View Full Version : Best bounce-box?
What do most hikers use for their bounce-box? Just any old thick cardboard box, or are there some special boxes, like Fedex boxes that are preferred?
USPS Priority Mail boxes are free. Priority Mail service also allows you to forward the mail if you miss a town or arrive when the PO is closed. I thinks thats right anyone. SOmeone correct me if I'm wrong.
hikerjohnd
04-14-2006, 12:57
Depending on what you are bouncing - a small 8x8x8 cube holds quite a bit. There is also the flat rate priority box - and as MOWGLI16 suggests, forwarding unopened boxes is free.
USPS Priority Mail boxes are free. Priority Mail service also allows you to forward the mail if you miss a town or arrive when the PO is closed. I thinks thats right anyone. SOmeone correct me if I'm wrong.I keep prescription drugs in my bounce box, keeping only enough with me to get to the bouince box. When I got hung up sick in Franklin, I called the Hike Inn, where my bounce box was. They gave it to the mailman who sent it to Franklin. I called on a Thursday and had the box in my hands the next day.
I was told this only works if it is Priority Mail. In Hiawassee, the mail clerk put a piece of Priority Mail tape around my package, and as long as it wasn't disturbed, he said, I could forward it. If I bent into the box (broke the tape), I then could not forward it for free.
I suspect that postal employees in trail towns are well used to hikers and thier hikerly needs.
Hana_Hanger
04-14-2006, 17:48
A 5 Gallon Bucket holds up real well.
hikerjohnd
04-14-2006, 18:09
A 5 Gallon Bucket holds up real well.
Is this a joke? I have thought of using a 1 gal bucket because it would hold up well - but has someone used this method?
Hana_Hanger
04-14-2006, 18:14
Yes it is not a joke...I am looking for the 2 gallon size.
I read in a few trail journals using this over the boxes because they start falling apart after so many bounces.
Yes you can mail them they are light weight and you can mail them priority also...just like yes you can even mail coconuts just like they are...natural and unboxed! Yep no joke :)
Never did a thru, nothing over two weeks so never used a bounce box. I am hoping to thru NOBO in 2007 (Yippee, I'm RETIRED) and I think I will be using a plastic bucket, 2 or 3 gallon, as my bounce. (If I use a bounce - haven't decided for sure yet)
This is so easy. The 5 gallon bucket works wonderfully. I used it on my PCT thru and loved it. My bucket had a handle and I could sit on it. Plus, it kept things nice and secure. The lids stay on by themselves (usually), so you don't have to worry about taping things. Finally, when you go to the PO, where there might be hundreds of boxes, just tell the clerk that it is a bucket and they'll find it quick.
Mountain Mike
04-14-2006, 19:21
A friend of mine used a tlastic tool box for his bounce boe on the PCT. Not sure if you can still lock them after 9-11.
Whistler
04-14-2006, 19:44
I'll also join in the 5-gallon paint bucket praise. Durable, waterproof, reusable from year to year, or for gear storage at home. Can't be stolen as discretely. Comes with a handle. Tall enough to sit on. There's a lot to like!
-Mark
Does the Post Office mind the handle on the 5 gal bucket? Seems like it could get caught on a conveyor belt.
Hana_Hanger
04-14-2006, 20:35
Never did a thru, nothing over two weeks so never used a bounce box. I am hoping to thru NOBO in 2007 (Yippee, I'm RETIRED) and I think I will be using a plastic bucket, 2 or 3 gallon, as my bounce. (If I use a bounce - haven't decided for sure yet)
Congrats Fiddler!
Wow am I ever turning green:D I hope one day to be able to do the AT also.
Whistler
04-14-2006, 22:14
The USPS may be annoyed by paint bucket handles, but they'll mail just about anything with enough postage, wrapped, and a clear address. Their acceptance is pretty broad... for example (http://www.improb.com/airchives/paperair/volume6/v6i4/postal-6-4.html).
-Mark
Hana_Hanger
04-14-2006, 22:28
I went and read all that...(entertaining site) but very strange for unwrapped whole brown coconuts are mailed daily from Hawaii...that article claimed it could not be mailed?
oh well...see you cannot believe everything you read.
One thing with free Priority Mail fowarding.
A postal clerk can refuse to do so in person even when it's not opened, such as when you catch up to the box yet still don't need it, since it actually is deliverable to the addressee.
It's a good habit to carry a couple fowarding mail cards, so as Jeff stated, if you miss a town or get there when the PO is closed you can drop one in the box.
sleeveless
04-14-2006, 23:19
I got rid of my bounce box early on. The cost of postage just didn't justify it. I did have a lot of mail drops with my food but realized I had often over estimated my needs or because of a town meal I might have extra food that with a small purchase made more sense to forward the maildrop to another town. With priority mail they forwarded them with out a problem except in Damascus. A couple of times I just called the post office and they forwarded my box.
Sleeveless '05