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Photo by Steve Johnson Working underneath a packing pellet dispenser, Bob Gurney of Medford Mailbox gets holiday gifts ready for shipping. Now is the time to get those gifts going to get the best shipping rates. Mail gifts should be sent soon Waiting will cost more, may make packages late By PETER WONG It may still be early for Christmas shopping, but it's getting late for Christmas shipping. If you want to send your packages of cheer across the country, they will have to be on their way in the next few days if they are to reach the recipients by Christmas -- and you want to pay the lowest rates. "If you don't want to spend extra for air service, you should allow 10 to 12 days for packages going to the East Coast," said Robert Gurney of Medford Mailbox. "With the number of air services available, you still can get it anywhere in the United States overnight -- weather permitting." Medford Mailbox, which is in its 15th year, ships via United Parcel Service, Federal Express and the U.S. Postal Service, depending on customer preference. It also packs packages. "What you pay for is convenience," said Gurney, who started his busiest three weeks of the year Monday. "You notice here that unlike the post office, we do not have a line." Skip Weaver, U.S. Postal Service supervisor at the Medford post office, said packages that go now by the lower parcel-post rates will arrive at their destinations by Christmas -- but so will most packages sent by priority mail up to one week before Christmas. "Yet even though everybody does, don't wait until the last minute," Weaver said. "You also have to worry about weather conditions such as those (snow) we had in Medford last weekend." Weaver said shippers should use priority mail the two weeks before Christmas, and avoid shipping on Mondays. Though the deadlines for shipments to military addresses have passed, Weaver said Thursday is the deadline for most air parcel post -- and air letters and cards -- to the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East and most of Asia. The deadline is Dec. 14 for air mail and air parcel post to Canada. Deadlines already have passed for shipments to Africa, Central and South America. For recipients who normally use post office boxes, Medford Mailbox's Gurney suggests that UPS and Federal Express shippers use home or work addresses to minimize delays in delivery. Gurney said his business specializes in shipping small and fragile items such as artwork, computers and stereos. A recent shipment required him to find a special box for a 7-foot kayak paddle, which does not lie flat. Medford Mailbox and other such mailing services offer packing; the Postal Service does not. Gurney said UPS and Federal Express will insure packages up to $100 for no extra charges, but only if the packages were properly packed. "If people ship a vase, and all they do was put crumpled newspaper around it and it got broken, they might not get their full value of $100," he said. Gurney said do-it-yourself packers should use new or next-to-new boxes and polystyrene packing material known as "peanuts," allow 3-inch cushioning on all sides for fragile items and perhaps enclose those items in another box, and put labels inside and outside the box. He said boxes should not be wrapped in paper, which may get snagged on conveyor belts or sorting equipment. Weaver said shippers should have everything ready when they reach the post office counter to minimize delays, and shouldn't wrap packages with string or masking tape. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA