posted on October 18, 2003 08:57:08 PM new
I guess anyone who sells on Ebay will spend a good amount of time standing in line at the Post Office, FedEx or UPS. It provides a great opportunity to observe other shippers and the items they want to ship. I'm just wondering what are some of the weirdest things some of you have seen while in the stand in line, wait, observe mode? Yesterday at FedEx, I saw a guy drop off 4 crates of live crickets. They were about 12X12X6 with screen windows. The crickets were having a ball waiting for their first airplane trip.
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
posted on October 18, 2003 10:50:36 PM new
I saw an obvious ebay seller trying to ship a very large but thin package and was told it was too large to ship overseas via the post office. He was told to try FedEx but he said he tried there and it was super expensive. He had apparently quote a price and accepted the money and was stuck with the huge package. Part of the international shipping training curve.
-------------- sig file ----------- *There is no conclusive evidence that life is serious*
posted on October 19, 2003 01:11:35 AM new
You see all kinds of things mailed from the post offices in Anchorage, Alaska. Mostly items being mailed out to the very remote rural-bush areas of Alaska. I've seen the costco packages of toilet paper, tubs of laundry detergent, tires, kids sleds, big bags of dog food, duct taped plastic garbage cans with who know's what in them...Nearly an everyday occurance.
posted on October 19, 2003 03:42:34 AM new
One of the window clerks at my PO also has a game bird farm. She regularly ships live eggs or peeps through the USPS. She goes to the main distribution center and stands in line like everyone else. But she's there as soon as they open. We've had some good converstaions about shipping fragile stuff.
[ edited by jensmome on Oct 19, 2003 03:43 AM ]
posted on October 19, 2003 06:59:41 AM new
Last week the clerk went through the "dangerous, fragile, spillable" routine, and I said "just chunks of wood" This man, who is ex-military, with greying hair- and can be very abrupt at times- suddenly paused. "what do you sell?" he asked. Are you a woodcarver?" I said yes, and that these are "magic wands" . His face lit up. He asked if he could come and see my work, he was looking for a gift for his wife. I gave him my phone number and my website URL, and last night he purchased off my website, and emailed me to ask if he could come and pick it up!
I have never seen any especially *unusual* items in the post office, but I often draw people into conversation while we are waiting in line. I've met artists and ebayers who live in my neighborhood, that way. It passes the time.
"And All Shall be Well, and All Shall be Well, and All Manner of Things Shall be Well"
