Just a followup for those that send money orders to their penpals.

If you use a Money Order from Western Union, you can use their telephone money order inquiry system to check to see if the money order you had sent to your penpal has been cashed.

I used to send Money Orders using the US Postal Service but they dont appear to have a way to check the status without having to go back to the post office and have someone phone it in.

With Western Union, all you have to do is call their Money Order service #, 1-800-999-9660, and enter the 11 digit money order # and then the dollar amount.

I was able to verify that the recent money order i had sent in was received/cashed without having to go through the snail mail process.

I hope this is helpful to anyone that might consider using Western Union.

The California institution i sent this to apparently had no issue with money orders from Western Union.

Thanks for the info! =)

just a ?? for you all.. how long had you known your pp before you sent him/her/them money? and what amount did you start off sending? do you still send the same amount or more now? or less? or does it depend?do you know what they are doing with that money or dont you ask?

I started out by sending my penpal a $50 money order. She never asked me for money and i never wanted her to feel ashamed to have to ask. It was something i wanted to do for her and know her situation.

I guess this depends on how close you are with your penpal.

I did some digging of my own to see what the inmate could use the money for and believe it or not there are alot of things you can purchase in prison. For example, food related items, clothing, some personal affects. The inmate can also use the money to help pay for legal expenses and such.
The amount you want to give and how often you want to give depends on your relationship with your friend. In my case, the woman i write to ive known for about 3 years. Shes serving a life sentence and has appeared before the board of prison terms many times but has been denied.

The decison to give is up to you. I know that what i give helps the woman im close with and i know that she appreciates it. Sometimes it hard for someone to acknowledge the generosity of others as it can be somewhat humbling to a person.

I dont want to make her feel as if shes obligated to thank me every time i send her something. I help her because i can and i want to. She's expressed her appreciation and I know it must mean alot to her to have someone on the outside who cares.

Some people give anywhere from $50 - $100 but anything you send i have no doubt would
be appreciated.

You can send something for a holiday or a birthday or as the spirit moves you. I think just knowing that someone on the outside cared enough to help would mean alot to that person.

Things like this are personal in nature and depend on how close you are with your penpal.

The woman i correspond with knows that i respect her privacy and I dont put her in a position where she has to account for what i give her. She can purchase what she needs and knows that she has a friend in me that is there to help.

Its a good feeling to know that youre doing something nice for someone and i think thats what friendship is all about.

I hope this helps you. Good luck with your penpal.

hello but that western union phone # 1-800-999-9660 dont work for NYers because they ask for a 11 digit which i only know a ten digit MTCN. yea thell give a address about serial #'s to your western union but who know if make sense i got around 5 different western union payouts to areas like china waited 4 months still didnt recieve any items.i just want to make sure everything is allright -john 212-865-7863