Hi Ann, You can print your own U.S. postage via stamps.com, but I'm not sure how you would calculate the correct amount -- just go a bit overboard, I guess. Otherwise, would you be willing to have a 3rd party stateside serve as a go-between? I'd be more than willing to do that (only because you said "Pythonesque"), even though I'm about as far away from Massachusetts as you can get outside of Alaska and Hawaii. -Mark Bunch Othello, Washington, USA GOONS #6223 ---------------------------------------- > Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2015 20:58:36 +0000 > To: GOONS@rootsweb.com > Subject: [G] Massachusetts marriage > From: goons@rootsweb.com > > > > I have a Pythonesque problem getting details of a marriage from > the City Clerk’s office in XXX,Massachusetts & wondered if anyone > has hit similar, & whether they found an answer. Bear in mind that > I live in the UK. > > FEES: The fee is $20 & should be paid using cash or a money order. > No personal cheques are acceptable. I offered to pay via Visa but > that’s not acceptable. I offered PayPay (and I would bear the cost > of the charges which usually accrue to the recipient) but that’s not > acceptable either. Mentally resigned myself to getting the dollars. > > POSTAGE: Subsequently I was told that I must provide “a self > addressed pre paid envelope”. > I explained that the website of the US Embassy in London > says”"There is no retail outlet for U.S. stamps in the UK". > I offered to pay the postage costs by adding extra dollars to the > amount I would be sending. That’s not acceptable..... “The City of > XXX does not have the means to send mail to England.” > > To get around the thorny postage problem I asked if the item could > be scanned & sent as an attachment to an email....guess what - > they “can not send Vital Records via email”! > > The one pro-active suggestion made by this department was that > they had a mailer who used FEDEX. Not being familiar with > Fedex I’ve pottered around their website, but think I must > (surely!) have misunderstood the calculation process as it appears > to be quoting US$56 or $81 depending on urgency. > > Ideas anyone??? > > best > Anne H. > 1020 Lyford > > > _____________________________________________ > > RootsWeb lists - surnames, regions, software, etc http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GOONS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message