From: aps@sonia.math.ucla.edu (Alexei Stolboushkin)
Subject: registered mail (was Re: ewe ne ...)
Organization: UCLA Mathematics Department
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 18:09:28 GMT

In article <1993Jan23.185455.7761@nmr-z.mgh.harvard.edu> milsh@nmr-z.mgh.harvard.edu (Alex Milshteyn) writes:
>
>This is my 5ths year in Boston.
>My father lives in on of the closest to Moscow suburbs,
>just across Coltsevaya (Moscow beltway for uninitiated), Reutov.
>From the 3d quarter of 1989, he receives 5-10 percent of my
>letters (regardless whether it's FedEx, DHL, regular or 
>express mail, registered, etc.
               ^^^^^^^^^^
>- Registered - success rate about 10-12%, speed - about 20-30 days

are you aware of the fact that the US registered mail comes with the
indemnity for loss of or damage to items, of $32.35? Which is actually
easy to collect, if you are not in hurry.

Put it this way: just you send your father 10 registered letters/mo.
Each one is $.50+$4.40=$4.90, which makes $49/mo. You say, you father
shoud get about 10-12%, but take a pessimistic expectation that he
gets 50%, that is, 5 letters. Then you are entitled to collect
$161.75, from the US Mail, for the other five, and you gross income
is then $112.50 (I'm not sure, is it taxable or not). Let's deduct
some 1.5% of $49, which you could probably get by putting them in
money market, and this is you pure income.

If you're positive about 10-12%, it is even better.

And, last but by no means least, you should instruct your father to
not sign receipts for registered mail, which is damaged, before the
``Akt'' is produced. Normally, all letters from abroad are
damaged in a certain extent, and local postal stations are usually
cooperating in this kind of things (as they are not guilty).

This makes you eligible for collecting additional money (for those
letters which are delivered, but damaged), and a criminal investigation
could easily be initiated in Russia.

I actually went through all this rigmarole once, in 1990, and managed
the criminal case to be open, and an investigation to be undertaken.
They (Procurator's Office) have then managed to find a concrete person
who opened my letter - an employee of ``Glavnogo upravlenija po ohrane
gosudarstvennyh tajn v pechati pri SM SSSR''. But, finally, they
argued (the ``Upravlenie...'') that my letter was not a letter, but
a small package, which may be opened according to the international
postal code. I was (and am) sure that they were wrong, as there were
no marks ``Printed Matter'', but there was ``Air Mail'', and also, I
had a lot of small letters opened, but I was tired of all this and let
them relax. Of course, I got copies of most important evidence from
the investigation file, and have them with me here.

In case somebody is interested to open a case like this, I can give
a few advices.

1. file a formal ``Zayavlenie'' immediately at your local office
(rajonnaja prokuratura). Don't speak with them ORALLY. Get the receipt
from them that your ``zayavlenie'' is accepted. Left them the evidence
(the damaged letter with the local postal station mark ``postupilo v
povrezhdennom vide'' s pechat'yu pochty. Get the receipt for it, too.

2. They will try to ``spihnut' '' the case to somewhere, for the reason
that ``ono postupilo v povrezhdennom vide iz ..., i materialy peredany v
prokuratury ...'kogo rajona.'' Te popytayutsya sdelat' to zhe samoe.
Let them play a couple of months, and then write a letter to Russian
Procurator General, saying, that the burocratic games are on all the time,
nothing is done, and ``a prestupniki razgulivayut na svobode, slovno
zdes' ne Moskva, a Chicago''. Be sure to enclose xerox copies of
all letters you got to the moment from Procurator's offices.

Soon, your case will be open. Good luck.

--Alexei