Common Sense: The Lost Art

Since leaving the city, it has been my utmost pleasure to become knowledgeable about rural postal service.

There is none.

When we moved to the country, we were informed that our local post office did not deliver to people's homes. If you wanted to receive mail, you were required to get a post office box. Most of us did not have to pay for the boxes since having it delivered to our homes was not an option.

You can imagine the joys of trying to receive merchandise ordered online from companies whose customer information request clearly states NO PO BOXES in the shipping address line.

I recently ordered some shirts for the Bear and chose to have them shipped to my employer's physical address via UPS. You'd think since the UPS guy has been in the office delivering other stuff, choosing UPS was a safe choice and I wouldn't run the risk of having my purchases returned.

You'd also think, with their current financial woes, that postal workers would put a little extra effort in pleasing the customers that actually still use the post office for their delivery needs instead of using the internet to pay all their bills and correspond with loved ones.

You'd think.

Apparently, nobody is too concerned with customer service these days.

My UPS package (with the physical delivery address on it) was delivered to the post office (which requires a PO Box number on it) where I had to track it down myself before it was sent back (for not having a PO Box number on it) and where I was told to use a PO Box number for my shipping address (which requires a physical delivery address).

Gas is starting to sound cheaper than a migraine at this point.