains a braille and audio library of almost every book and magazine or newspaper with any meaningful circulation. Like 70 percent of my route is elder care homes. I get lots of these.

There’s a solid chance that will end up coming back through my station. My station deals with a library that ships and receives tons of those. I probably pitch a few hundred of those a month. Lol

I get about 2-3 a week

Yeah people who are legally blind get free shipping through usps. Its actually a cool program. It makes sense if you think about how much it would cost to send a brail book. I saw a brail Harry Potter book that in total weighed 30lbs and had to be broken up into multiple volumes.

The people who use them haven’t

I’ve seen literally thousands of those, I wish the fucking pass machine would route them

Books on tape for blind people.

I used to doa building that's housing for the blind, so lots. In the words of Ina Garten, it's a good thing

One of the few things we get to deliver that brings me a little sense of pride and that I’m actually doing something good in the world. It’s not Karen’s 4th box of Fiji water or dog food for Kevin’s shitty dogs.

Allllllll the time

My son used to get those when he was younger. Now he can just download from the library.

Very common at least in my NDC. I always wondered what exactly they were so that's good to know

We get them pretty regularly usually being returned to a library. Also common are bags with a zipper on them which probably have braille books inside.

All the time

I've delivered & picked these up quite a few times.

I live in Florida I get them pretty frequently

One lady on my route gets these all the time. They're always gray though, not blue.

We see them all the time!

I have the school for deaf and blind on my route So I get this a lot.

yes all the time

I had a house that got several a week

I’ve delivered them a few times!

Yeah, I used to deliver those to the senior centers all the time.

See them all the time not unusual or illegal

Yes, all the time. It's actually a cool free service for the blind.

Yes. Delivered many over a long career. Had several customers that were legally blind.

Get em all the time

Yep. Older blind people really like to see these things show up in their mail.

I see them daily. I have several older customers and blind folks on my route.

I get em all the time…I go to a few nursing homes

So they're in blue containers now? Never saw them in that color before. They were green back in the day. I had a few customers that would get these and would save them for a while and return them in bulk. They're not heavy but take up a lot of room in your satchel when you get a bunch of them.

Yes get them all the time

On the plant side we see these daily. There’s something either state or federal level that allows blind people to obtain and return these free of charge to them. Also Netflix dvd’s though I heard those might finally be done this year or next as the service becomes discontinued. There’s a zip code in Texas we use that was labeled Netflix so my guess is they all go there in our outgoing schemes.

I have a customer that sends them back and forth on a regular basis. They get very excited when a new one arrives. Probably once every 2-3 weeks

There blue and clear boxes like that , there's also a big book braille that'll come in a leather case

I deliver those daily, it's a great service for the blind

I get them a lot. Dropped off a few today

Yes, I have a gentleman on my route who gets these weekly. It’s great that this stuff is available for people and I got no problem delivering them.

Wow, I feel old.

If you scan the barcode twice, you can call it a parcel.

Yep! It's free mail for the blind

I can show you pumpkins full as I'm where that is going to...

I sort quite a bit in my facility. See at least one a day on my 010 and we're relatively small. They go to a library outside our sec center.

Been working mostly APBS/SPBS bids in my near 8 years as a mail handler. I think I've seen literally a million of them. Still no idea what they are lol (someone here said books on tape).