WWTBAM Bored

Recognizing that the US Post Office is overcrowded, overworked and overwhelmed during the week before Christmas, it took the elves of Idaho to finish the job of delivering some Christmas presents to Fireman Adventure.

I had sent most of the Idaho presents via UPS, but the last minute need for an exchange plus one small present that didn't fit into the UPS box required a second small parcel sent by Priority Second-Day Air. I was "guaranteed" delivery by Dec. 22. In fact, according to the USPS tracking site, the box reached its destination -- Meridian, ID -- on Dec. 21. That morning, the tracking showed that it was loaded on a truck for delivery. No confirmation of delivery followed, however, and on the 23rd, the box turned up back in Boise. The Boise postal people sent it back to Meridian on the 24th. Late in the day, somebody made an effort to deliver it before Christmas, and reported that it was left on "the front doorstep." The Adventure Family did not find it on their own doorstep.

The package had been left on a doorstep a neighborhood or two away. The woman to whom that doorstep belonged (Elf One) put a notice in the local Craig's List to try to get the parcel where it belonged. A man (Elf Two) recognized my son's name, not that it's all that rare a name, and called him to see if he thought it might be intended for him. Elf Two then called Elf One to vouch for the prospective intended recipient, after which said son called the woman and arranged to meet her in a public place. Bless her heart, she demanded to see his driver's license to make sure the name and photo matched, before she handed it over.

So, Christmas presents finally reached their destination today, Dec. 26, thanks to the elves of Idaho. Thanks, sort of, post office. Thanks truly and completely, elves, for going to the trouble and effort of finishing the job!

Elves kick ass.

On the 24th the USPS delivered a package to my front door that was addressed to the same woman whom Pizza Hut tried to deliver pizzas twice. In looking at the address, I discovered that her address was 1234 E Deer Hollow Loop while mine is 1234 E Deer Shadow Lane. That's the street below my backyard. Some idiot assigned the same address numbers to both streets. I dropped it off at her front door.

My younger granddaughter now works for UPS. They instructed their delivery people to run or briskly walk when delivering packages before Christmas to save on overtime. She now has bursitis in her right knee and can't work.

I got some gourmet cheese from Tillamook one year. The house numbers across the street are (making these up because I don't want to look them up) 100, 104, and 106. Naturally, my house must be 103. Wrong. I took it over to the correct recipients.

SportsFan68 wrote:I got some gourmet cheese from Tillamook one year. The house numbers across the street are (making these up because I don't want to look them up) 100, 104, and 106. Naturally, my house must be 103. Wrong. I took it over to the correct recipients.

Then I'll add my thanks to the Elf of Durango, and all the rest of you prospective and actual elves in all the ZIP codes of North America. That includes BJ, the Elf of I'm Not Quite Sure About His Current Home in the Great Southwest.

I didn't believe in elves.

BackInTex wrote:I didn't believe in elves.

Boy, I do. I have been watching Mile High Elves win football games for decades.

Tmitsss's friend Tami has a son in the a Navy stationed in the California desert and a sister on the Big Island. So she took her packages to a mail service to ascertain the postage. Sadly the mail service did not hire elves, so the counter person switched the labels. Turns out the Navy Son and the Hawaiiian Rancher sister have differing tastes so that part of Christmas will be delayed.

So glad he got everything AgCar.

Now if the lost squirrel quilt was ever found LB could send it to Sprots.

BackInTex wrote:I didn't believe in elves.

Go to Graceland and you'll believe in Elves.

Bob Juch wrote:My younger granddaughter now works for UPS. They instructed their delivery people to run or briskly walk when delivering packages before Christmas to save on overtime. She now has bursitis in her right knee and can't work.

UPS has always been known to be pretty rough on their drivers to keep delivery times down (re: reduce labor costs).

There was a story about 30 years ago that the running joke among the drivers was that you had to get back to the truck before the shoulder harness stopped swinging; in order to improve delivery times, they shortened the belt so it didn't swing as long.

I'm sure that isn't unique among delivery folks -- I've heard some stories out of a local Amazon Fulfillment Center that opened up locally last year -- but they do seem to have the reputation for being the harshest.