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