With a large flat rate box packed full of gifts and treasures to send to Jen, and customs paperwork completed - I set out to get a Priority Mail label and send this box off as a Priority Mail shipment (no Express Mail this time). Supposedly this flat rate Priority Mail box will be delivered in 6 - 10 days and as long as it does not weigh more than 20 pounds the cost is $58.50.
So, away I went!
The clerk weighed the box; 12 pounds. But he would not except it as a flat rate shipment, it was a bit “swollen”. The box was well sealed with packing tape, sides and bottom square and fine.... but yes, the top did rise a bit in the center. It was full, tightly packed, still 8 pounds under max weight; but its “swollen” look got it rejected! I think he described it as the “integrity of the box is violated.” WOW! If he thinks this box is too full to have integrity, he should see some suitcases I have packed.
So, the clerk offered to accept the box as a non-flat rate box shipment. It would only cost me about $15 more and lose its priority delivery “quickness”. I thought for a moment, decided to buy stamps and told him I would just repack. So much for getting the chocolates on their way to Jen and...... today.
But buying the stamps couldn’t even go smoothly!
Each year since maybe 1982, at Christmas we have given Christmas cards of framed Madonna stamps. Every year, until this decade, there would be a new Madonna image. However, more recently, there have been years where there was not a new release. In those years I go buy some from a local stamp dealer that date back to before we started this tradition. I always check with USPS in October to see what the current year’s Madonna will be. When I checked a few weeks ago, there would not be a new Madonna this year, they were repeating last year’s. So, I shared with Jen that there would not be a new Madonna this year and asked her if instead of an older Madonna stamp we should do something different for this different year. After all, there has not been a year when one of us was out of the country for the holidays. Let’s frame and give Macedonian postage. So, Jen has been charged with the mission of procuring Macedonian stamps. But there would still remain that obstacle of getting them to us to be framed .... you know how successful we have been with the mail!
As I looked down at the stamp choices, there was a new Madonna! WOW! How can the USPS move so fast to change course and design, produce and distribute a stamp design in just three weeks? We both know they can’t. I was just given bad information three weeks ago.
So, I purchased some the 2011 Madonna stamps and some international first class mail stamps (I told you I was a glutton for punishment. I am stills ending first class mail to Jen with none of it having yet been received.) Having finished my transaction, I started picking up everything off of the counter..... the unshippable package, customs paperwork, labels, stamps, purse, phone, keys..... and I made my way to the car. Of course getting in was almost as clumsy as picking everything up off of the counter.
I arrived at work and immediately went in to show off the amazing new 2011 Madonna stamps. No stamps. I went through my stuff again and again. No stamps. I went through the car. No stamps. How could I have lost the stamps? I just purchased them! Two sheets of Madonna stamps..... gone. Instead of feeling like a customer who keeps giving money again and again with out receiving any service from the USPS.... now I just felt like a donor. The USPS may be losing money and near failure, but not because of customers like me who become donors!
Disgusted with myself I decided to return to the parking lot and postal station to see if I dropped them and could find them. No stamps in the parking lot, entry way or post office. There was no line waiting for service, so I decided to just approach the clerk who had assisted me and ask if anyone had turned in Madonna stamps that had been found. I knew better than to tell him I didn’t make it to my office with them, could he help me. After all, they are the USPS. There will be no compassion or discount for lost merchandise.
So, I approached the clerk. Before I could utter a word he exclaimed with a gasp, “It is you!” Well, yes, that was accurate. It was me, but I wasn’t sure what that meant to him. He then picked up and showed me the two sheets of stamps. “Here are your Madonna Stamps.” I was amazed to think someone had found them and brought them to him. WOW! Aren’t people just grand!
Before I could ask who found them he shared, “ I am so sorry I never got them out and gave them to you. I was worried about how I would know who they belonged to, but then I remembered it was you, the Macedonian lady that bought them and now here you are.”
I was glad to have the stamps back and also impressed by the honesty and willingness to admit his mistake by the clerk. Gosh... customer service! WOW! But his comment naming me the Macedonian woman was a bit unsettling. Of all the things to be remembered as.... why that?
On my way back to work I kept replaying his comments. Better to have those thoughts running through my head than the ones I had on my way back to the post office. On my way back to the post office in the 40 mile per hour speed limit of 56th street, I was following a 25 mph driver with thoughts of desperation running though my mind. Block after block after block, held hostage by a ridiculously slow driver on my way to be turned away one more time by USPS!
Sometimes discouragement can set in over the simplest and silliest of situations!
So, the clerk’s comment was a welcome reset of my mind set!
Patience and hope...... bring me some more!
Maybe I am a glutton for punishment but I will repack the box, find a way to reduce it’s swelling, and try again to get it on its way to Jen!
Surely this mail thing will get easier!
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