Oh, I have a postman tale of woe too!

So, one of my friends sent me a birthday package in a box and another sent a large card in a padded envelope. The box was from California and the card was from the western suburbs of Chicago (i.e, about a 30 minute drive from where I live).

The box and card were both mailed on (approx) November 13th. The box has not appeared although the tracking info says that it was delivered on the 14th. . . the card didn't appear until the 29th.

I'm still trying to figure out what happened to the box.

I have to echo what (I think) Zenkitty said on FB: rednecks will delight in shooting them down for sport.

Yep, that was me. Like skeet!

Selling books all over I've learnt that which delivery is worse depends on place. Locally, USPS is the most reliable. But If I'm mailing to Oakland, I avoid USPS. If I'm mailing to a residential district in Brooklyn UPS will lie like anything, whereas USPS will mostly deliver. (Trudy Booth, as someone who lives in Brooklyn may have a different perspective.) If I'm shipping to Woods Hole Mass Fedex is my best shot of stuff getting there intact, but also damn pricey. (For shipping just one or two books at a time, Fedex is NOT economical. Not their target market, to be fair.)

Trudy is in Manhattan, not Brooklyn.

I live in Brooklyn, near the main USPS post office, and they're pretty great. Multiple deliveries per day, and hardly ever more than a 3-day turnaround for anything.

Since 1991 I have had a box in a mail services establishment so they can accept mail and packages for me. I pay each month but given my status and not having permanent addresses at least from 1991-2004, it made a lot of sense.

Right now I have a great postal person who manages to jam the biggest packages in between my doors. Otherwise I would have to wait until the next day to go pick them up.

My front door is hidden from view, so I don't worry too much about packages left by the door. A couple of years ago I had ordered a kitchenaide mixer that was going to be a Christmas present for K-Bug.

Whoever delivered it didn't feel comfortable just leaving it by the door, all by itself. No. Instead, they put it under the doormat. Cause THAT is inconspicuous.

Suzi, that's hilarious!

My front door is pretty well hidden too. So far, knock on wood, I haven't had any packages go missing here, and I get a LOT of packages. My postal persons will get out of the little truck and bring the packages right to my door. I love them. I give them cookies at Christmas.

The UPS guy is friendly, but that may be because of how often he sees me in my pajamas.

I don't know what magic I possess that I made that happen, but if anyone needs me to work my juju, I'll give it a shot.

Agent phone call, please! IJS ...

We have two different USPS guys, and one of them is a dream. Doesn't lose things, always brings packages to the door, finishes the route before 7pm. The other guy delivers things incorrectly on our block about twice a week, and always acts annoyed if he has to interact with anyone.

UPS & FedEx are great. They have remotes to our gate, and typically leave at the front door. USPS is annoying. Our mailboxes are down 5 steps, so, not very convenient for me to get to. Sometimes he leaves it on top of the mailboxes. Sometimes he puts it in the parcel lockers. Sometimes he leaves a note to pick it up at the post office. Sometimes he WRITES ON MY MAIL that "it's in locker 53". Ugg. I want to support USPS and all. But not with bad delivery guy. I wish Amazon was consistent with delivery choice. Sometimes it's USPS, sometimes it's UPS. I like UPS best.

In other news... I have a real bad case of "I don't wanna...". Tired. One more week of classes. Can not wait for some down time.

eta: just as I was starting to get productive, my work computer does the grey curtain of doom. Ugg.