Sometimes shipping early just isn’t enough
The oddest shipping experience I had involved a Daffy Duck tie a lady named Julia bought for her brother’s birthday.
As usual I packed it carefully in a box and printed up an official USPS label with the package id, upc code, etc.. The postman picked it up, and it was on it’s way from San Diego to Carmel California. It’s a 450 mile trip, within the same state. I sent the tracking number to Julia and fully expected to hear in a couple of days that the tie had arrived as expected. Guess again.
A week later I get an email from Julia. The tie has not arrived. I double checked the tracking, and there it was, sitting in Missouri! Now it’s been a long time since I sat in a geography class, but I had a hard time understanding that one…San Diego California to Carmel California, via Missouri.
Hmmmm.
I usually only have one of the items I sell. I specialize in collectibles, hard to find items and replacement china. It’s not as if I could say, oh, here, let me send you another one.
Fortunately Julia was very nice about the whole thing. We had several emails go back and forth and even chatted about our long ago days in Girl Scouts – that must have come up because it was the cookie time of year. I volunteer every year as the Service Unit coordinator and undoubtedly had cookies on the brain.
After a bit of prodding the package did finally get loose from Missouri and began to wend it’s way across the country. It arrived, safely, on March 9, a full 4 weeks after it had been mailed.
Julia’s brother loved his gift. She said “He’ll wear it while delivering his Powerpoint presentations. He says he’s deth-pic-able.”
If we had not been able to pry the package loose from that black hole in Missouri I would have of course refunded Julia every cent, but that would have been so unfortunate. Where else could she have found a tie like that that was no longer available in any store?
We do our best at A Night Owl’s Treasures to make sure your packages arrive safely and in a timely manner. We go through an astonishing amount of boxes, bubble wrap and packing peanuts. When you sell items that are no longer available in any store, anywhere, you have to be so careful when you pack and ship, because those items cannot be replaced. Professional packaging and labeling will get your items to you safely, and we sincerely hope, quickly
About the Author: Elizabeth is an internet retailer with 9 years of experience. She likes her life and business organized and color-coded. She is almost constantly at her keyboard, except when she finds some time for her organic garden, the occasional cross-stitch project, and her volunteer work with Girl Scouts and Soroptimists. She is the organizer of a Procrastinating Crafters Meet-up group and is chairing the committee for the Mission Bay High School class of 1979 class reunion. She lives in San Diego with her husband and children and is the President of A Night Owl’s Treasure’s, inc.
