[NHCOLL-L:1876] Re: mailing specimens

[Sally Shelton]

The situation is this: if you are sending first-class flat mail TO a Federal
unique zip code (the 202-205 series of zip codes) in the Washington, DC,
area, by the U. S. Postal Service, it will  be gamma-irradiated and delayed.
Parcel post mailings are not supposed to be irradiated, but some have been
nevertheless. Mailings sent via FedEx or other non-USPS carriers are not
irradiated. Mail sent to any address OTHER than a Federal unique zip code in
the DC area is not irradiated. In theory, mail sent FROM a Federal unique
zip code will not be irradiated, but there have been some slip-ups there. 

If you are sending mail to anyone in our area, it is best to call your
recipient first and find out how best to send the shipment, and to what
address. SI, for example, has an alternate shipping address to get around
this problem while still using USPS (though there have been a few slips
there, too). Your recipient can give you the precise address for his/her
department: it should look something like: 

Recipient  Name 
Recipient Title and Office Name ( optional)
Smithsonian Institution
PO Box 37012
Recipient's  Building Name, Room Number and MRC Code
Washington, DC 20013-7012

If it absolutely, positively cannot risk irradiation, it is best not to
send it to DC in the above zip code series by regular mail. To underscore
once more: call your recipient first before sending anything to DC and find
out how he/she recommends it best be handled. We don't look for a change in
the irradiation procedures in the near future and we do not want to risk
irreversible damage to specimens, documents and related materials. 

Cheers, Sally






Sally Y. Shelton
Collections Officer
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC   20560-0107
phone (202) 786-2601, FAX (202) 786-2328
email Shelton.Sally at nmnh.si.edu

List owner, PERMIT-L


>>> "cholewa" <chole001 at umn.edu> 9:16:35 AM Thursday, March 27, 2003 >>>
Can anyone tell me the latest mailing guidelines with respect to
irradiation?  Does this still apply to the Washington DC area?  Is it being
applied to overseas mailings?  Given world events are there any
considerations with shipping specimens to Europe?

Thanks,

____________________________
Anita F. Cholewa, Ph.D.
Curator of Temperate Plants
J.F. Bell Museum of Natural History
University of Minnesota
St. Paul  MN  55108  USA

http://www.cbs.umn.edu/herbarium/vascularplantpage.htm