Years ago I had a student who told me he was half Jewish and half Christian. He explained that he received 8 Hanukkah gifts from one set of grandparents and a Christmas present from the other grandparents. He thought that was great. However, after preparing the mailing labels and paying the postage on-line for family Christmas gifts I can only say that I definitely can't afford to be Jewish.
This transaction was fun up to a point and one saves a little on postage. Fortunately I have a very old kitchen scale which is reasonably accurate, and it notes lbs. and oz. And, believe me, there was some serious poundage. The packages to Illinois and our nation's capital were fairly easy. However the package to Canada . . . .Well, here's what happened.
Not only did USPS want to know how much it weighed (17 lbs. 2 oz.) but the dimensions of the box. I put all that in, and then was asked the contents, and I was thrilled that the drop down menu listed "gifts." That was my selection, of course. But just wait. Customs was about to insert itself. Next section down *required* each included item be described along with its value and weight. This was a test to see whether or not I was honest about overall weight and value, I think. Of course, the challenge was to remember what was in the monster box. There were gifts for one daughter, one son-in-law, and three grandchildren, and most of them were getting two surprises. Besides it had already been two days since I wrapped it all up.
My frustration level began to edge upward as I contemplated "one pair purple cotton socks", $3.95,______. How much does one pair of socks weigh? How much does a hair brush & comb set weight? When I completed the list the little computer tally thingy indicated that my items weighed too much. That made me angry, but I also thought it was funny since I was making up all those numbers anyway. At this point the dogs appeared to be somewhat nervous about my mental state and asked to go out though the temperature was still in the 40's.
After editing the weight of a couple of items I satisfied the aforesaid "tally thingy", and I was good to go on to giving the postal service my credit card number. Then came the big moment: printing my label and postage. The program informed me that this would require 5 pages---and it did. One page was filled with directions which included taking it to the post off. Bet you thought that wouldn't be necessary, but those customs lists had to go into a special plastic bag and be taped to the package. I didn't think a Zip-lock would satisfy them. But I had completed all this business, and I was pretty pleased with myself. Just when I gave the computer the go ahead to print out the transaction # and verification the browser shut down. My reaction to that apparently encouraged the cats to exit the house as well.
I am now home from the P.O. (BTW you have to mail on the day you print the postage.) Everything went surprisingly well there, and I didn't even have to wait in line. That was scary.
One request: Relatives in Canada must not remove and read customs list before Christmas Day. Is that clear?
One resolution: Personally selected three dimentional gifts in the future will only be given to persons whom I visit or who visit me. Is that clear?
One question: Could I have survived sending Hanukkah gifts?
12 comments:
that's it woman! homeland security will be at your door shortly! national security could be at stake here for cryin out loud.
good grief, if a 'mere' grandma can figure out how to get around all of that crap in such a short time, how long do they think it would take a group of determined terrorist?
and how ridiculous is it that they ~still~ make us go through it?
I am told to just list "CD's, books, shirt" when mailing a package. I haven't tried it yet - too chicken.
Re: your previous post - I wish I Polio and I were down there - we know how to do floors. And subfloors, joists, etc.
Plug--you and Polio are welcome to come down here, even if you don't do subfloors and joists during the visit. The rest of the clan is also welcome.
As for mailing stuff, when a good friend was in Albania with the Peace Corps I sent several care packages. I found it was actually easier to just take the box to the post office and fill out the paperwork there. Of course, living in Podunk farmland it is easy to expect personal and friendly postal service. The advice I receive from them was, "just be vague and take your best guess."
Now, sending to Canada instead of Albania has some advantages. We had to unroll toilet paper and paper towels as packing, or it would have been stolen before reaching its destination. Canada does have decent paper products, right?
Oh--and Lit, Chill solved the mailing problem by ordering on-line and having the stuff shipped by the store to Canada.
Plug---Your first response was supposed to be, "Yes, Maam. We will not read the list."
I did appreciate the alleged desire to help with the physical work on the floor. That would be really nice.
Heather---Don't give up on security yet. The P.O. sent an e-mail to me last night saying that the pkg. to the D.C. area was not charged to my account, and use of the label constitued fraud. Of course, I'd already mailed the pkg. Now I have to mail the money for postage to the recipient in order for it to be received, or I guess I could just go to jail. Do they allow blogging in the pokey?
Jaz---Chill is showing a lack of sense of adventure and trying to live life on-line. Time to get out and kick the roses.
Woo-hoo! I just tracked the pkg. to Canada, and it departed the U.S. from O'Hare Airport at 5:52 this morning. Pretty exciting, huh?
Heather---Your blog is not accepting comments, but I've voted three times at least for Christmas.
christmas is up. :-) not sure what the heck is up with the comments thing. i checked all the settings. although i did have the permissions limited for a few while i was trying to get video on my blog. could have been while you were trying to comment...
for the ñ hold the alt key down and type in 164. :-)
hey lit! it's a new year. how about a new post???
surely all of those nutty kids of yours are providing you with ~something~ to blog about.
:-)
some glad morning when lit posts again
i'll read with joy, oh glory
to see new words at life is a test
i'll read with joy.
i'll read with joy oh glory, i'll read with joy.
to see new words at life is a test i'll read with joy.
;-)
heather--I thought goo's last post might inspire something here. Maybe later.
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