The USPS Free Matter for the Blind Program
As a researcher investigating web accessibility for blind users, I occasionally find myself mailing out braille and large print materials destined for user study participants. Today, I decided to see if I could utilize the USPS Free Matter for the Blind to send participants from a recent study a note (in braille) along with a compensation check. Below I describe my experience:
Having recently conducted a remote user study with blind web users, I prepared to send them their compensation for their participation by writing them checks. I haven't found a convenient way to braille checks so I described the contents of the check in a text file and then printed them out in both braille and large point font. When it came to mailing them, I decided to try out the U.S. Postal Services "Free Matter for the Blind" service which is supposed to allow material destined for blind folks to be sent for free. I was surprised to find out that using this service you can theoretically even send mail internationally.
Having not used the program before, I first called the post office to see if my material qualified. One local post office had not heard of this program and advised me to call a national number, (800) ASK-USPS. I called this number and was told that my material qualified but I would have bring it to my local post office to get it approved. The postal worker at my post office was willing to help, but but she did not know the specifics of how the program works. We spent about 10 minutes looking through a large book of postal code and eventually found the relevant section (Section 703.5). We found that
"... matter may be entered free of postage if mailed by or for the use of blind or other persons who cannot read or use conventionally printed materials ..." providing that the material is "reading matter in braille or 14-point or larger sightsaving type ..." on the condition that "the matter must be for the use of a blind or other physically handicapped person."
I was confident that the "matter" I was sending conformed to these rules, but the postal worker was still unsure and took one of my letters to a back room to call the central office for verification. Ten more minutes passed until she returned to tell me that my letters did not qualify because the checks included in my envelopes used a font smaller than 14 point. I argued a bit, explaining that the people receiving this letter would not be able to read that text and that was exactly why I had included the braille and large-print versions as an extension to this check that would be accessible. I asked her if she had explained it to the person she had called in this way and she said that while she hadn't explained my situation precisely as I restated it, she had wasted enough time on this and would not call him back. She gave me a phone number and suggested that I call the main office myself if I still disagreed.
I called the main office and somehow in a city the size of Seattle managed to reach the same person that had advised the postal worker which had originally asked the question. I explained the situation again and he said that he would need to do some research to see if I qualify. Furthermore, he needed to attend to a conference call and he would phone with the answer as soon as he found it. I have yet to receive this call, but will update this blog when and if I do.
My conclusion is that someone willing to invest enough time may be able to save on postage when mailing braille and large-print material, but doing so is unlikely to be worth the effort.
-Jeffrey P. Bigham
Having recently conducted a remote user study with blind web users, I prepared to send them their compensation for their participation by writing them checks. I haven't found a convenient way to braille checks so I described the contents of the check in a text file and then printed them out in both braille and large point font. When it came to mailing them, I decided to try out the U.S. Postal Services "Free Matter for the Blind" service which is supposed to allow material destined for blind folks to be sent for free. I was surprised to find out that using this service you can theoretically even send mail internationally.
Having not used the program before, I first called the post office to see if my material qualified. One local post office had not heard of this program and advised me to call a national number, (800) ASK-USPS. I called this number and was told that my material qualified but I would have bring it to my local post office to get it approved. The postal worker at my post office was willing to help, but but she did not know the specifics of how the program works. We spent about 10 minutes looking through a large book of postal code and eventually found the relevant section (Section 703.5). We found that
"... matter may be entered free of postage if mailed by or for the use of blind or other persons who cannot read or use conventionally printed materials ..." providing that the material is "reading matter in braille or 14-point or larger sightsaving type ..." on the condition that "the matter must be for the use of a blind or other physically handicapped person."
I was confident that the "matter" I was sending conformed to these rules, but the postal worker was still unsure and took one of my letters to a back room to call the central office for verification. Ten more minutes passed until she returned to tell me that my letters did not qualify because the checks included in my envelopes used a font smaller than 14 point. I argued a bit, explaining that the people receiving this letter would not be able to read that text and that was exactly why I had included the braille and large-print versions as an extension to this check that would be accessible. I asked her if she had explained it to the person she had called in this way and she said that while she hadn't explained my situation precisely as I restated it, she had wasted enough time on this and would not call him back. She gave me a phone number and suggested that I call the main office myself if I still disagreed.
I called the main office and somehow in a city the size of Seattle managed to reach the same person that had advised the postal worker which had originally asked the question. I explained the situation again and he said that he would need to do some research to see if I qualify. Furthermore, he needed to attend to a conference call and he would phone with the answer as soon as he found it. I have yet to receive this call, but will update this blog when and if I do.
Conclusion
Both the postal workers and their supervisors both at my local post office and the central offices that I was instructed to call were largely unaware of the USPS Free Matter for the Blind program and interpreted its provisions in confusing and contradictory ways. While my situation could be viewed as odd in that I was mailing a check along with braille and large-print material, someone wanting to mail only braille or large-print material would still have been subject to a 20 minute wait. This can be particularly uncomfortable in a post office where frustration with long wait times is already common.My conclusion is that someone willing to invest enough time may be able to save on postage when mailing braille and large-print material, but doing so is unlikely to be worth the effort.
-Jeffrey P. Bigham
