Can I ship cookies to Australia?

“Can I ship gingerbread cookies to Australia?”

With the holidays coming up, one of our patrons was planning how she’d send her Christmas cookies to her friend overseas. She wanted to know if they’d last the trip and if they’d be able to clear customs once they arrived.

We checked the Australia Customs and Border Protection website and found that there shouldn’t be any need to pay taxes or duties on the cookies, since they wouldn’t be worth more than AUD1,000. The prohibited imports list includes porpoises, certain novelty erasers, and radioactive material, but cookies are in the clear.

They should also still be fresh by the time they arrive. According to Nancy Baggett’s The All-American Cookie Book and Tish Boyle’s The Good Cookie, gingerbread cookies can be stored in an airtight container for three to four weeks. Christmas Cookies Are for Giving by Kristin Johnson and Mimi Cummins cautions bakers that crispy cookies like gingerbread break more easily in transit. Johnson and Cummins recommend baking the cookies in small geometric shapes (cutout circles, for instance, will be more likely to make it in one piece than cutout reindeer) and packing them carefully.

Fortunately, Christmas Cookies Are for Giving and the Land O’ Lakes website both have tips on how to pack the cookies so that they survive their journey. Our patron will need a rigid container (such as a tin), bubble wrap, plastic wrap or tinfoil, and another large box for shipping that allows for at least two inches of cushion all around the cookie container. First, use plastic wrap or tinfoil to wrap together similarly-sized cookies in packages of four to six. Line the container, putting bubble wrap in the bottom and a piece of plastic wrap or tinfoil on top of it that will be big enough to cover the cookies once they’re all packed. Layer the cookies in the container, separating the layers with more bubble wrap or crumpled up tissue paper. Once the cookies are all in, cover them with a final layer of bubble wrap and wrap the extra lining over them before sealing the container. Put the container inside the large box and surround it with packing material (either more bubble wrap, packing peanuts, or crumpled up newspaper). Tape up the box securely and be sure to mark it perishable, and the gingerbread cookies should be able to make their journey.

How Do We Let Social Security Know That We've Moved

“We haven’t been receiving our Social Security statements since we moved several years ago. We haven’t retired yet, but we would like to get our statements. Social Security told us we needed go online and fill out a form. Can you help me?” The Newton Falls Public Library appreciates the desire for people to stay informed about their future retirements.

Social Security has an online page dedicated to changes of address. From there it is simply a matter of following the steps to fill out the information. After our patron completed her information, the site would not accept it. Phoning their 800 number, we learned that this is only for individuals already receiving Social Security benefits. They are informed of any address changes by the Internal Revenue Service from information given on tax returns, and IRS address change forms needed to be filled out by our patron and her husband.

Going to www.irs.gov, and searching for “address change form” gave us the information that our patron needed form #8822. The library staff was able to print copies for our patron and her husband, and hopefully they will soon be receiving the information that they need.

Can You Help Me Figure Out Who This Person Is?

The lady on the phone asked, “Can you help me? I got a Christmas card, I can’t read the signature, and I don’t recognize the return address. I tore off the label and my dog ate it. All I can remember was her first name was Ruth, and she lived on [names changed to insure privacy] Clinton Avenue in Paddle, Oklahoma. It’s driving me crazy that I can’t figure out who this person is.” The Newton Falls Public Library staff was not sure if they could find the answer to this woman’s question.

We began our online search, at http://www.whitepages.com/. Using the reverse address search, we typed in the street name, city, and state. There was only one Ruth living on Clinton Avenue in Paddle. Our patron was still confused as why she would be getting a card from her. Our staff said the site gives approximate ages and the names of household members, including a man’s unusual name which was familiar to our patron. We also gave the caller some of the other information listed on the site; mentioning a middle name and a maiden name. Now, the card sender was sounding more familiar. Our caller went and got the card to reexamine the almost illegible signature. She happily realized that the card had been addressed and labeled by the out-of-state daughter of a close friend who has Parkinson’s disease

What Does This Odd Mailing Address Mean?

“I work for private agency. We are sending out some inquiries, and a few of them have an odd mailing address. It is a name, followed by a 6-7 digit number, then BCS LS MC Newton Falls, Ohio 44444. We can’t discover what that means. Can you help us?” This question from an out-of-state caller intrigued the Newton Falls Public Library staff.

First we telephoned the local post office and spoke with the Newton Falls postmaster. She informed us that while she didn’t know the meaning of the letters, the mail that came through with that designation was delivered to the Ravenna Arsenal [now named Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center]. Following our conversation with her, we spoke with someone at Camp Ravenna. The series of numbers is the unit designation, but she was not familiar with the meaning of the letters.

We next examined the books in our collection. Neither The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Abbreviations nor Acronyms, Initialisms & Abbreviations Dictionary gave abbreviations or acronyms which seemed to answer our question.

The search continued online. When the stewardship of the Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant was transferred to the Ohio National Guard, it became Camp Ravenna. We looked at their website www.ong.ohio.gov. While informative about the Ohio National Guard, we could find no pertinent information. The Military Postal Service Agency [http://hqdainet.army.mil/mpsa] has interesting details about the mailing of packages, FAQs, and some commonly used abbreviations. However, we were unable to locate any examples matching ours.

Abbreviations.com has an extensive listing of military abbreviations. There were 4 examples for BCS, 4 for LS, and 13 for MC. MC for Marine Corps or Medical Corps seemed to be only one that may apply as part of a military mailing address. None of the others seemed appropriate for this question.


We informed our caller by email of what we discovered.

How to Contact the President of the United States, Senators, & Congressmen

Sometimes the Newton Falls Public Library staff members are asked similar questions by different individuals. The following queries were made in the last few days and could be answered by using one site. “What is the phone number for the White House?” “Where can I send a letter to the President?” “How can I have the White House send a letter of recognition for special events like a 50th wedding anniversary or a 100th birthday?” “I want to contact my senator and representative. Where can I find that information?” www.whitehouse.gov is a wonderful resource for such questions.

At www.whitehouse.gov/contact you can find the following phone numbers - Comments: 202-456-1111, Switchboard: 202-456-1414 and FAX: 202-456-2461. At this site you are also able to contact President Obama and his staff electronically using the online form. For those preferring to contact them through the mail, the address is The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500.

The Office of Presidential Correspondence handles letters of greeting to United States citizens. The website www.About.com gives the following detailed instructions on how to ask for letters from the White House. Greetings can be requested for “a 50th, 60th, 70th or later wedding anniversary, birthday greetings for individuals turning 80 or older or veterans turning 70 or older, wedding (send your request after the event), baby's birth or adoption of a child, retirement after at least 30 years on the same job, Eagle Scout Award, Girl Scout Gold Award, or Bar/Bat Mitzvah or equivalent religious occasion. When you make a request, be sure to send it so that it is received at least six (6) weeks in advance of the event date. (Greetings are generally not sent after the event date, except for wedding congratulations and newborn acknowledgments.) Include the name and home address of honoree(s), form of address (Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., Miss, etc.) exact date of occasion (month, day, year), age (birthdays) or number of years of marriage, your (the requestor's) name and daytime phone number, any specific mailing instructions if other than to honoree's address,” and for a wedding include couple's married names and current or new address). Send the required information to the White House Greeting Office by mail or fax (address and fax number above). About.com notes that the office is presently swamped with requests and it is currently taking several months for the request to reach the office and to be mailed out.

Besides information about the current administration, this site also includes facts about all the presidents and first ladies; the White House; the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our government; and other links to resources such as the Senate, House of Representatives, CIA World Factbook, and USA.gov.

Is 44444 Unique?

“Someone told me that Newton Falls wasn’t the only place to have a single digit zip code. Is that true?” The Newton Falls Public Library staff went directly to the United States Postal Service’s [USPS] website [www.usps.com] to check each single digit zip code and learn more about zip codes.

ZIP stands for Zoning Improvement Code. They began to be used on July 1, 1963 and were introduced by Mr. Zip. The trademark was designed by Harold Wilcox, son of a mailman and a member of the Cunningham and Walsh advertising agency, for use by Chase Manhattan Bank in New York for their bank-by-mail campaign. The first number in the code designates a general area, from zero for the Northeast to nine for the far West. The next two numbers refer to one of the Sectional Center Facilities used for processing the mail. The final two are for smaller post offices or postal delivery zones. The zip codes + 4 were implemented in 1983. The extra numbers help carriers deal efficiently with the many mailers sent out by companies. The USPS website has a great deal of useful and interesting information including about how mail has been delivered by steamboats, rail, Pony Express, air, missile, pneumatic mail tubes, and motorcycles. Two of their most memorable deliveries were the Hope Diamond and a chameleon sent from Fostoria, OH to Orlando, FL. The USPS has strict guidelines on the mailing of valuables and living creatures, so be sure to check their rules and instructions before placing items such as these into the mail.

Newton Falls is the only community to have a single digit zip code. The only other single digit codes are 22222, the Marine Corps Institute in Arlington, Va. and 55555, a post office box for Norwood in Young America, MN. As Young America, MN is often the address on rebate forms, we wondered if perhaps it is for a company. When the city was first given this zip code, it created the slogans Newton Falls has Zip 44444 and Zip City 44444, and the community celebrated Zip Day. We believe that our zip code has been used as both Jeopardy [television show] and Trivial Pursuit [board game] questions. Other interesting zip codes are 12345, General Electric in Schenectady, NY; 23456, Virginia Beach, VA; and 45678, Scottown, OH.

In the summer of 2001, David Rosdeitcher was named the Guinness World Record holder for the most consecutive zip codes identified at random. He can remember all the places connected to the 48,000 zip codes in the United States and many foreign countries [http://zipcodeman.com].