What Is Naked Mail?
Naked Mail is a term used to describe shipping an item “as-is”, i.e. without packaging. Usually, when we send something through the mail, we enclose it inside an envelope, padded mailer, cardboard box, or something similar. Sending naked mail removes the need for packaging.
Snail mail is already a really fun, artful, and personal way to interact with a friend or a stranger. It shows that you care and spent time on that person. It’s an extra thoughtful step in an increasing digital world! Need proof? Here are 100 reasons you can send snail mail.
Naked mail is a form of mail art that pushes the envelope (pun intended). It annoys a lot of postal workers, unfortunately, but if you pay enough in postage the USPS will mail just about anything. It also helps to make friends with your local postal workers so they are more likely to not give you a hard time about sending your unpackaged items. Here are more tips for navigating the US Postal Service.
Below are some examples of naked mail I’m sending off! A large plastic crayon tube, some foam baseball bases, a calculator, and a plastic piggy bank.
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What you need to know for sending naked mail:
- You write the address you’re sending the object to directly on the object, attach an adhesive label with the address written on it, or string a tag on it with the address.
- The postage goes directly on the object as well. This can be stamps or the official printed labels from the post office.
- Regardless of if you want to use official postage labels or stamps, I strongly recommend going to the post office if your naked item is unusually shaped. You can ask them to tell you how much the postage will cost and you can add your own stamps there, if you prefer.
- If your object isn’t unusually shaped (i.e. a square, rectangle, or relatively flat item), you can use the Calculate A Price tool on USPS.com to find out how much it would be to mail your item in packaging. As a rule, for every weird thing I do, I add an extra “1 ounce” stamp, which is currently 22 cents. So if I was mailing a book I taped together and wrote the address on it directly, I would weigh it on my scale, calculate the price, and add 22 cents to that price. You can then throw that item in a public blue box. The postal service is more likely to just send an object already in a blue box than return it to you.
I’m speaking from experience in the United States, and I would love to hear input and feedback from other countries about their postal system’s policies regarding naked mail.
Want even more snail mail related images and inspiration? Follow my Pinterest board! Follow Uncustomary | Self Love + Creativity’s board Snail Mail on Pinterest.
Have you ever sent naked mail?
I have heard about naked mail! I think it would be cool to see what comes and goes at the postal offices.
Right? I wish the post office had a policy of photographing super cool mail as it comes in and out.
I was recently at the National Postal Museum and they do have an exhibit for naked mail. There was a coconut sent from a sailor stationed in Hawaii to his wife. http://postalmuseum.si.edu/collections/object-spotlight/coconut.html
Also, historically, people would send children through the mail as it was cheaper than buying a train ticket. Thankfully they don’t allow that any more.
Very nice to met you my friend, I’m Lindsay and found you over on Ashley’s blog. You are insanely brave to put yourself out there and be so transparent and I admire that. I really do.
Take care Hun, Lindsay. xo
Aw, thank you so much! I really appreciate that. I’m so glad you hopped on over from Ashley’s blog, it’s great to meet you!
I have actually made it a way to surprise a dear friend of mine. ^_^
It started all with a rock. Followed by a leaf, a teabag, a ballon, a bottle, a rubberduck, a coaster.
I actually tried, how far the mail would go and sent a really, really tiny letter, for an other one I did put the adress in a poem and right now I try to come up with a crossword for the adress to see, if the mailperson will solve it …
I really have fun with this project.
Best wishes and hope you had an awesome trip. 🙂
Elisabeth
Super tiny letters are always really interesting. In the US we’re not technically supposed to send things less than 4 x 6 inches, but I’ve definitely received things less than half that size! I love your ideas for naked mail– those are great additions to the list! I’ve done bottles before (like messages in a bottle type thing), but I would love to try coasters and rocks!
Great blog!
And yes, naked mail is fun! There have been some people to whom I’ve sent naked mail, and I’ve received some, too (a box with colouring pencils, thank you Eva!).
I’ve sent for instance some very tiny figures of wood, far below the minimum sizes the Dutch postal service allows (that is 14×9 cms, while these were 8×4 or so). I’ve sent 6 to the USA and 3 to France, and 5, respectively 2, arrived well.
You can see them, among some other weird mail, in the IUOMA ‘odd shaped postcards’ group, http://iuoma-network.ning.com/group/oddshapepostcards .
A found cd (without cover) I sent, after adding the words ‘found art’ to it, to a mail art friend in my country, the Netherlands. And to our surprise the Dutch post had put the CD in an envelope and had added some friendly note, saying ‘sorry in case the CD has been damaged’ 🙂
My ‘tactics’ to send things like that naked is to not go to the post office, but stick sufficient stamps (after weighing the mail: here in NL you need to pay per weight, so < 20 grams is one (national or international, depending on the destination) stamp, 20-50 grams is 2 stamps, 50-100 is three, etc).
And not necessarily (or: preferably not) add your own address, so there's a bigger chance that the postal service can't do other than send it to the receiver. 🙂