A Martian Potato

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Martian potato

Craig Miller’s postman just delivered his promotional tie-in potato from The Martian.

To promote the movie “The Martian”, 20th-Century Fox made a deal with Mail a Spud (an actual company, surprisingly) to send out potatoes.

With notes written on them — “Potatoes from Mars! And you thought only candy came from there.”

And because you can now print personalized postage stamps, the stamp on the potato (yes, stuck directly on the potato, just as the message is written in Sharpie-style marker directly on the spud) shows a photo of Matt Damon in costume as Mark Watney overlaid with the words “Bring Him Home”.

The Mail A Spud website is appropriately tongue-in-cheek:

  • Why would I spend $10 on a stinkin potato? Can’t I do this myself for half the price?

Of course you can! We’re here for the people who love the idea but don’t feel like going through the hassle of mailing it themselves. Mailing a potato isn’t so cheap either. Postage can come in at over 4 dollars per spud.

  • How much do the potatoes weigh?

Our Russet potatoes vary in weight but expect them to come in at around 10 – 12 ounces.

  • Can I eat the potato when it gets here?

We do not recommend you consume the potato after it has traveled across the country inside of trucks, planes, and postal service bags. It has touched a lot of germs by the time it arrives to the recipient.

  • Aren’t you wasting food?

No! Well yes, but each spud shipped is bringing more awareness to the beauty of the potato.

Time to rewrite the filksong —

Martian potatos, Martian potatos

Will you send a Martian potato to me….

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6 thoughts on “A Martian Potato”

  3. The local station master where I do my mailings was discussing with me some of the more unusual things he’d seen mailed. He noted that the largest pumpkin ever posted, and it was not wrapped, was forty pounds in weight!

    Conversely it’s illegal to use any box for shipping via USPS that says on the outside that it once contained any alcoholic product!

  4. Meh. I’d peel the part of the skin that has sharpie on it and remove the stamp. Cook the spud in the normal way. After being boiled or baked, any germs will be thoroughly dead.

    Though it is an expensive way to get your potatoes.

  6. Or you could, you know, do what Mark Watney did with his own potatoes. (Well, minus the human excrement part.) A mailed potato would be a perfect thing to use to cut up and sprout your own new potatoes in the garden or a pot. Especially if you have kids who you took to see the movie. Demonstrate that some of the things they do in the movies can actually be done in real life.

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