Mail service upside-down?

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by nosborne48, Dec 23, 2020.

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  1. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    In my probably misguided optimism over the future of my border community, I decided to renew my long extinct passport card. I've kept a valid book since I was eighteen but I let the card go since I haven't crossed the border in several years. But retirement is (one hopes) looming so I thought it would be handy to be able to slide back and forth without schlepping the book. So I dug out the dead card and stuck it in an envelope with an application, alarmingly unflattering recent photo, and a small check to offset a drop or two of the nation's ocean of debt.

    Per Mike Pompeo's friendly advice, I sent my envelope certified mail to track its progress through the ruins of the U.S. Postal Service. The envelope promptly froze, according to the USPS app, at in route delivery estimated for December 11. What year the app does not say.

    This morning, however, my bank dutifully reported that Mr. Pompeo cashed my check! Sooo...he must have gotten my envelope even though the Postal Service says it's still stuck in traffic! The physical envelope traveled faster than the electrons reporting the fact?
     
    SteveFoerster likes this.
  2. eriehiker

    eriehiker Active Member

  3. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Messed up here, too. Easy to see coming. This year, I bought NOTHING via Internet for Christmas. In fact almost nothing via Internet all year. Saved money three ways - not buying stuff I didn't really need, but was easy to get via Internet, getting unexpectedly good deals while the stores were open and buying virtually nothing but food during the lockdown - I'm doing that for the second time, right now.

    I was surprised. I was able not only to do ALL my Christmas shopping on-ground (started in Feb,) but also to piece that Telecaster together with Fender and good aftermarket parts from local music stores -for about the same as the very best Internet deals. I have one phone call to make - for a body and a neck. I have all the hardware, pickups etc. The store is about 75 miles away and I'll probably call them after the New Year. They have some nice bodies originally from the Fender plant in Ensenada, Mexico. If delivery is still screwed-up, I'll maybe talk my son into a drive up. I think he'd like this place.

    Funny - after 27 years, I finally get Internet at home and all I buy is the odd cheap course / cert. I DID use it, around midnight, to see if a book my daughter-in-law wanted was available at a local bookstore. It was, so I went downtown and bought it.

    Passport? I NEVER want to leave this country (Canada) again -- EVER. Not even for a day. Done with that. I'm home.
     
    Last edited: Dec 23, 2020
  4. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Funny since about 90% of Canadians live in what I might call "border towns". ;)
     
  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Within 75 miles of the border, most of us. I'm about 45 - 50 away. Used to be closer. Plus, no car now. And right now, we're not crossing it - travel restrictions etc. You try going over for dinner (stupid -against the rules) you'll end up in quarantine for two weeks. But even COVID-free and living in Ft. Erie (where you can walk across the border if you so desire - or you could 25 years ago) I wouldn't. No need and no inclination.

    Most of us rely on your screwed-up mail to get stuff to the US border. Then our messed-up system takes it from there. Canada Post needs to be de-fornicated. And if you're really SOL - the stuff ends up in a bonded sufferance warehouse - or is that Bondage and Suffering - I forget. And that's at RR5, South Service Road, that runs along Nowhere Highway. Awful. I had to drive 30 miles once because I missed the Fedex truck! That was years ago. I learned my lesson (I had to - no car now.)

    When the stores are open, I prefer to go there (locally) and get stuff. If I have to order it, I like to get stuff that's already in Canada. Preferably in Ontario, via a 1-800 number. If it's a book or something I don't go to Amazon - I check the local bookstore websites to see if I can get it locally. I'm constantly surprised at how much stuff I can get in odd corners close to where I live - at Internet-style prices. That's what cities (even small backward ones like mine) are all about - what they're for. Without that, they'd be useless.

    I don't trust the Internet. With Google and Jeff B. in control - I feel the potential to get shafted and worked over every time. I always wait for something not to come or not to work when it gets here. I go to a store or talk to a guy on the phone, somewhere I've heard of (with a 1-800#) I feel more confident. Call me crazy - but the stuff gets here. And it costs what I feel it's supposed to. And I need the exercise I get locally.

    Doubt if I'll ever have occasion to cross the border again. Normally, (sans COVID) my son goes over all the time. He's closer. Works for him.
     
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2020
  6. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    very good!
     
  7. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Well! Mr Pompeo has told me several times to expect my new tarjeta de paseporte to take between 10 and 12 weeks to arrive. This morning I got a chatty auto send email saying exactly that then also saying my application was at the printers and would be in my dry and arthritic claw on or about January 12. Lessee....three weeks? Well, under promise and over deliver, that's what I always say!:)
     
  8. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Card arrived a day early. Who says the government is inefficient?
     
    Dustin likes this.

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