I work in a building with 14 floors. It is a very old hotel building (renovated into offices), and one of the charming old features is the mail drop, which is just one big chute through the center of the building. Drop your mail in, down it goes to a big bucket in the lobby for pickup. The fronts are glass so every now and then you can even watch letters go by.
I work on the 9th floor. Last Friday I noticed that some mail had gotten stuck. The first thing that strikes one is "How?" Well, it looks like somebody folded a postcard or some other heavy piece of mail, which then sprung back open once it got in the chute. Given that it did that I'm thinking perhaps the culprit is in fact on my floor, but that's not part of my story. The point is, the mail is now stuck from floors 9-14. The engineer in me goes to work. "All we need to do," I say, "Is go up to the top floor, fill an envelope with something thing and heavy, like coins, and drop it. The velocity should cause enough force to jar it loose. And you know what? Even if it didn't work on the first try, I bet it will eventually!" Within just a few hours, though, there is a note on the mail slot that says "Chute jammed, do not put mail in." Oh well, somebody must have called the building to report the problem. Well it's Monday now, and not only is the note still there, the mail appears to be piling up. I go downstairs and ask the security guards if anyone has mentioned the problem. He says, "Yes, they know about it. There've been three people from the post office out here. They need to find out who has the key." Oh. I should perhaps mention that on each floor, the entire glass from has a bar across it, and a lock. I suppose that if the mail ever gets jammed (you know, hypothetically), you just open up the glass and take care of it. Unless, that is, nobody can find the key. It's probably been lost for years! I ride the elevator all the way up to 14. There is no note on the mail slot. I go down to 13. Also, no note. Think about that for a second. On the floor where you can actually see the jammed mail through the glass door, somebody has put a note saying "Mail chute jammed." But nobody has done so for the other floors that have no possible way of knowing the situation.These are basically hotel landing areas, not actual reception areas, so it's not like each floor has a receptionist who I can tell. I debate whether to add a note to every floor's mail slot on my own, and decide that I have more important work to do.
My idea with the weighted envelope solution is looking better and better, though!