Well now, I think a couple of things are in order here.
1-how well do you know the person doing the placing??
If you know him/her well and feel comfortable...just give it to them straight ~ I always find this is the best coarse of action.....
2-if you're not all that comfortable with confrontation - just tell them that you don't want to burden them with all the placing/testing business....them have them send it straight back to you....hide it yourself, so that I can find it and send you a nice note telling you how beautiful the stamp is!!!

Hope this helps!!
Doglvrs
----- Original Message -----
From: enders_angel_80
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2005 9:31 AM
Subject: [LbNA] Protocol for planting a box for someone else?



Is there a protocol for when you give someone a box to plant for you?
Last Feb my Mom went to another state for a visit. Both of us carved a
stamp and a HH. Mom left her HH in a box out there and traded
letterboxes with her friend in that other state. Mom's friend planted
Mom's box and watches over it for her and Mom brought her friends' box
back to MI, planted here and watches over it for her friend.

Mom gave the box and HH I made to another person out there but it
still hasn't been planted. I do send email to check on it and always
get an answer back. She is working on finding a good place to tie in
with the theme of the stamp image of the box. First the problem was
that the theater location that was going to be used for the box
refused permission. Ever since then the reason has been that this
person does testing of a location before putting a box out and every
testing location has been discovered by critters.

Am I just being too anxious? It's almost a year and I was thinking I'd
already have gotten some finders and maybe some notes from a few of
them. The stamp and HH were just about the first things I ever carved
so they're kind of special to me. I do appreciate that she's working
to put it in a good logical place instead of just tossing it out in
the wild and not caring if it was safe. I guess I was thinking my box
and HH planting in this other state would go down faster; like my
Mom's and her friends' did.

Enders Angel
A.K.A. Anxious Angy ;-)





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

......................She is working on finding a good place to tie in
with the theme of the stamp image of the box. First the problem was
that the theater location that was going to be used for the box
refused permission. Ever since then the reason has been that this
person does testing of a location before putting a box out and every
testing location has been discovered by critters.

Am I just being too anxious? It's almost a year...............

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Just out of curiosity, how is your friend "testing" locations for discovery
by critters? I can think of a million amusing scenarios for that one but I
won't go there............

Has your friend placed many boxes before? Maybe it's the inexperience. Or
maybe she's being extra careful because she knows it's "valuable" to you and
since it's not her own box, she'll feel guilty if it's vandalised or stolen by a
4-legged or 2-legged critter. Or she might be just trying really too hard to
find that perfect spot for that particular stamp. You may have
unintentionally over-worried her about how important the box is to you, and, if she's
inexperienced, she may be trying too hard to be "perfect."

If it were a friend of mine, I'd just send a little empty box and some money
for postage, asking her to send it back to me since I'd come across the
perfect place to plant it right at home and I'd tell her how much I appreciated her
efforts and attempts on my behalf.

If it's been almost a year, that's kind of long. I could toss in a bathroom
one-liner here but I won't.

Pippi




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "enders_angel_80"
wrote:
> Is there a protocol for when you give someone a box to plant for you?

I recently called upon the wise boxing hog/sage to answer a similar question. I have
grand plans for a series in California. Knowing full well that an east coaster like
myself ain't getting out there anytime soon - I thought I'd call up on my left coasters.

This is a hard question to answer. I have a close friend living 1/2hr nearby the
location, but I ended up coming to the conclusion that it would best be taken care of
by moi personally....for several reasons...

1. This person may be so focused on placing it in the "right spot" that they might
totally miss the point of what your box/series is about. For example - my said idea
for a series relates to the historical tour of this area. If the peson went off and placed
them on a trail outside of the downtown area - it would miss the point of taking
people through a specific area to see/find the box.

2. This person may just not have your style and panache. In other words, if you
haven't had much experience placing boxes, then it takes a while to find good hiding
spots. You can't just expect somebody who is new to letterboxing to place boxes - let
alone those of your own!

3. (My personal fave) placing boxes in someone else's hands is fine for cartaking, but
realize that for placing it is something you can't control. If they place a beloved series
in a terrible location, your efforts might go missing before anyone can find them. You
can't check on them either!?!

So, best of luck. I see out-of-state-boxes as an excuse to visit an area again, and
hopefully to place more boxes in places I'd like to travel. Finally, if this person is
sitting on the box (ie: waiting and waiting and waiting around) well, tell 'em just to
send it back to you cuz you'd like to have it placed sometime this century!!! :-)

Good luck
phyto
P121 F 408 X123