Thursday, March 09, 2006

Problems with the USPS

I mentioned in my last post that I've been selling stuff on Amazon.com. So far, it's been a pretty pleasant experience, with one minor exception. I got a somewhat curt email from one of my buyers the other day. He was wondering if I'd shipped his book. So, I did a quick search in my records. He ordered the book on February 21st, and I sent it to him via first class mail the very next day along with some other packages from our local post office. I know that at least one of the other packages made it to its destination, since the second buyer already posted some positive feedback. But it's now March 9th, and the original buyer still hasn't gotten his package.

I asked the local postmaster if I should assume that the package has been lost in the mail? "Well, it's not considered lost until 30 days have passed." Hmm...okay. Personally, I think that 30 days is an awfully long time to wait for a package to arrive. What are the odds that somebody's going to find it and deliver it, now that 12 business days have passed? Anyway, if the buyer doesn't get it by tomorrow, I'm going to give him a refund. Oh well. That's what I get for not paying the extra 50 cents to track the package.

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