Yesterday
I went to the post office to send a package to a friend in Sicily. I wanted
to send it three-day air. So, of course, the postal worker woman suggested
that if I wanted it to get there in three days that I use one-day air. Huh?
"One-day air takes three days while three-day air takes five days," she
said.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Mail Theft
Carl
I am back in the states now and will be for a few months.
Times don't change.
My Mom told me a story once about how her brother sent her a box filled with
interesting items from the Pacific right after WWII. When she received the
box it was filled with worn out army blankets.
Just before I left I mailed myself a large number of items so I wouldn't
have to carry them along with the body armor I never use. When the box
arrived 80% of the thing that were in it were gone, though the box had been
taped up very securely after all the items were stolen. Interstingly, there
were some things in the box that I hadn't mailed, including a bench-made
knife and some japanese drinks of some kind.
I think postal or airline employees in Newark decided to go throuh a large
number of boxes coming in from overseas and pick out the things they liked.
When they were done they threw the leftovers into the boxes they thought the
items came from. Only they didn't get them right and I (and probably others
ended) up with things we didn't send ourselves.
So this is the picture. There is a group of postal or airline employees in
Newark who specifically target boxes coming in from overseas. Boxes that are
most often shipped by soldiers. I figure Newark because the boxes are
probably palletized and Newark is where they break down the pallets for
further shipment.
They wait till a likely pallet comes in, then they go through multiple boxes
and take what they like. When they are done, they pitch what's left back in
the boxes, tape them up and send them on their way. They do a very good job
re-taping the boxes so I figure they are probably Post Office employees.
Ain't that great. They do their bit in the war by stealing from soldiers.
Carl
Gone Postal
andy in buenos aires
Going
postal
27 June 2008
....So back I went the following day. If you don't know what I'm talking
about you need to start here first. Just to throw some complication into the
mix, a friend who had heard about my saga/adventure the previous day,
politely asked, if I could enquire about her missing package (a book), sent
from her Grandma in Portugal to Buenos Aires back in May, that had never
showed up. She had called the post office but got no answer. She had the
details (registration #) and was told by the Portugese Post office the
package was in the international post office in Buenos Aires. (kill 2 birds
with one stone n' all that!)
I like a challenge, so I accepted. Forty minutes by subway and walking, take
a number, forty minute wait, show passport as i.d. and I get handed the
magic ticket with a magic number, to go to the next room and wait with the
300 people, waiting for the package.
Then I ask about my friends M.I.A. package and am told, low and behold it's
here!
Sending
or receiving snail mail in a civilised country is already a bit suicidal.
Sending or receiving
anything in Romania is almost as nerve racking as explaining to a bunch of
gypsies that: wearing big hideous earrings and stealing people's wallet are
both social faux pas.Everything that is sent to
me always has my work address on it; this ensures that whenever postman Pat
feels like turning up, I’ll be there to sign for it.
Two weeks ago I was meant
to receive a package, so last week it turned up, and by ‘it’ I don’t mean
the package, I mean a little grey piece of toilet paper.
This little piece of
recycled paper (not ecologists, just poor) was a little note telling me that
indeed my package has arrived in the country.Who gave me this paper? The
postman…
►Posta
Romana
Adventures at
Poşta Romana 
Romerican
Gustar 11th, 2006
Dedicated readers will recall I’ve got to
exchange digital camera batteries with Nikon Europe, who has been quite
gracious in their execution of customer service. The other half of the story
has been the trials and tribulations in dealing with this nation’s postal
system, Poşta Romana.
There is an
internationally known and accepted mail service called Business Reply Mail
(American terminology) wherein a customer can interact with a company via post
and the company will pay the bill. This is usually reserved for circumstances
where the company gains financially from said interaction or is in need of
servicing unfortunate victims of product failure, the latter being my
particular situation. Posta
Romana
Milan,
Feb 6
2007
A Tale of Two Packages
Modern types are ill-equipped for uncertainty. If you're
running late, send a text message. Already there? Text so they'll know you're
at an upstairs table. If you can't answer an email right now, instant
messenger so the sender knows you got it.
And no one expects to go to an airport or train station to
pick up a loved one without having tracked progress online first.
My own tangle of control issues came up while waiting for a
package from my father. He sent it to me the same day I sent out a package to
him -- paperwork and a few little gifts from his side; a few bars of chocolate
and a note from mine.
The padded envelope carrying chocolate went priority mail
from Milan. I knew better than to ask the woman with the deep, menopause-red
dye job behind the bulletproof window when it might get there, but
guesstimated about 15 days.
Package two left Northern California in a recycled Amazon
box and was shipped US Post office express mail, guaranteed five-day delivery.
A week later, sender of the California package begins
voicing concern via email. Has it shown up? Did they try to deliver and I
wasn't home?
Nope. No sign of package in Milan. Another week comes and
goes. Milan package arrives in California.
California gets worried. Any news on the package? Here's
the tracking number.
Milan imagines general hilarity at the post office if
presented with foreign tracking number and asks California to look into it.
California does, only to discover that the online tracking
system is abusing controlled substances. According to it, "We attempted to
deliver your item in ITALY at 7:18 AM."
A day later, tracker on crack says, "We attempted to
deliver your item in ITALY at 6:44 AM," and finally insists, before California
decides to avoid co-dependency, that it has attempted delivery at 4:11 AM two
days later.
At this point, I fear going to the post office -- far away
in a crap neighborhood -- where packages in my area are usually dispatched.
I phone before surrendering a Saturday morning to a
pointless mission. A good thing, because the woman who finally answers tells
me they're closed.
"But shouldn't you be open?" Dealing with Italian
bureaucracy is like working a crisis line. Keep them talking. You may weasel
out some bit of information or just exasperate them enough to help you.
"Well, we should be, yes."
"I just have a quick question."
"I'm sorry, but we've sent everyone home."
"Why? What happened?"
"We've had a stick-up. The police have just got here."
Right. Since the postal service was privatized, they've
introduced -- along with priority service -- an 800 number.
The American tracking numbers actually meant something, but
the kind signorina said the package wasn't
delivered because of a problem with the address. What, exactly, she didn't
know, because delivery is outsourced to a courier.
Courier is closed on Saturday. Courier keeps me hanging on
for ages (and charges me one euro a minute) on Monday. Courier uses different
tracking system. Courier completely useless.
Next day the 800-number operator is helpful, checks my
address, makes a note. Puts me on hold. I smile, the music is "Father and
Son." Says to call back in two days -- when they'll give me a time window for
delivery.
She phones the next day to say the package has been sent
back to California. She apologizes profusely, says she did what she could to
re-route it, but the computer system wouldn't let her.
Package showed up in Milan a week later unannounced, with a
mysterious 30 euro customs fee.
The mail, baby. You just got to let it happen.
IRANIAN VISITOR
Post
Office, Vali-Asr Square
tadatanome
Iran’s postal service is reliable and efficient. Sending packages
internationally requires identification in the form of a passport. Bring
your package unsealed as contents will be checked before dispatch.
Post Office
