The biggest part of staying connected in an LDR is the mail.
That might be the case for you, but I've always felt completely connected to my boyfriend even without packages. We talk constantly - as long as he's home we're chatting through Skype, either text or voice chat. We play games together a lot and watch movies and shows together, and I feel super connected to him doing those things, far more than when I get any sort of gift from him, because we're actually doing interactive things together. It's not the same as doing things with him in person but even just getting to interact with each other in a game or being able to watch something together and discuss it makes us feel completely connected and involved with each other. I don't need a package for that.
As for communication, we have awesome communication. We talk everything through. The thing that's making me hesitant to voice my concerns about this thing, however, is that this is something I'm not entitled to in any way. Him getting me a gift is just a nice thing he chose to do and I feel like I don't have the right to demand it from him. On top of that, I'm sure he already feels bad about this and I don't want to make it worse, especially since I now know he's going through a depression right now. I have no interest in guilting him into sending it to me. I certainly don't feel second rate or under appreciated either.
With the money thing, he already has the gift and it's not handmade (I know what the main part of it is), and I know it's something big/heavy that will cost more than just a couple dollars. We're talking at least $20 or so, and that really can be a lot for some people. This is a slightly bigger scale than him making something by hand and then scraping together a couple bucks to mail it.
I think a lot of this is frustration with him not budgeting his money or time in a way that would allow him to do this. Now knowing he's going through a depression I understand a bit more, however. As someone with severe depression I know how difficult it can make getting things done. You probably can't relate if you haven't battled with depression yourself but sometimes the smallest task can seem like climbing a mountain. Now that I know he's dealing with a period of it I understand a bit more, However, that doesn't make me any less frustrated about the money part of it and the fact that he still wasn't doing it before this depressive period, and also logically knowing the reasons for something doesn't mean you're automatically going to feel better about it.