It is now January 9 of the year 2006 and I am disgruntled.
On December 31
st of
last year I ordered stamps online from the United States Post Office.
Knowing of the impending rate increase, to take place on January 8
th (
yesterday), I decided to order early…$.02, $.04 and $.05 stamps because I still have so many of the $.37 stamps on hand.
I make my own cards so I like to use interesting stamps on the envelopes when possible and I have accrued quite a healthy stock of postage stamps.
It is now January 9 of the year 2006. Have I mentioned that already? Well… I have not received those stamps yet! On principle, it killed me to pay an extra dollar for delivery charges to have those stamps sent to my house but the weather has been “iffy” and my arthritis has been grumbling quite a bit so I figured I’d “bite the bullet” this time around and not go out. Besides, gasoline is certainly not cheap and by the time you add up the gasoline cost plus wear and tear on the car, I’d probably rack up $1.00 in cost to get the stamps anyway.
It is now January 9, 2006. I ordered enough of those small increment stamps to run up a tab of $7.70, which represents quite a few stamps when you consider that they’re only a few cents each. The order was to be delivered “Priority Mail.” I guess I’m not much of a priority to the U. S. Post Office since nine days have elapsed already and I have not seen “hide nor hare” of the stamps I ordered.
Since it is January 9, 2006 and nine days ago I ordered lots and lots of stamps and I have not seen these stamps yet, I am feeling quite “irked” at the U.S. Post Office right now. Let me say that I buy and use quite a few stamps over the course of a year since I send out a lot of cards and mail. The post office makes more than a few shekels on me each year because I am a creative person and I like to share my creativity with others and make their lives just a tad more fun and interesting.
On January 9, 2006…today, I am being prevented from sharing the creative fruits of my labors. Oh, okay, I have some $.01 stamps still on hand since I often have to tack on extra stamps to cover the cost of hand stamping some “lumpy” or particularly fragile envelopes but these one cent’ers will not last long at this rate. The envelopes are not as attractive with zillions of extra unmatching stamps either. Humbug!
So…on the 9th day of January, 2006, 9 days after I ordered a few hundred stamps to be delivered by Priority Mail, I am still WAITING!!! This is Priority (!) Mail? I doubt it. The U.S. Post Office is a monopoly and I think they’re being pretty darn cocky about it. Gone is the “credo” of the early U.S. Post Office about neither sleet nor snow nor rain nor hale not preventing delivery of mail. Gone is the ethic about preparedness and responsibility. Aw shucks, I’m downright sore about this!
Nine days into January of the new year of 2006 I am still waiting to become a Priority of the United States Post Office. Okay, I admit…I did buy a roll of one hundred of the new $.39 stamps back before Christmas and put them away for future use…but…I still have a couple hundred different $.37 stamps that I would like to use up first! More practical! Prettier! Doggonit, I planned ahead. I exercised responsibilty. I spent money! Where is my product? If other businesses operated this way we wouldn’t tolerate it and they’d go “out” of business pretty quickly. I wouldn’t shop there and neither would you.
On January 9, 2006 I sit here and contemplate my role in the furtherance of the U.S. Post Office’s future. Dang, I hate feeling so impotent! I keep getting little cards from them urging me to order online and not have to stand in line and encounter the sometimes very rude people behind their counters (only some, most are courteous, and besides they didn’t say that about the rude people, I just added that in because it sometimes happens and it always makes me feel crappy). They mention convenience in these little notes. Convenience!! For whom?! Certainly it hasn’t been too convenient for me and I paid an extra buck for this inconvenience! I’m beginning to wonder if anyone receives any of the stuff I send. I do know that the mailman(woman, whatever…) comes later and later these days.
Oh well, here it is January 9, 2006 and I resolved not to complain so much this year. I was happy to put last year behind me and sally forth into a brighter future. Last year at this time Older Sonny was still in the hospital and we hadn’t even celebrated our Christmas, let alone ushering in a new year in celebration. There wasn’t anything to celebrate and the year continued on a downhill spiral bereft of hope. I had a hard time posting because I felt so awful and in fact, this is my first post since November 8th, which many of you have reminded me often. I just couldn’t subject you to my gloom. I am trying to look ahead to better days now and I resolve to work on my optimism a little more. Now don’t you think that the United States Post Office ought to help out a bit on that? Say yes and I’ll send you a card…
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