Use a self-addressed, stamped-postcard.
I know, I know. You’re thinking, “In addition to the freaking SASE, now I gotta fool around with a stinking postcard!” But it’s a good idea if you just can’t stand the possibility of the mailman stealing your manuscript for his bathroom reading.
Here’s the deal… Some authors, leery of our postal service’s invulnerability to snow or rain or heat or gloom of night, attach return receipt or delivery confirmation to their submissions. They want to know, for certain, that the BigTime Publishing Company or The Prestigious Literary Quarterly received their manuscript. But numerous publishing professionals tell me this is a horrendous idea. They have processes in place for receiving the mail and having to send an intern to the PO to sign a delivery confirmation can throw off that process.
But in the Writer’s Digest 2007 Writer’s Yearbook issue, Debby Mayne provides a useful compromise. “If you want some assurance that your proposal gets there, include a self-addressed, stamped postcard that says, ‘I received your proposal,’” Maybe suggests. ”When it lands back in your mailbox, you’ll know your work is safe and sound in the editor’s office.”
I typically don’t worry about my manuscript arriving. I blindly put my faith in the postal gods, but then again, my friends often criticize my steadfast belief in the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot as well. So what do I know?
OK, I think those folks in the office may have misunderstood something…
The post office offers something called “Delivery Confirmation” for .55, or for free if you mail something using Priority Mail. No one has to sign for it or go fetch a Person With Authority. Normally, it just gets scanned by the mailman when it’s dropped off; occasionally it gets scanned while in route. These are bright green and white tags.
It may be that, if there’s Some Sort of Special System Set up, this could cause a problem, but I doubt it.
It’s more likely that people are using the catch all term “Delivery Confirmation” to describe either “Signature Confirmation” or “Certified Mail”, just as many people erroneously consider “DC” a form of “tracking”. And the PO LOVES that kind of confusion. They seize on that in order to upsell things like Priority Mail, which is not a guaranteed service, much more expensive than First Class, and usually takes a wee more than 2 days.
Anyhoo. The gist is… Signature Confirmation is something else and is probably causing the SOP snafus you speak of. It is colored bright pink and white, and costs $1.90 a pop. Someone actually must sign for that, but it can occassionally be your next door neighbor who was stopped on her way back from the laundromat. Certified Mail, which is a dull sort of green, requires either your signature or an authorized agent. It can be mailed with a Return Receipt, which is a postcard attached to the back of the MS package.
I can see that, if those methods are used, someone’s intern is sent south to the post office.
But using DC shouldn’t affect anyone, and it does make it easier for someone to file a mail loss claim if it disappears into the blue.