A Tale of Two Packages

Just a disclaimer before I start...the following is not all that serious.  It's about sales orders and shipments.  It's about an annoyance.  It's NOT end of the world problem status and certainly there is a lot more stress in my life and problems that are ten times, bigger...but in the spirit of being able to publicly whine.  (I don't think this post is too whiny...but if you do, let me know and by all means don't finish reading.)  And now I give you a tale of two packages:

Package 1:  Back on September 26th, I ordered 6 items from a small on line store.  Actually I didn't know the vendor that well and I WILL admit that I was drawn in by social media advertising. The company offered some cute items; one of which I thought would be a PERFECT gift for a friend.  Although we are not close friends, this item jumped out at me and screamed her name!  All of the items this vendor offered were inexpensive and I thought:  What the heck.  I placed my order (which was under $40 even with shipping costs...which I think we all will agree can be outrageous).

After I placed my order, I got a confirmation email which said that my items would be shipped standard. Delivery would be 2-3 weeks.  I also got another email which said:  "We're working hard to get your order processed! Expect your order(s) to ship within the next 1 - 3 weeks. Delivered straight from our Florida fulfillment center! It's our mission to deliver orders as quickly as possible while upholding our custom-made, high quality product standards! We will be sending your tracking number and updating you every step of the way."  Nice touch...

Let's jump ahead to yesterday...that would have been October 17th.  Three weeks since I placed my order and haven't heard a peep.  Have I been swindled?  Probably not.  But I am annoyed, so I sent an email asking about it.  I got a generic email back with a promise for a response in 72 hours.  (Which seems a little long to me, but...)  I DID get an answer within 24 hours which said:  "We are currently waiting for a shipment of the XXX to be received by our Florida Fulfillment center from our Pennsylvania Warehouse. As soon it arrives we will add it to your package and ship it right away! We hope to have it by next week!" (Note I took out the item name as I still want to surprise my friend and who knows...she might read this!)  So right now I'm HOPING that I MIGHT get this BEFORE Halloween.  My plan had been to have it prior to this weekend, when I will be seeing this friend, but that is not to be.  Again, this is not a major problem and this company IS small, but...

Package 2:  Ordered several items from a large company that charges for shipping. BUT, if you purchase X amount, shipping is free.  Obviously, this encourages me to purchase more so that I get free shipping.  Yes, I am gullible enough to do this.  (And I have done it more than once.)  Order was placed on 10/8.  On the 14th I got notification that my order had shipped.  The package is going MOST of the way via UPS, but then will be delivered by the USPS.  (You KNOW how I feel about the postal service...I'm STILL waiting for my October O Magazine and Oprah has already been tweeting about the NOVEMBER issue!  UGH!)

Today is the 18th.  My order has shipped.  Let's take a look at the process, shall we?

Should I mention that my town is in between Secaucus and Parsippany?  That I can see Secaucus from my office window?  (I don't know if that's a good thing to admit or not.)  And that this package is SUPPOSED to be delivered by EoD tomorrow...even though Parsippany is less than 10 miles away from my home.

I KNOW what will happen next (and I wish I could be wrong), the package will leave Parsippany and go to the MONTCLAIR post office.  (Passing THROUGH my town on the way there).  From Montclair it will come back to my town and MIGHT be delivered tomorrow.  Most likely it won't and I will get some silly message saying that there was no delivery access or something like that.  (Or maybe it will be more creative than that:  https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/please-mr-postman.html)  Or MAYBE, just MAYBE I WILL actually get the package tomorrow.  It's not likely, but crazier things have happened.  (Like I actually got circulars in the mail yesterday...it was the first time in a MONTH!)  Who knows?  The moon ISN'T full...maybe average things could actually happen!