Postal Misadventures of Veteran Book-Orderers

Whether we're admirers of Tolkien or fans of Joanna Russ, Chronsfolk are, I imagine, veteran mail-order customers, since even the best bookstores won't have everything we want to get hold of.

I'm wondering if some readers have stories to tell about their postal misadventures. Here's my latest -- happened today:

Checking our mailbox this afternoon, I found a form requiring personal attendance at the post office downtown. A package had not been delivered, as potentially hazardous.

??!!

The package proved to be a hefty box of 24 issues of the Reader's Digest magazine from 1968 and 1969 that I'd ordered recently.

The postmistress was as consternated as I as regarding why the box had stirred the mail carrier's misgivings.

She also asked if this wasn't the magazine that used to feature photographs of naked people.

She was thinking of the National Geographic.

I should add that, in general, I admire the US Postal Service. Over more than 40 years of use, I've had very few funny or bad experiences.

I have a vicarious example.

My brother ordered a biography of Pyrrhus (for my birthday). His ferocious hound, a Japanese akita, welcomed the book by biting the packaging. Kudos to the packaging, though, as the teeth marks are relatively shallow and only in the back, which adds a certain character to it.

I'm still laughing about the idea of a Reader's Digest full of nekkid people.

Well, some books I've currently ordered are somewhere in the snow - "neither snow nor rain" my foot; the mail hasn't been delivered something like the last three out of five days - but I don't have anything like you to report. I received a philosophy book that was literally split in half (philosophical question: should it then be called philosophy books?), a horror anthology that was truly frightening to open as the old brittle paper had partly turned to powder and the spine no longer existed but for separate fragments. On the flipside of dust, I've also received a couple of books that were insufficiently protected from the rain (direct from Amazon) that got a bit damp, but I was able to flatten them out fairly well. I've had to "allow four to six weeks for delivery" akin to the old days from time to time and once a book disappeared altogether. Things of that nature. Most of this is via USPS but some is handled by other carriers through part or all of its journey and some of it may have been messed up from the start. In the occasional case (such as the Amazon river) I've just kept the junk but, where it's totally unacceptable, I've been able to get things refunded with only occasional mild hassles so it's only inconvenience (and that from convenience).

Still would much much rather have a decent customer-oriented bookstore though. (I love these idiot bookstore chains - they don't have a book so I ask about it and they tell me to go online and order it from their website. And they wonder why they've almost all gone out of business.)

J-Sun, I spent many happy hours in bookstores in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then I have lived in Vanishing Rural America, and being able to order books has been of enormous importance. I miss Surface Mail, though. Other Americans, do you remember that? In the mid-1980s one could send a box of books from the US to Kenya for a few dollars. It took many weeks, even months, but they'd arrive.

Extollager said:

It took many weeks, even months, but they'd arrive.

Click to expand...

It takes just as long for US Air to Ireland as Surface did. But costs x4 more.

An Post and Royal Mail still claim to have book rates, but now its the same price as any parcel. It used to be really cheap to post books.

After almost 800 successful Ebay transactions I recently received a empty envelope from one purchase. Sadly it was a really nice March 1930 Astounding that went missing. The shipper insured it and I got my money back, but, I really wanted the pulp.

With a cover like this --



-- I can see why you'd want the magazine and not your money! Ah!

Some used book sources send books in nothing but a plastic or vinyl bag-type of envelope; in transit the books pick up a few more wrinkles or bends. Others wrap them, then but the book in a cardboard protector, and then put the book in a box, or anyway comparable protection. I'm glad to say that books almost always arrive in condition that is quite acceptable to me, but I'm not super fussy.

Reviving this thread in case anyone who'd be interested hasn't seen it. Until the past 20+ years, science fiction and fantasy fandom was able to exist largely because of post offices. It would have been a nice gesture if, back in the day, there's been some way to recognize some letter carrier who had provided particularly exemplary service to fans in some town or city. Those old apa mailings used to be heavy sometimes, and book packages still can be.
[URL='https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiX3__D9uHMAhXERSYKHQtcDTYQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fslmslam%2Fpostage-stamps-postal%2F&psig=AFQjCNFN7eCBqQI2J57aRFvjW20v0227tg&ust=1463602541285766'][/URL]

What annoyed the hell out of me at the time was a certain second hand book and magazine catalogue.
It was posted 1st class on a Friday and always arrived the next morning.
It was first come first served so I was always on it like a shot.
Only this one time it did not arrive until Tuesday, two b***** postal days late!!!!!!
Needless to say it had the three issues of "Unknown" magazine in it that I needed to complete my set.
And needless to say that by the time I phoned in they were long gone, I haven't been able to get them to this day.
I was absolutely livid, it took some time before I stopped foaming at the mouth, jumping up and down and pulling my hair out!

REF: Extollager.
Yes postal packaging can differ a hell of a lot.
Some places send them out so well packed that it would take a steamroller to damage them.
Others send them in nothing more then a plain plastic wrapper and no bubble wrap, needless to say they get the hell knocked out of them.
When he was young my brother sent away for a balsa wood aircraft kit.
It arrived with a nice big fat foot print in the middle of the parcel.
You can imagine the rest!!!

Ouch!

Those packages did not travel well.
I ordered a second-hand copy of CJ Cherryh's Morgaine trilogy several weeks ago. I'd never read it and was really looking forward to getting my mitts on it but... It never arrived.

I havent had any difficulty with books, but I ordered a
a case of good ordinary claret for Christmas from Berry Bros & Rudd, having found an absolutely brilliant offer. Turned out the offer was so good because it was a case of half bottles.