Going postal
Sep. 17th, 2011 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stephbgOne of the benefits of buying many small things on ebay is the constant stream of small interesting parcels coming to my door.
Some come through regular post, and others by courier, so sometimes I get two deliveries of one or more parcels in a day. One day I had a Fedex courier come as well. Husband has also recently bought some *seriously* obscure old videos, and I've been buying some house things as well so between us it's Christmas every day. I wonder what the neighbours think - there's been a dramatic change in traffic patterns around here lately.
I'm aware that buying most of these rocks overseas does mean that my carbon (and silicon etc) purchases have a seriously big carbon footprint to go with them, but in the interests of the environment I try to combine postage on multiple items from the same seller. I also tried really hard to source my pretty rocks from as close to home as possible, but they're either (a) not available, (b) cleverly hidden on ebay so I can't find them even though I try, or (c) INSANELY more expensive than buying them direct from India, China, Peru, Russia, USA etc.
I've only had trouble with one delivery so far. After four weeks the US Postal Service (USPS) tracking info said that the package had been registered, but not yet posted. Naturally the package waited until I had politely enquired of the seller if he had in fact posted it, and then it arrived promptly the next day. The USPS still thinks it hasn't left Canada. For every tracking number I get I sign up for email updates but never get a single one. I have yet to see tracking info go further than the state capital i.e. two steps. Anyone else had experiences like that with the USPS?
The most interesting postal story has come via Peru. I got some bonus items on this package: a whole bunch of real stamps, headed for my niece; evidence of an interesting trip here via Nicaragua; and the complete identity--including photo and fingerprint--of the dealer who sent it to me. Yep, if you want to send something out of Peru, it looks like you have to provide a photocopy of the front and back of your identity card to do it. Hi Raul, how's it hanging? Happy birthday for October, and one day I'd love to hear how you got that scar. All this information is now, somewhat disturbingly, mine.
I haven't yet done a Pretty Rock of the Day post for this item, but not only is it pretty, it's also toxic! Realgar and orpiment were used as bright red, yellow and orange pigments back in the days when no-one had much of a lifespan. I should probably have found that out before I handled it. How toxic is toxic? *shrug* But it's all natural! It can't possibly be harmful! Nothing artificial!
So far I've only had one item opened by Australian quarantine, and they did a fine job of wrapping it up again. There's a risk of soil contamination from mineral samples so it came as no surprise. One package from China got opened on its way out of China, looking for what I don't know. Black market antiquities? Drugs? Industrial secrets? They too did a good job of repackaging.
And as an extra extra bonus? Rock dealers seem to like sweetening the deal (and their sometimes desperate pleas for positive feedback on ebay) with extra rocks, so I have EVEN MOAR!
Some come through regular post, and others by courier, so sometimes I get two deliveries of one or more parcels in a day. One day I had a Fedex courier come as well. Husband has also recently bought some *seriously* obscure old videos, and I've been buying some house things as well so between us it's Christmas every day. I wonder what the neighbours think - there's been a dramatic change in traffic patterns around here lately.
I'm aware that buying most of these rocks overseas does mean that my carbon (and silicon etc) purchases have a seriously big carbon footprint to go with them, but in the interests of the environment I try to combine postage on multiple items from the same seller. I also tried really hard to source my pretty rocks from as close to home as possible, but they're either (a) not available, (b) cleverly hidden on ebay so I can't find them even though I try, or (c) INSANELY more expensive than buying them direct from India, China, Peru, Russia, USA etc.
I've only had trouble with one delivery so far. After four weeks the US Postal Service (USPS) tracking info said that the package had been registered, but not yet posted. Naturally the package waited until I had politely enquired of the seller if he had in fact posted it, and then it arrived promptly the next day. The USPS still thinks it hasn't left Canada. For every tracking number I get I sign up for email updates but never get a single one. I have yet to see tracking info go further than the state capital i.e. two steps. Anyone else had experiences like that with the USPS?
The most interesting postal story has come via Peru. I got some bonus items on this package: a whole bunch of real stamps, headed for my niece; evidence of an interesting trip here via Nicaragua; and the complete identity--including photo and fingerprint--of the dealer who sent it to me. Yep, if you want to send something out of Peru, it looks like you have to provide a photocopy of the front and back of your identity card to do it. Hi Raul, how's it hanging? Happy birthday for October, and one day I'd love to hear how you got that scar. All this information is now, somewhat disturbingly, mine.
I haven't yet done a Pretty Rock of the Day post for this item, but not only is it pretty, it's also toxic! Realgar and orpiment were used as bright red, yellow and orange pigments back in the days when no-one had much of a lifespan. I should probably have found that out before I handled it. How toxic is toxic? *shrug* But it's all natural! It can't possibly be harmful! Nothing artificial!
So far I've only had one item opened by Australian quarantine, and they did a fine job of wrapping it up again. There's a risk of soil contamination from mineral samples so it came as no surprise. One package from China got opened on its way out of China, looking for what I don't know. Black market antiquities? Drugs? Industrial secrets? They too did a good job of repackaging.
And as an extra extra bonus? Rock dealers seem to like sweetening the deal (and their sometimes desperate pleas for positive feedback on ebay) with extra rocks, so I have EVEN MOAR!
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Date: 2011-09-19 02:57 pm (UTC)http://shop.tcm.com/vault/?shopref=Navigation%3AVault+Collection
Sometimes films are not available because they just haven't been released by the studios, so sometimes relatively big-at-the-time movies can't be found.
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