I was told about that to. i try to do the color scheme that is in the folio also. sometimes I dont have a specific color and try to get something close to it, but it never comes out as nice as the one in the folio....lol.

"Huffing"! At least, that is what we used to call it.
I actually posted a story about this, waaaay back in 2008, on my "Boxers n Briefs" blog (yes, I had a blog... yes, it was full of bad jokes).

So, without further ado, here is my Huffing Story from 2008... it is the reason why I never advocate cleaning stamps after stamping.

A few months ago, while Ryan was somewhere in the wilds of Florida, I took my daughter on a trip to San Luis Obispo, CA, for one of her Acro-Gymnastics competitions. For those of you who don't know it, SLO is the home stomping-grounds for our very own Green Tortuga. Now, I had never gotten a GT box, so I was really excited about this trip.

As it turned out (and as I shouldn't be surprised), I had very little time to myself to "escape" from the rigours of a competition weekend. I got about an hour the first day to get some wonderful boxes at a park that happened to be right near the hotel, and I was able to snag my first Amanda box. But no GT boxes. Drats!

As the weekend wore on, I was eventually resigned to the prospect of not achieving the GT goal. But fortune smiled on me, or at least stopped pummeling me with a blunt instrument, on Sunday afternoon. There was a break in the competition, and I decided to head out and get some Subway sandwiches for lunch, instead of the methane-burgers they were serving at the meet (notice how that isn't spelled "meat"). I hopped in my car, and headed down the road. As I was driving around SLO, getting wonderfully lost, I suddenly spied an establishment whose name was strangely familiar: "Leon's Used Books". HEY!!! There was a GT box in that place!! I parked as soon as I could, and as I was getting out of the car, it dawned on me that I didn't have ANY of my Letterboxing stuff with me! No sig stamp, no inkpads, and not even any clues. NOOOOO!!!!

Well, by this time I was determined. I recalled this box was "special" in that it didn't have a logbook - it was simply a stamp-on-a-magnet - so the lack of sig-stamp was not an issue. The lack of an inkpad, and especially the lack of the clue, however, were a little more worrisome. I searched the dark recesses of my memory (to be honest, that's pretty much all I have is dark recesses), and dredged up what few things I remembered reading about this box. It was around the corner from some topic-or-other that was vaguely intriguing to me... it was near the bottom shelf, but not the VERY bottom shelf... and it was at either the far right or far left of the shelf. I figured "how hard could it be?"... until I stepped inside. The front of the store looked like it was nothing more than a hole in the wall, but stepping inside was like the scene in "The Wizard of Oz" where Dorothy first steps into Munchkinland... the place suddenly loomed larger (and deeper) than it seemed possible from the outside.

Mildly daunted, I wandered through the stacks and shelves, looking for anything that seemed "vaguely intriguing" and had a metal shelf. Finally, while being vaguely intrigued by Photography, and running my fingers nonchalantly under a shelf, I discovered "that which I seeked." Woohoo!!! I found a GT box!

Uhhhh... well, I had the stamp. But no logbook. And no ink. Now what? No way I was giving up at this point. I searched through my pockets, to see what I had... and found my checkbook. Heck, it's paper, right? I looked closely at the stamp and noticed... it seemed to have some residue ink on it from previous stampers. I snuck back into one of the side-rooms in the bookstore, made sure I was unnoticed, and HUFFED like a madman on the stamp (I knew I would only get one shot at this), then quickly stamped it onto the back of a blank check. Ha!! I GOT it! I now have a voided check with a faint but definite impression of Green Tortuga's Bookstore stamp displayed proudly in my logbook. Persistence pays!

Great story!

I have huffed a stamp a few times. I got the image, however faint.

I prefer traditional Postals over MicroPostals. Maybe when posting a micro state that in the title? Or MPLB? Or a separate category?

I completely agree with both the labeling and the addition of a Micro attribute (like the "heavy" attribute). LTCs have 3 size attributes.

There are many new to the hobby and all they are familiar with is the Micro variety. Micros have become so popular that they are now considered to be the default. I try to add Micro to my box titles, but just today I listed one without it. Thanks to your comment I have edited the title.

I fixed mine.
Usually I've seen trackers say in the full description what size they are, but I can certainly see why that is not the ideal way to find out.

I hope more standard size postals come around for you to participate!

I feel maybe people lean more towards micros because full thickness pink stuff stamps can be a bit more expensive to mail and time consuming due to going into the post office to mail (unless there is a way to not have to go in and talk to a clerk to get them mailed idk)

Yes, they have gotten quite a bit more expensive, but I rarely had to go inside the post office to mail a standard sized postal. I weighed mine at home on a kitchen scale, and also printed the label at home, using PayPal. The cost was cheaper than at the post office, and I also got a USPS tracking number. I still use PayPal whenever I have to mail any packages out.

10 years ago, the average bubble mailer was under $2 to mail. I could stick stamps on it and drop it in the "Blue Box". Now they are $5+ to mail, different depending on distance, and all of the corner boxes have a metal plate welded over the mail slot with a half inch opening. Nothing but normal letters can go in them, you must bring all bubble envelopes to the desk inside a post office.

Before I could check the mail, stamp in, and drop it in the box an hour later or on my way to work the next day. Now I would have to waste time standing in line, probably on a Saturday morning because that's my only free day during "business hours". So instead of a 1-day turnaround it would be up to 6 days before I can mail it! (If I don't miss a weekend and have to potentially hold it for 10+ days)

Edit: Back then I worked at a small business and had them delivered to work. I could actually stamp in at work and mail them back out the same day, during lunch. Now I travel all day (often away from home 8am to 7pm) so I would be limited to stamping in either late at night or on weekends.

Between the extra cost and time involved I have completely lost interest in receiving "Normal Postals"! I might send my old ones out again.... but my trust in the USPS with lost packages is another story LOL

I find carving a tiny thin stamp and then sticking it in a folio to see if I got it under a ounce as a fun challenge.
Like today, I finished carving a really tiny lettering stamp (I'm not the best at tiny) for a MicroPLB tracker. However I went a little heavy on the logbook and I'll have to add extra ounce stamps to my postal. Oops. Haha.
I love doing both. And I also agree it's important to list it properly weither it's heavy or a tiny MicroPLB.

I have 3 post offices about equal distance from my home. They all have big boxes inside the lobby for packages, and my favorite one also has little "drawer" doors in the wall for first class mail (postals can easily fit in there). So, I can by-pass the counter line. Before I retired, I also mailed from work.

We usually drive past the favorite post office twice a week, so I can do quick turn-arounds on the postals I receive. Our mailman will pick up out-going mail from our mailbox, so sometimes I use that option.

When I do send out normal postals now, I usually send out more than one stamp, and the listing includes the weight, so people who sign up can calculate how much it's going to cost them. Getting 2-3 stamps for $5-$7 is still within my budget, but not for one, and definitely, a Ring is something I cannot justify.

I’m sure many of you have noticed that the mail has slowed down pretty significantly in the last year or so. Especially when it comes to things like Postal Letterboxes and LTC swaps, we send a lot of things through the mail!

A close friend of mine is a rural carrier for the USPS, and they offered to share some insight into what is happening behind mail delivery delays:


They gave me permission to share this here so folks can have a better understanding of what’s going on. Please be kind to your postal workers, they’re doing their best! <3

This came out in the news regarding Ohio mail delivery changes

https://www.newsbreak.com/share/3947372784345-usps-changes-to-mail-delivery-will-start-in-april-affect-millions-what-to-know-in-ohio?_f=app_share&pd=09VKl2nk&lang=en_US&send_time=1743769818&trans_data=%7B%22platform%22%3A0%2C%22cv%22%3A%2225.11.0.51%22%2C%22languages%22%3A%22en%22%7D&sep=ns_local_strategy_25q1_exp-v12%2Cns_foryou_recall_exp_25q2-v5%2Cns_foryou_blend_exp_25q1-v5%2Cns_foryou_model_exp_25q1-v9%2Cns_push_exp_rt_bucketv12-v6&s=i15

In my town, the mail used to go to Manchester, NH but now it goes to Boston, Ma.

Not only is it slowing down, it is not being delivered to the correct address much of the time. This has to be the delivery person, who seems to be different every month or so. I suspect USPS can't keep quality people because they don't pay enough or people just don't have pride in their work anymore. I live in a small town, so that might be part of the problem, too.

Welcome back! Here’s the page for Postals and postal rings, it’s a lot more thorough than I could be in one post!

To get started on making a ring, you’ll go to “Trackers” under the My Page heading, and search for them there too! I installed the widget on my page so new ones pop up for me. :3

https://www.atlasquest.com/about/wiki/browse.php?catId=4

I’d suggest reaching out to Turtle Run via AQmail - she hosts a newbie ring that’d help get you back into the loop —

Definitely do a newbie ring first. The host will help guide you through all the latest and best practices, some of which are not well-covered in the somewhat 'out-dated' AQ glossary.

I finally was able to attend a Live and Breathe event in North Carolina. Seems like yesterday I was missing out on the first event in St. Louie, Louie. While attending, several people mentioned how much they had enjoyed my mystery postal trackers, back when postal boxes were very popular.

A few new mystery postal trackers will be created during 2025 to see if the interest is real. My intent is to generate micro-postal stamps. I certainly understand the need to keep postage costs down. My understanding is that first class stamps are going up to $0.79 in July.

If you are interested in how this used to work, you may be able to search my logbook for historical mystery postal stamp. You should be able to open the postal tracker which goes with the stamp to access clues that had been used for that mystery.

Mystery Postal #2501 (Since someone will ask, there have not been 2500 mystery postal letterboxes over the last 13 years). I am starting a new numbering nomenclature for this and any future mystery postal trackers. This is the first mystery postal of 2025, so it is the first one of 2025.

To obtain this postal you must be one of the first ten people to successfully identify the subject of the postal. Clues will be posted on the Postal Board and within this tracker. If you want to play along you can send one guess within 24 hours of new clue being posted. Guesses are only to be sent to IrishRef through AQMail. Please do not post a guess to the boards or the tracker. You will be notified by AQMail if you have the correct answer, or I need to ask a clarification question regarding your answer.

Clue one will be posted on June 30, 2025.

Find the tracker at the following link:
https://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.php?trackerId=12080

Yay!

I think &J is tired of me talking politics, and will welcome me musing about what the mystery postal could be….

I’ve got my thinking cap 🧢 on, let’s go!

I’m ready!

Mystery Postal #2501 Clue 1:

May the fourth be with you!

Each person can make one guess by 9:00 am 7.01.2025, eastern based on this clue. AQ Mail guesses to IrishRef.

As Yoda would say Do or do not, there is no try.

Mystery Postal #2501 Clue 2:

Pulitzer Prize

There were a large number of guesses yesterday. No correct one yet. If you are new to mysteries do not get discouraged by the first few clues. They will get easier as the game progresses. It is rare for anyone to answer correctly in the first three or four clues. However, I didn't have to worry about AI help. Then again, if AI gets it in three guesses it is cheating by taking pictures of my browser history.

Mystery #2501
Clue 3: Grassy knoll

A guess is allotted to all until 8:00 a.m. on 7.03.2025 to ponder the three clues to date.

Mystery Postal #2501
Clue 4:
Flashes

Enjoying all of the answers ranging the gamut of possibilities and some guesses that definitely fit all three clues but were still not the correct answers. I'm impressed with some of the searching efforts.

In respect to the holiday weekend and any travel/family plans, Clue 5 will not be shared until Monday. That gives you until 8 a.m. on July 7th to make one guess but certainly not four of them.

Did get an answer from USPS that first class postage is going to $0.78 on Sunday July 13th. Will be dipping into my old postage bag for those 39 cent stamps. I have been using two 37 cent stamps and have a few 4 cent ones to make up the difference. Anyone remember when there was a rate increase, USPS would sell a generic Letter stamp that had been pre-printed for the next increase, until they could generate new stamps at the updated amount. My depression era parents would have been heading to the post office to load up on forever stamps to save that nickel a stamp.

Did get an answer from USPS that first class postage is going to $0.78 on Sunday July 13th. Will be dipping into my old postage bag for those 39 cent stamps. I have been using two 37 cent stamps (yes, wasting a penny but saving 72 cents by using classic commemoratives) and have a few 4 cent ones to make up the difference.

Anyone remember when there was a rate increase, USPS would sell a generic Letter stamp that had been pre-printed for the next increase, until they could generate new stamps at the updated amount. The last one I remember was H. Yes, they did an F stamp which had a flower image. The USPS would also get a run on small stamps to make up the difference. In this case people would have wanted 5 cent stamps. When the got to F they also pre-printed letter makeup stamps for the difference. Checkout the link below if interested in the alphabet stamps. If my depression era parents were still living, would be heading to the post office to load up on forever stamps to save that nickel a stamp.

https://alphabetilately.org/G.html

Mystery 2501 now has three correct answers. That leaves seven more spaces to fill. Time for a summer school math pop quiz.

Clue 5 = The cube root of the number of squares on a chess board (Just the individual ones a single piece can fill).

Work had me buried in reports and data due tomorrow morning. Sorry for delay.

Clue 6: Neil Young

Mystery Postal #2501 is now closed! Everyone that was successful has been added to the tracker. The tracker is in mailing order. Answer and clue explanations will be posted soon. Tracker will start next week.

Mystery Postal #2501 Solution – Kent State Massacre

Some who were new to the Mystery Postal process may not have totally grasped the concept and some may have missed some indirect clues along the way. ALL of the clues somehow relate to the solution/topic. With any good mystery there are often red herrings to distract and lead one astray. Although my clues do relate, some intentionally have alternative implications that can lead one down a rabbit hole. Once you are thinking along a specific line it can be hard to switch gears and think of the clues in total and how they possibly could relate to each other.

Sometimes I can really be devilish and there are good answers that perfectly match. This did occur in the one and I was most impressed with a few of the well-researched answers but were not the chosen topic.

Explanation of clues:
Clue 1: May the fourth be with you. – An often heard statement every May 4th on many texts, puns, letterboxing events, GIFs and memes that is a pun on the Force being with you that led many to think of Star Wars. To ensure this an actual Yoda quote followed. The subject of course happened on May 4, 1970.

Clue 2: Pulitzer Prize – This led many to authors, but there are also Pulitzer Prizes given in many fields. This one involved photography. John Filo won the award for a photo of a woman kneeling over a dead body. In the dialogue that followed the clue, picture was mentioned. Subtle but still an additional clue.

Clue 3: Grassy Knoll – This refers to a location on the Kent State Campus that was part of the Vietnam protest. This was strategic and the real rabbit hole! The phrase evokes memories of the conspiracy and mystery around the assassination of John F Kennedy. Many never recovered from this warren.

Several guessed Merriman Smith who won a Pulitzer for the JFK shooting on May 4th, 1964.

Devious don’t you think? Mwhahaha!

Clue 4: Flashes – This is the mascot of Kent State Athletics. Yes, I am a sports fan as Jabber pointed out! The extra connection would be a flash from photography but also could lead you to think of gun flashes such as JFK assassination.

Clue 5: The cube root of the number of single squares on a chessboard. Being an educator it would not seem complete without a little math problem. The clue solution is the number 4. If you want to be tricky there are 208 total squares on that 8x8 board. That was the point about single squares. My mind would have been coming up with 208 eventually and that cube root of 5.94 wouldn’t have been helpful. The cube root being the number multiplied by itself twice to get the answer 4x4=16 16x4=64. (4 squared would be represented by blocks in a four x four flat surface. 4 cubed would have 4 blocks high as well. For those that struggle with math you might benefit from reading the Joy of X by Steven Strogatz which was a free book on Audible!) Any rate there were four deaths. This again kept the JFK theme alive with my favorite answers being Jack Ruby having four letters in each name and four shots from four shooters in Dallas. Another was JFK being the 4th president assassinated while in office. I hadn’t thought of that angle. Love the ingenuity.

Clue 6: Neil Young – This is the writer of the song Four Dead in Ohio about the shooting. This is the clue that I thought would give it away!

I drafted a 7th clue but apparently didn’t post it which would have been the Ohio National Guard.

Hopefully this explanation will help with future mysteries! Watch for one hopefully the week of August 4th. There I go with another fourth. Guess it is better than killing a fifth!