Does anyone actually mail (snail) in rocket orders?

Hello,
When I was a kid, I used to mail (snail) in rocket orders from the Estes catalog. I used to love checking the mailbox to see if my order came. With so many online stores, does anyone still mail (snail) in rocket orders?

Brian

I'd say about 5% of the orders we receive are snail-mail and at least half of those (if not more) do so because they do not have/use an internet connection.

Further, I would say (conservatively) that over 75% of my *potential* audience is of the "dose not purchase on line" type of people.

jim

Originally posted by bswan72
Hello,
When I was a kid, I used to mail (snail) in rocket orders from the Estes catalog. I used to love checking the mailbox to see if my order came. With so many online stores, does anyone still mail (snail) in rocket orders?

Brian

Click to expand...

My dad used to write the checks for me. I recall reading through the catalog carefully and comparing the motors I had in my box with the rockets I wanted to buy. Chores paid very little and I wanted to insure that every penny went towards the most rocket in that catalog! I tell you what, I couldn't concentrate on school or sleep at night knowing that my order was in the mail. My dad would never tell me if my package had arrived because somehow he enjoyed watching me try to sit still in the car. Oh the torture! Even worse was calculating the anticipated arrival date only to find no package. When it did arrive - Oh sweetness! The brown box was the most beautiful sight!

I guess online ordering is no different. You "add to basket" and wait feverishly until your package arrives. I still think it's a thrill.

Eugene that is almost word for word what I do now! Right from persuading parents to write cheques to that horrible feeling of knowing you have to wait another 24hrs!

Just mailled off my Fliskits order yesterday....because I'm thoroughly confused by their paypal system...
Or maybe my kids have downloaded one too many crazy spywares while filesharing and my browser isn't working right

not to worry, we process our order very quickly

I do because I don't use credit cards. I'm old school that I adore hand writing a letter - ok, so nowadyas I use MS Office, but I still sign my name to the letter.

Adds that personal touch IMHO, and nothing beats getting an email reply staing we recieved your letter and payment, and the package has been mailed out.

Even though I only have 18 transactions completed through Ebay, almost everyone has emailed me and said thank you for the personal letter.

But yeah, I check the mail every other day when no packages are expected, but when they are, I've got the trusty scope homed on the bend in the road some 2 miles up the country road from our house - just waiting for the mailman to appear - then its a race to zoom in on the mailbox at the end of the lane, and see if a certain package is put in our mega mailbox.

Good practice for when your stargazing too. 8)

Cute story for you mailbox fans :

In West Virginia - in a town appropriately named " Burnt House " (yep, a burnt house still stands there), there is a house at the top of a 100 foot hill. They have their mailbox on a rail system - in fact it looks like a covered wagon. When the mailman opens the door, a bell rings up at the house to let them know mail has arrived, and when they want to check the box, they simply hand-crank the mail box up the double railway to the house, then ease it back down when done.

Simple yet very effective. 8)

I think bswan72 was asking this question from a nostalgia point of view, and I agree that it was fun and exciting to wait to see what showed up in the mailbox.
But all of us should be aware of the cruel truth that there is NOTHING secure on the internet. ALL transactions can be hacked, if someone really wants to. And when you know several people who have already been victims of identity theft, you get your eyes opened wide about the severity of the problem.
I have attended some of the talks that these guys gave at work, and I tend to believe the people with first-hand knowledge. They say, shred EVERYTHING, email NOTHING, don't use anything on the internet that you wouldn't hand out to strangers on a streetcorner. Identity theft is really only getting started and it's going to get a LOT worse before it gets better. Congress is still doing nothing at all about the problem. The thieves are getting smarter and smarter about searching for the 'right' kind of identity, and about how to slip in and take a big slice. It costs thousands of dollars and months (years?) of effort to get your life back on track.
I rarely ever order online. My paypal account was ripped off when it was only a few days old (and ebay would not stand good for it!). I cannot say strongly enough, watch carefully what you are doing on the internet.

I worked at an ISP last year and out of thousands and thousands of users, we never had one issue where someone contacted us about having their data stolen from an online transaction. Nor did we ever have any of our systems breached in anyway way.

In that time frame, multiple people that I personally knew had their checking accounts hijacked, lines of credit setup in their name (and used), and even credit cards stolen from the mail. The world is full of paper just floating around detailed personal information about all of us.

A lot of times when somethign dubious is conducted online, it is because the user got duped into giving out their own information. They get an email saying, "Click here to verify your account with www.citibank.com" and then they click the link and it goes to www.34online23yahh.com and they put in their information and credit card number anyway, ddduuuhhh


In the unlikely event that an online system is breached and credit card numbers are stolen, it is dealt with swiftly. The credit card companies are informed within hours, the cards are cancelled, and new ones sent out. All the theives are left with is your name and address, which is pretty useless by itself. Tracking some over the internet is relatively easy due to all of the logging and tracking of internet communications. If someone takes a receipt from a restaurant, it might be weeks before you find out your card has been used by someone else.

While I will admit that the internet is not perfect for security, most identity theft currently happens from stolen mail, trash, and leftover receipts, not intercepting internet communications and data.

I don't anymore...but I used to as a kid.

Interesting story.

2002, NARAM 43 I met Vern and Gleda Estes.

Vern was talking to JimZ and Gleda (Vern's wife) asked me how long I had been building rockets.

I said since the early 60's

She asked me where I lived and I said "Lexington, Michigan"

She then asked me if I used to live on Roach Road she remembered my mail orders.

She just remembered Road Road as an unusual name for a road. (actually it was named after a gentleman named Billy Roach).

That was 40 years ago!!

Spooky!

sandman