Do you use Mail Boxes, Etc.?
I’ve oftened wondered what the “Etc.” part is all about. I think it’s “we’re gonna rip you off”. Okay, I know they’re out there to make money, but you’d think when they’re scalping you this badly they’d at least have the courtesy to avert their eyes while they’re doing it.
I mailed a tiny paperback script and ten pieces of standard 8.5″ x 11″ paper to Pick Up Ax’s publicist, and they charged me almost four dollars in postage! No, it wasn’t next day air, UPS, or to be delivered on a silver platter. It was just plain old U.S. Mail. I’ve mailed this exact thing out before with a buck fifty in postage and it got there just fine.
The worst is Christmas. I wanted to send a teeny little next-day air package to my cousins in New Hampsire this past December and they quoted me a charge of $45 and then told me that the best they could do was second-day air, and that it wouldn’t actually get there until four days later anyway because of the intervening Sunday.
So, back to my sob story today. Not only was it expensive, but it’s going to be two days late. I called them to ask when the last mail pick up was and they said 5:45 pm. I show up at 5:30 and I’m told with great confidence my mail will go out on Monday. I ask again when the last mail pick up is, and now the company line is an official sounding “five p.m., sir”.
Maybe it’s it’s all those X-Files episodes I’ve seen, but I’m starting to believe in conspiracies.