This is assuming it’s sealed and has a proper stamp. Post cards are more expensive than cheese. And who doesn’t like cheese right?
At the very minimum, this type of mail would incur the $0.46 non-machinable surcharge because it’s smaller than one of the minimum USPS dimensions for postcards, namely that one side has to be at least 5 inches (127 mm exact). You may also have issues with it being too floppy for basic handling by the postal carrier, especially if it was previously left in a warm mailbox.
But perhaps a more practical issue may arise first: will stamps even adhere to the wrapping of a Kraft Cheese single? If you cannot affix postage, that’s the most immediate impediment.
This would be prohibited by the USPS:
5 Perishable Matter
51 Definition
511 General Definitions
Perishable matter is anything that can deteriorate in the mail and thereby lose value, create a health hazard, or cause an obnoxious odor, nuisance, or disturbance, under ordinary mailing conditions. Mailable perishable matter may be sent at the mailer’s own risk when it is packaged as required and when it can be delivered within appropriate and reasonable time limits to prevent deterioration. Examples of perishable matter include mailable types of live animals, food items, and plants.
Full list of prohibited items
Mailable perishable matter may be sent at the mailer’s own risk
The regulation you cited does not strictly prohibit the mailing of “perishable items”.
Who said perishable items were “strictly prohibited?” Slapping a stamp on a kraft single would not meet the criteria laid out in the second half of the sentence you left out of your quote.
American cheese doesn’t look like it’ll ever deteriorate.
When I was younger, we moved around a lot, and as side effect of that, we paid for a storage unit to hold less frequently used stuff. Around the time I started high school, we managed to buy a house, and moved everything from the storage unit into our home. In it there was a picnic basket that I had never seen before. I remember looking inside and finding a horrible smelling bag of “bread” which was actually a black liquid with lumps in it. There was also some individually wrapped cheese slices which visually speaking were indistinguishable from any I could buy in the store today.
Does Kraft “cheese” really count as food though?
I’m going to die on this hill: Cheeses like this are real food. Typically real cheese is one of if not the first ingredient. They are made from cheese, milk, and an emulsifying agent. It’s literally cheese sauce with a higher melting point. You can make it yourself it’s really easy, you can use non standard cheeses for it like provolone or Gouda, and the only real difference would be in preservatives
Agreed. The “it’s not really food” idea came from labeling requirements that to be labeled cheese, it needs a certain percentage of its ingredients to be cheese. Once upon a time, American cheese slices were made from the offcuts of cheddar, but the popularity of American cheese means that there literally aren’t enough offcuts to be economical… you’d have to make cheddar just to turn it into American cheese.
But guess what cheddar is made from? Milk. Turns out, when making American cheese, it’s possible to skip the aging and culturing process and simply go straight from milk into the cheese slice we know, with less than the mandated amount of aged cheddar added. That means they had to write something like cheese product instead of calling it cheese directly.
But it is still food! In fact, it’s still American cheese… skipping a step in the recipe to get a very similar if not identical result doesn’t change what it is! It uses the same raw ingredients, for crying out loud! It’s still the same stuff!
You’re absolutely right about this. It’s super easy to take a block of high-quality cheddar cheese and melt it with some sodium citrate to make the creamiest cheese dip you’ve ever eaten. And you can make your own sodium citrate with just lemon juice and baking soda
And deli style American cheeses, with lower milk content and thus a firmer, more cheese-like consistency, make the perfect cheese for a good burger. Melty but not stringy.
It’s certainly perishable, doesn’t have to be food
Yet people received their Pink sauce…
Interesting. So the potato thing is technically against their rules, but they just do it anyways I guess?
was going to say perishable was the first thing that came to my mind.
TL;DR: Probably not illegal, but I doubt the post office would accept it.
Answering this off-the-cuff with no research, but probably not illegal per se (more of a dick move).
A slice of cheese, wrapped or not, definitely would not make it through the sorting equipment intact, would likely melt in the trucks, and would absolutely stink up the place for the postal workers.
Edit: That said, there are classes of items that are prohibited in the mail, and this may fall under one of those. Like I said, I’m answering w/o any research whatsoever and focusing more on the logistics of it.
You can use any piece of cardstock. I used to cut rectangles out of cereal boxes and use those.
I think it does have to be cardstock or similar weight, though; cheese might not meet the requirements.
I remember seeing that people can write the address on a potato and the USPS will deliver it if it has the right amount of stamps, so I suppose its possible. Definitely not “illegal” but the chances it gets thrown in the trash are high.
Its funny because thats technically against their rules but they do ship em.
It’ll be all torn up inside one of the machines, probably rip open the package and create a bunch of plastic shreds, and ruin the day of one of their equipment technicians. USPS is not easy on lettermail, their equipment manhandles it.
Just use the back of a cereal box or something.
You misunderstand.
This isn’t a question about making a post card, this is a question about mailing cheese.
is it illegal to use a single serve wrapped slice of Kraft cheese as a postcard?
It is literally a question of making a postcard.
🤦🏻♂️
Its going through the mail system with only a stamp on it, its acting as a postcard. Will be shreded inside the sorting machines.
It’s legal. Which probably means that ICE will show up at your door, break in without a warrant, and deport you to a central American prison because you tried.
Unknown. My aunt once mailed me a coconut (in its husk). Just gotta get the postage right…
See W. Reginald Bray
Good read, thanks
are you being cheesy op? if your postcard isn’t rejected, will arrive at 10 different destinations
AFAIK you can literally mail anything (except these things) as long as you pay the right postage and address it.
It might not arrive safely though.
