Sandboxx App

[Audra]

Hey there! So i have downloaded the app, i am curious how the recruits get these letters? Do they have access to a computer during boot camp?

[⚓ darsatm ⚓]

I’ve seen this on another navy boot camp site

** ATTENTION ON DECK **

Subj: SANDBOXX App for Sending Letters

Families and friends. Occasionally we'll see posts or comments about using an APP called SANDBOXX to send letters to your Sailors. Let me be clear about a few things:

1. Using the app requires you to provide to them sensitive information about your SR/Sailors. That includes their full name, duty station, and mailing address. This in itself is a violation of PERSEC (Personal Security). Additionally, depending on where the military member is stationed / the unit they're assigned to, it may also be a violation of OPSEC (Operational Security).
2. You do not know who is operating this APP, where the company is located, or what other businesses (if any) they are operating
3. Once you provide this sensitive information to a third party company, you immediately lose control over it. You have no way of preventing them from providing it to anyone else, or using it to target marketing or any other activity which may or may not be malicious
4. The minimum package price for the APP is $8.00. For that you get three letters, with a 3,000 character limit and one photo. Typing, printing and mailing a letter yourself costs $0.49/ea. You don't get a character limit, nor are you limited to the number of photos you can print and send with your letters. Oversized envelopes may cost a few cents more. You can send 16 letters for the cost of sending three using the app.

We as an admin team are advocates for you, your Sailors and everyone's privacy. Therefore, we DO NOT recommend the use of this app. Contrary to what you may read on other forums, letters sent using the app are not delivered any faster than if they were mailed from home.

Protect your privacy and that of your Sailor/Recruit. Type / print and mail the letters yourself. Don't provide their sensitive information to a third party.

That is all. Carry on.

[Anti M]

The letters are printed out, and are distributed just like all the other mail once they reach RTC.  The only thing faster is getting it out of your hands and to Great Lakes central post office faster.  

I personally would not use it, it really is not much faster, and you're entrusting information and personal details to a for profit company on the internet.  How good is their security?  Do you  know?  Honestly, buy some stamps and envelopes and practice your handwriting.  Far more personal to my mind.

[Audra]

Thank you all! I won’t be using that!

[Jinne Jill]

I like the points you raised regarding security and cost, but Sandboxx allows me to compose wherever I am and continue letters with ease. The company was started by a veteran and supports US workers. My son loves the size of the cards and the frequency. Between that and a handwritten note included in one care package, Sandboxx has helped me feel connected to my sailor. Probably won’t continue once he is in A-school and can get more robust care packages.

[mrs76peeps]

I noticed that the return envelope and postage are provided by USAA. That says a lot to me about the integrity of the service. As for the access others have to the contents of the letter, it just makes sense to not include anything that you wouldn't want to share with the world at large.