Anyone know an auntie Robin with a niece named Lia?
A friend of mine who lives in Champaign, IL, mailed me a magazine in one of those USPS cardboard flat rate envelopes. He included a birthday card for me, and there was another card in an envelope. I didn’t think much about either. I opened the one from my friend. Then I opened the other, wondering why there were two cards.
When I saw the note from auntie Robin, I examined the card’s envelope and saw that it was not my name on the front. Instead, it said “Lia.” I’m guessing that is auntie Robin’s niece.
I asked my friend about it and he had no idea what I was talking about. The only thing I can figure is that auntie Robin was going to purchase the mailer (maybe she was going to put something else in it), decided on a different size or something, but forgot to remove Lia’s card.
I suggested my friend go back to the PO. Maybe when auntie Robin realized what happened, she went back asking if anyone found it. My friend is out of town, but said he’d do it this week. I probably wouldn’t think much about it, except that the envelope contained $20, and I’ll bet they’d like to have that back.
If you know auntie Robin let me know I left out enough identifying details that it would be really easy for her to prove who she is
Stiff cardboard envelope with a self-sealing strip on the flap? Like this? If so, I have a conjecture:
Your friend didn’t seal the mailer adequately, and it came open on the sorting machinery (Aunt Robin’s mailpiece had the same problem). Some self-starting young mail handler found the mailer partially open, with three items in a position that could be interpreted as meaning that they all belonged in that mailer. Said mail handler showed some initiative, slid everything “back” into the mailer, resealed it, and put it back into the mailstream.
Kind of a boneheaded thing to do, however well-intentioned (if that’s what actually happened). The bad news is that even if the mail handler had just put it all into the Nixie bin, the unaddressed envelope would not have been any more likely to have made it to Lia, who may soon be wondering why Auntie Robin is sending her empty cardboard mailers.
I left out enough identifying details that it would be really easy for her to prove who she is 
