How to mail a small package?

How would I mail a small flat rate package at the post office??? Help please!!?

• Would I need to put what I want to mail in the box and tape it off before hand? Because I do have a box to use from USPS. Also, would I need to print a label online or do they do that there? Will they let me buy just one stamp? And do they look to see what I'm mailing or do they not care...? I'm so lost I've never mailed anything before sorry. Would it be okay to just wrap my package and I don't know...help???

• Answer:

  Just put your stuff in the box and tape it up. They have sticky labels there that you can handwrite the address on and then stick the label on the box. You can also just write the address on the box itself with a marker. You stand in line and when you get to the counter you give them the box, they ask if you have any hazardous items etc inside and you say no, then they ask you to pay for it. If it's a flat rate box then they just charge you the rate. Yes, you can buy just one stamp if you want. (I have bought two 2 cent stamps, for example, when they change the postage rate for a letter.) They don't need to see what you're mailing. As long as you say "no" to the hazardous stuff, they don't care. (And as long as it doesn't move or tick or something ... there was a local story here about a woman who tried to mail a puppy to her niece, no joke. The post office people figured out what was up when the box started moving and whimpering.) Our post office also has a self-serve weighing machine so you can just get the postage automatically, but it sounds like that might make you nervous. They are tricky to use the first time; I have helped many people with it.