Post office race

S. Gilles

2017-03-23

Presented with little comment. If given the option, I would never
have selected USPS - I've had too many bad experiences with them
in the past.

     Date    |                    Event
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------
  2017-03-08 | I order “item A” (a book) from an independent used
             | book seller off a used book site.  I select expedited
             | USPS shipping, delivery time is given as one week.
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------
  2017-03-08 | I order “item B” (a box of high-quality pens) from
             | an independent seller off Ebay.  Shipping is
             | international, thus unspecified (it will later turn
             | out to be USPS). Delivery date is estimated somewhere
             | between 2017-03-13 and 2017-04-03.
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------
  2017-03-09 | I order “item C” (a book) from an independent seller
             | off Amazon. They offer DHL shipping, which I select.
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------
  2017-03-09 | The seller of item B contacts me via email.  They
             | have given me a tracking number and insurance.
             | The tracking number isn't registered with USPS yet.
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------
  2017-03-11 | Tracking number for item B is “Accepted”, whatever
             | that means.
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------
  2017-03-13 | Item B is in the state “Origin is Preparing Shipment”.
             | It will be here a while.
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------
  2017-03-17 | I decide to figure out what “Origin is Preparing
             | Shipment” means. I find forum threads in which
             | buyers are repeatedly told that this lasts for, at
             | most, one week, for two weeks straight, after which
             | it turns out their item has mysteriously vanished.
             |
             | I am grateful to the seller of item B for taking
             | out insurance.
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------
  2017-03-18 | I receive, via email, a DHL tracking number for
             | item C. It doesn't work. Amazon doesn't know what
             | to do with it either.
             |
             | The delivery date is now given.  It is estimated
             | between 2017-03-21 and 2017-03-31. Unfortunately,
             | the office I'm having it shipped to is closed that
             | week. I had rather expected it delivered by now.
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------
  2017-03-21 | As item A is now a week overdue, I email the seller,
             | asking for a tracking number. I receive the response
             |
             |   “It,s one the way you can received the book within
             |   one week.”
             |
             | No tracking number is provided.
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------
  2017-03-21 | The tracking number for item C suddenly starts
             | working for Amazon. It turns out it wasn't DHL, it
             | was USPS. It was delivered to a building which is
             | closed for the week, but is “being held” at a nearby
             | post office. If “unclaimed after 15 days”, it will
             | be returned.
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------
  2017-03-22 | Item B is now in New York.
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------
  2017-03-22 | I drive to the post office holding item C. I am
             | informed that they “don't hold anything” and that
             | there is no way to claim the item. They will repeat
             | delivery attempts daily, despite knowing that the
             | building is closed until 2017-03-27.
             |
             | They tell me this is in the interest of efficiency.
 ------------+------------------------------------------------------

At this point, it is clear that item B, which was shipped from Japan
and was stuck in packaging limbo for 8 days, has at least even odds
of arriving first, even before items shipped from two states over.

That sort of deserves an endorsement, so if you're looking for
fine-tipped ballpoint pens, may I suggest the F/S MUJI JAPAN Neutral
gel ink hexagonal ballpoint pen 0.25 Black[0] from
japan-beauty-of-quality[1] ?

[0] http://www.ebay.com/itm/F-S-MUJI-JAPAN-Neutral-gel-ink-hexagonal-ballpoint-pen-0-25-Black-x-5-/262529322233
[1] http://www.ebay.com/usr/japan-beauty-of-quality

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