Amazon Shipping Adventures...

[Portreve]

With apologies to Charles Dickens:

His property NEVER had a mailbox: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his address upon a post office box was signed by the post office clerk. Portreve signed it: and Portreve’s name was good upon ’Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. No mailbox ever stood there.

There is no doubt that my property has never had a mailbox upon it. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.

I sold the apartment I used to live in and used the money from that to build the house I now live in. For a year, I lived elsewhere, and since I didn't really want my identity associated with that house, I got a post office box. I then decided to keep it afterward, and have done so ever since. Part of the reason is this:

In the United States, "junk mail" (which is also called "3rd rate" because of the bulk nature and slower delivery time) is normally computed and addressed to, in essence, postal patron at blah blah blah. And when you don't have a mailbox, you will therefore not get any of that junk mail. This simple statement leads me to the main point of this post, but more on that anon.

I've taken to drinking tea lately; it's quite a bit easier on my system, particularly for the "later" part associated with consuming any liquid. A lot of tea. One of my favorites is Yorkshire Gold. Another is Twinnings' English Breakfast. Amazon is a wonderful place to shop for large quantities of tea; I typically buy 160-bag (or at least 100-bag for the English Breakfast) boxes, and they last a while, but not indefinitely to be sure. Well, I was running out of the Yorkshire Gold (I have four bags left) so I ordered one.

Separately, I now work from home for a call center operation. I don't care for the headset they supplied, so I bought a more comfortable one. However, it gives me some compatibility issues with the Avaya phone software, so I had to quit using it. However, the other day I looked at the little booklet and discovered you can also connect it via one of the cables it came with and use it as a wired headset. I tried this and it works; however, the cable isn't remotely long enough.

So, when I went to place the order for tea, I started looking around for USB-C > USB-C extension cables, and I found one: 6.6 feet (roughly 2m for my non-US friends). Both items showed up as eligible for Amazon Prime shipping; however, I know from past experience that that does not always mean it will come on an Amazon truck. So what? Well...

Let us come back to the point of this post: I use a post office box as my mailing address, and I don't have a mailbox on my property. What most people don't know is this: the United States Postal Service does NOT deliver to physical addresses. Let me repeat that: USPS does not deliver to physical addresses. Rather, they deliver to a MAILBOX at a physical address. All the other carriers out there, on the other hand, do NOT deliver to a mailbox. They deliver only to physical addresses.

In the United States, Federal Express (now FedEx) and UPS (and perhaps other carriers) will job out certain deliveries to the postal service. This can also happen with Amazon, but will mostly happen with independent sellers who don't ship with Amazon's delivery service. Now, remember what I said above: carriers don't deliver to mailboxes but physical addresses, and the Post Office doesn't deliver to physical addresses but rather mailboxes at physical addresses. And because 99.99999% of Americans who have a physical address also have a mailbox of some sort on that property, they will never notice the distinction. However, for myself, when I order from someone who ships via USPS, or if I order from someone who uses FedEx or UPS and that particular delivery is going to get jobbed out to USPS, I have to find an alternate address to use; otherwise, my order will get returned as "undeliverable".

Now, the way I can test this with Amazon (and they're the only "shipping entity" I am aware of where one can do this sort of "checking") is if you can have the package delivered to an Amazon drop box (unless it's massive, but then it wouldn't get shipped via the post office anyhow) then that means Amazon is physically doing the delivery. And if it cannot be shipped to an Amazon drop box, then Amazon is not delivering it.

So, last night when I placed my order, I tested both items to see, and yes, I can send them to an Amazon drop box, which means I can safely have them delivered directly to my home.

HOWEVER... fate intervened. Let me explain:

After placing the order for the tea and the USB extension cable, I happened to discover someone else was selling a 10' (~9m) version. So, I went in and cancelled the original cable (I only ordered it like 5 minutes before) and then ordered the 10' version. However, in verifying how it would ship (see above if you're that brave) I didn't realize but I'd left the shipping location set to a drop box (which happens to be at a mall in the town next to mine). This means I won't get the cable until tomorrow (I'm already happily holding my box-o-tea.)

Is all of this story proof that this arrangement is a MAJOR pain in the ass? Oh, you bet'cha.

To make matters worse, the annual cost of having a post office box has skyrocketed. Now, part of why I have left things as they are is I share my house with my mom, and so both of us have the same mailing address. However, a couple weeks ago I had to drop a little over $80 (€78-ish) for SIX MONTHS. It used to be $60 for the WHOLE YEAR.

Needless to say, I'm going to put up a g███████d mailbox post and box between now and the end of the year. Of course, it's not instant. You have to put the box up, then inform USPS and submit a form. THEN, once you start getting mail there (for example, sending yourself something at that address, or getting junk mail) you can start putting through changes-of-address. That's going to be a PITA, but heck... what am I throwing $160 (€156-ish) away every year for, when by this point it is what it is and frankly most BS comes in through email anyhow and I've already dealt with that.


And there you have it. Cheers!

[Portreve]

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I read all of your post and have had similar experiences.

I use a UPS mail box at a UPS Store for my shipping and mailing address. Like the USPOS Boxes, it's expensive but far safer than having mail and packages delivered to my home where they can miraculously grow legs and stray. The address is the street address of a strip mall with the suite number of the UPS store added and the box number added to the suite number, like this: 123 main street, suite 456-789. Both the USPOS and common carriers will deliver to that address.

To save shipping costs, many common carriers, such as Oops...er...UPS and FedUp...er...FedEx have a lower cost service that uses their trucks to deliver a package to the destination city, then hand the package off to the USPS for what is called "last mile delivery". In a way, it does make good sense, (most of the time) since USPOS delivery vehicles go to or drive by every address daily whereas common carriers have to make a special trip to each destination which are scattered around. These services were intended to be for residential deliveries only, not to businesses, but many vendors cheap out and use these services even to addresses that should not be delivered to this way.

What really burns my ample asset are cheapskate vendors who use one of these services to deliver packages to me, especially when they use one like UPS Mail Innovations (I have more accurate names for it but Mama told me not to use those words). It's completely stupid to use UPS to deliver a package to the USPOS so the USPOS can then deliver it to a UPS store that already gets scheduled deliveries and pickups twice a day every day. I even put UPS Store in the field for business name when is available and, when not, I add c/o UPS Store after my name but the cheap bozos either are too cheap to use the correct service, are using inferior software to choose the correct service, or are just too stupid.

I occasionally receive packages that are shipped by Amazon that use UPS (not the handoff service) instead of Amazon's delivery service.

Something else that burns my ample asset (other than a three foot tall flame) is I would be allowed to use a USPOS mail box for my home address on my driver's license but I'm no longer allowed to use the UPS address, undoubtedly due to the USPOS lobby unduly influencing the State Legislature. Now, every time I have to show ID when out of town, say at a motel, that is an announcement that my home address is probably currently unoccupied, ripe for a burglary.

[MurphCID]

I loathe junk mail, so I have started taking a sharpie and writing "REFUSED" on it, and they have to send it back to the person who sent it. I understand the mailbox thing. Also you get the "You have been pre-approved..." credit card offers in the mailbox, well methheads love those, they get them, change the address and then run up the card under YOUR NAME! IF I could just have a PO box, I would.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I loathe junk mail, so I have started taking a sharpie and writing "REFUSED" on it, and they have to send it back to the person who sent it. I understand the mailbox thing. Also you get the "You have been pre-approved..." credit card offers in the mailbox, well methheads love those, they get them, change the address and then run up the card under YOUR NAME! IF I could just have a PO box, I would.

I don't get junk mail at my private mail box (and go after vendors that automatically send paper catalogs to me after making a purchase online from their online catalog with a vengeance). I do get the weekly ad flyers in my home snail mail box, which I keep for masking when painting, shipping dunnage, etc. I rarely get credit card offers anymore. In fact, I can't remember when I got the last one.

There is no way I would ever use a USPOS P.O. box.

[BenTrabetere]

What most people don't know is this: the United States Postal Service does NOT deliver to physical addresses. Let me repeat that: USPS does not deliver to physical addresses. Rather, they deliver to a MAILBOX at a physical address.

Once upon a distant lifetime ago I had a customer who had TWO physical addresses. His property straddled a county line. The USPS assigned him in the county where his driveway was located. Ahhh, the simplicity of country living.

He got a second physical address when the city expanded the city limits ... up to the county line. His driveway was in the other county. Common carriers used his "city" address, and new drivers could not find him because that address was not in the database on account of his mailbox was not in the city. Also, any mail, like bills, sent to his city address was bounced at the sorting center because that address was not in the USPS database. And the hard-headed sonof :cough: cheap bast :ahem: fine 87-year old gentleman refused to get two mailboxes....

Eventually he sold the property. The new owners solved the problem by moving entrance to the driveway so it was inside the city limits. A year later the city expanded the city limits....

[cliffcoggin]

On the matter of junk mail: years ago when enormous amounts of junk mail were delivered with stamped and addressed return envelopes, I used to delight in shoving one liar's advertisement into another liar's return envelope, thus wasting more of their time and money than they did of mine. Such simple pleasures are denied me since the liars changed to email, which of course I never see.

[smawgmaw]

On the matter of junk mail: years ago when enormous amounts of junk mail were delivered with stamped and addressed return envelopes, I used to delight in shoving one liar's advertisement into another liar's return envelope, thus wasting more of their time and money than they did of mine. Such simple pleasures are denied me since the liars changed to email, which of course I never see.

I like that idea! I think I will start using that on the next junk mail I recieve!

[Portreve]

So, the latest chapter in my developing saga:

My USB-C > USB-C extension cable was supposed to be delivered yesterday (Thursday), and it was supposed to be delivered to the Amazon box at a local mall. And incidentally, I've had things shipped there before (deliberately, not accidentally like this time) and I've not had issues. But this time...

So, evidently they tried to make the delivery just after 9:00 (21.00 for my fine European friends) but the mall closes at 7.

Now, I don't know what they did, but Amazon tells me (at the same time) that my package was delivered, and that it hasn't been delivered yet but will be and is just running late. Moreover, when you get a package delivered to their locker, you will also get a code to unlock the box it's been put in, and there's no code that's been issued. I called them today (this morning about 11:00) and they confirmed that it's still pending delivery and that if it had been delivered, there would definitely be a code posted.

Now, clearly someone at Amazon ██████ up. However, had I picked my own home instead of the box, I'd already have it, and I only picked the box by mistake because Amazon's ██████ mobile UI made me think I'd successfully switched it to my home address when in fact I hadn't. So, one-over-three my fault and two-over-three¹ Amazon's fault.

---

¹ Several years ago I worked for Walmart, and a high-school aged-looking but maybe 1st year college student came in looking for a an air filter for his parents' house which was, and I quote, “Twenty and three-over-four by twenty and three-over-four”.

[MurphCID]

On the matter of junk mail: years ago when enormous amounts of junk mail were delivered with stamped and addressed return envelopes, I used to delight in shoving one liar's advertisement into another liar's return envelope, thus wasting more of their time and money than they did of mine. Such simple pleasures are denied me since the liars changed to email, which of course I never see.

THAT IS BRILLIANT!

[Portreve]

Hey folks...

So, I have some updates which will pivot this thread away to something I'm certain we're all much more interested in than the travails of my shipping life.

I never did get the cable. They couldn't deliver it and it appeared to essentially get lost in the Amazon delivery system. As a consequence, they refunded my money. And this is just as well because...

So, a couple months back, right after I switched jobs to my present one, I bought the JLabs Go Work Wireless Headset. When you connect this headset to the computer, it presents a couple different profiles which you can pick from: JLab GO Work Stereo and JLab GO Work Hands-Free. The stereo one works great, and for the most part is the one you want to always use. However, it turns out that the Avaya Agent client doesn't like it, and only intermittently connects to it. But, it likes the Hands-Free (and also Hands-Free AG for the mic) and works with that perfectly. So now, I don't need a cable at all.

Let this be a lesson to anyone using a software phone: your headset may potentially have different profiles you can pick from, and one may be more compatible than another.

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[MurphCID]

Hey folks...

So, I have some updates which will pivot this thread away to something I'm certain we're all much more interested in than the travails of my shipping life.

I never did get the cable. They couldn't deliver it and it appeared to essentially get lost in the Amazon delivery system. As a consequence, they refunded my money. And this is just as well because...

So, a couple months back, right after I switched jobs to my present one, I bought the JLabs Go Work Wireless Headset. When you connect this headset to the computer, it presents a couple different profiles which you can pick from: JLab GO Work Stereo and JLab GO Work Hands-Free. The stereo one works great, and for the most part is the one you want to always use. However, it turns out that the Avaya Agent client doesn't like it, and only intermittently connects to it. But, it likes the Hands-Free (and also Hands-Free AG for the mic) and works with that perfectly. So now, I don't need a cable at all.

Let this be a lesson to anyone using a software phone: your headset may potentially have different profiles you can pick from, and one may be more compatible than another.

...

Well at least it works well. That is a good thing....

[cliffcoggin]

I never did get the cable. They couldn't deliver it and it appeared to essentially get lost in the Amazon delivery system. As a consequence, they refunded my money. And this is just as well because...

Glad to hear you got a refund. I was surprised how readily Amazon refunded my money after the non delivery of a purchase. It took some searching on the Amazon site to find how to make a claim, but once found it was straightforward. No questions were asked and no evidence requested.

PS. If you are really interested in tea throw away the tea bags, then buy some loose tea and a pot. Tea should taste of tea, not boiled paper. After all, you wouldn't make coffee with coffee bags, would you?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I never did get the cable. They couldn't deliver it and it appeared to essentially get lost in the Amazon delivery system. As a consequence, they refunded my money. And this is just as well because...

Glad to hear you got a refund. I was surprised how readily Amazon refunded my money after the non delivery of a purchase. It took some searching on the Amazon site to find how to make a claim, but once found it was straightforward. No questions were asked and no evidence requested.

PS. If you are really interested in tea throw away the tea bags, then buy some loose tea and a pot. Tea should taste of tea, not boiled paper. After all, you wouldn't make coffee with coffee bags, would you?

People do use coffee filters.

[thursty]

After all, you wouldn't make coffee with coffee bags, would you?

https://steepedcoffee.com/

[Portreve]

I have to be very very careful about my coffee drinking. Its natural diuretic effect can cause me bladder issues. That's why I mostly normally drink tea.

However, I do own a Bodum french press. Then again, I also own a dual unit that lets me brew a pot of coffee or use K-Cups.

[MurphCID]

I have to be very very careful about my coffee drinking. Its natural diuretic effect can cause me bladder issues. That's why I mostly normally drink tea.

However, I do own a Bodum french press. Then again, I also own a dual unit that lets me brew a pot of coffee or use K-Cups.

I brew my tea in a french press. Unless I am using bags.

[cliffcoggin]

Philistines! Get a teapot (glass, china, porcelain, or stainless steel), add dried tea leaves, add water just below boiling point, infuse for two minutes, then pour. The spent leaves can be composted, the excess tea can water the garden, and there is no paper or plastic to go in the rubbish bin. The only thing better is a cool but not chilled beer.

[Portreve]

Philistines! Get a teapot (glass, china, porcelain, or stainless steel), add dried tea leaves, add water just below boiling point, infuse for two minutes, then pour. The spent leaves can be composted, the excess tea can water the garden, and there is no paper or plastic to go in the rubbish bin. The only thing better is a cool but not chilled beer.

I've thought about that quite a bit, actually. I know I need to do that because it kind of sucks just constantly going through tea bag after tea bag and only getting one cup out of it. Plus, I don't care how nice and efficient my electric kettle is, it's gotta be adding to my electric bill to be using it several times a day for literally one cup at a time every time.

One advantage to my previous job is that it paid my mileage to be frequently up in or relatively near the Tampa area, and up there there are a number of good oriental markets which I remember selling tea pots. And now, I'm not paid to get behind the wheel at all. Grrrrr...

Well, I share my house with my mom (who turned 90 this year) and maybe we'll go up to Tampa (a couple hours from my house) to one of the places we really like to eat, do this for or near to my birthday, and while I'm up there I'll pick up a nice tea pot.

OTOH, cliffcoggin, if you have a tea pot suggestion (from, for example, Amazon) I might just go that way instead. Not that I'm not looking for an excuse to go up to Tampa.


Incidentally, if there's anyone here who lives in Florida, or might be traveling to Florida, and is looking for a really first-rate German-style restaurant, I can't recommend Mr. Dunderbak's on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. (yes, I know it ought to be Herr, but it's not my business). Amazing selection of beer (many brewed on-site or locally, many imported from across Europe) and the food is just out of this world.

[MurphCID]

I am shipping several packages from Amazon to my daughter at her Sorority House in Nacogdoches, and I will see how they do.