my mom & the postal scale
a non-digital letter scale
Last week, when my calligrapher friend Tracy and I were talking about shipping logistics for the Letters from a Plant Witch, she asked me “Do you have a postal scale?”
I thought, “Oh, do I…” and remembered a story that had floated to the back folds of my memory. It’s a silly, brief story that holds some glances into my character, so I’ve decided to tell it to you:
When I was a junior in college, my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I thought for a moment, then decided: I wanted a letter scale.
I had been writing letters through my entire childhood, and I only took it more seriously once I left for college. My mom is the youngest of seven, so all my aunts are considerably older. Letter-writing was the best way to stay in touch with them. I also wrote letters to friends.
As I can sometimes be rather long-of-the-hand, on occasion the letters would be very bulky. Other times, I’d include clippings or other ephemera in the letters that would make them heavy. I’d worry that the letters would be too heavy for one stamp, but I had no way of knowing. I’d feel a wave of stress every time I slipped a bulky letter into the blue mailbox: was it too heavy? Would it reach its destination? Would it be sent back to me?
Thankfully, there was a simple solution: a letter scale.
I am someone who likes writing letters by hand. I am also someone who doesn’t like machines, particularly electronic machines. I don’t like having digital readouts or wires anywhere in my sight. Obviously electronic machines are necessary in many situations, such as the laptop I’m using to send you this email, but the fact that I must be around them in some situations only furthers my resolve to avoid them whenever possible.
So when I wanted a letter scale, I wanted a simple, non-digital letter scale, not a digital postal scale. I knew that I would never use a digital postal scale when writing at my desk, that its presence would irritate me, and that I didn’t want electricity interrupting my precious postal correspondences.
I told this to my mom, and off she went.
Even now, I can see her determinedly strolling into Staples, confident that she could buy her daughter this simple gift.
Alas, it was not so simple.
My mom went to many different stores to search for the letter scale: UPS, Staples, post offices. Everywhere she could think of. No luck. People just didn't use analog letter scales anymore. In one instance, a baffled Staples employee tried very hard to convince her that their electronic scales were perfectly capable of weighing letters, they they could do the job just fine. My mom had to explain that her daughter just.. wouldn't use it. That it would annoy her. I still chuckle when I imagine this scene.
Undaunted, and standing at the dawning age of internet shopping, we sat down at our family computer in the laundry room and got to searching. This was before the era of finding anything on Amazon, but still, the internet was the internet.
Nonetheless, we struggled to find an analog postal scale. We found two options:
1. a website from the Netherlands that seemed like a front for selling drugs. All of the items were tools that could be used to sell drugs, such as the postal scale which was perfect for weighing small baggies.
2. an antiques website
This simple item that I wanted for my life could only be found at a sketchy drug business or an antique shop.
The drugs website was too sketchy to give our credit card info to, and the antique shop scale was too expensive.
In the end, my mom did find me an analog letter scale. Neither of us can remember where she got it from; she thinks perhaps a post office. It's small and simple and highly effective. I keep it in my tin letter box with my stationary supplies.
I hope this story gives you vital insights about my character, such as why...
I'm better suited to letter-writing than Instagram-posting
John & I don't own a tv
there's no kitchen-aid stand mixer on our wedding registry (instead: picnic basket! as if I need more baskets...)
I hope it also establishes my credentials as a letter-writer who, at the least, takes great care in selecting measuring tools.
If you would like to get a monthly letter from someone who cares as much about the exquisite contents as the tool that weighed it, check out Letters from a Plant Witch.
I'll be pouring my old-fashioned, story-loving, forest-dwelling heart into these letters. The letters will be beautiful, inspiring, and enchanting. I would love to send one to you.
your friend who heart speaks in analog,
Amanda
P.S. I actually do own two digital postal scales these days, but I use them to weigh herbs, not letters. They are hidden away in drawers when not in use. and I still use the letter scale for bulky letters.
P.P.S. I just checked — there is an analog postal scale easily available on Amazon these days. Alas, what a boring story that would have made.
the letter scale in action