07:56 – As it turns out, the USPS doesn’t routinely pick up shipments on Sunday, although they will do so if you request it and are willing to pay them to do it. There are two types of pick-ups. The normal method, which they don’t charge for, is to notify them that you have a package waiting, which the carrier will then pick up the next time he visits you on his normal rounds. Alternatively, you can request a special pick-up, which they charge a pick-up fee for. The former is all I need.
I was confused because one of the steps in producing the label is to choose a ship date. When I generated the label/postage yesterday, it offered me ship dates of Sunday the 11th, Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. I chose Sunday, thinking that would generate a notice to the USPS to pick up the package whenever. It doesn’t, so I’m not sure why they even ask for ship date. You have to request the pickup as a completely separate step on a different page. So I chose regular pick-up for today. When I did that, it asked me for pickup location, with various options such as front door, back door, side door, mail room, in/near mailbox, and so on. I chose “knock on door/ring bell” to give Colin an excuse to bark.
I’m still working heads-down on the biology book. I should finish the Plantae group in the next couple days, after which I dive into the final group, Animalia. Then I’ll go back and add some lab sessions throughout the book, that I’d stubbed out but wasn’t sure I’d have enough time to complete.