The post office lady and Friday Cat Blogging

Every time I go to the post office, it's the same thing:

• I present my parcels, packaged in cd boxes that I switched over to in April (they are flat and can ship for less than a third of the price of jewellery size boxes).
  
• One employee in particular insists on taking out the little slot measurement device to make sure it fits through, which means the lower price applies.
  
• Every time I say in a light-hearted manner, "It's still the same size." What I WANT to say is, "The boxes haven't grown since I was here last week, lady. I'm not trying to fool Canada Post into charging me $1.92 instead of $6.45 - I purposely changed my packaging to fit into the less expensive category! And anyone looking at the box can tell that it's less than 2cm thick" ... A few times now I've even mentioned to her, very politely, that I switched over to these flat boxes because I know about Canada Post's regulations regarding package size.
  
• Her answer this morning: "Hmm, I just have the tendency to want to measure it. You never know!"
• My eyes then roll back in their sockets (I have no control over this), I let out a big sigh and a ,"You see, they ARE still the same size, hahaha..." AND she always tosses my customs forms (which I take the time to fill out at home so she doesn't have to) receipts at me. What happened to customer service training, or even just basic civility?
  
• I gotta learn to just go with it. She isn't going to change, but I can -therein lies the challenge (^_^)

Thanks for letting me vent.

It's Friday!

Cats are wonderful for so many reasons. They are great company and the perfect destresser - just looking at them makes me smile. I cannot pass by a cat on the street without smiling at it (I always smile at dogs too) and chatting a bit if it will listen. My two cats are the best, although they still don't get along too famously; way better than it was before though. This morning I immediately felt better when I got home from the post office and scritchy-scratched my kitties. Instant relaxation. My Chibi:

I've been buying lots of paper for cards, in preparation for the holiday season. Au papier japonais here in Montreal has a superb selection of some of my favourites and I like to buy the full size sheets and cut it myself. Of course when I get home and unroll it to cut it, Chibi comes charging over to slide around on it and lie on it.

Of course. But how can I not love her for that?

This and that, and a wee bit of Friday Cat Blogging

Got my order of shipping supplies a couple days ago and today I'm waiting for a sterling silver order from Indonesia. I love looking at all my lovely little beads and findings when they arrive, although I'm always shocked at the customs fees and handling charges that accompany such orders. Even with all the extra fees, though, it is still less expensive to go directly to the source in Bali than buying them here in Canada, and definitely worth it since the silver is so beautiful.

Now that I've reserved Fridays for cat blogging, I don't have anything to say about my cats.

Well, I do have this photo of Ebi trying to look small and cute in a Uline delivery box when my order arrived the other day.

To mark the winter that is ever so slooooowly leaving us in Montreal (still hanging on!), here is my brother Doug (Dougie, back then) pulling me down the street in 1972 or so. The mounds of snow we had this year were the norm back in the '70's. In the spring, Doug would sometimes ride me to school on his bike and ride right into the schoolyard to drop me off, and my friends would be so impressed at my big brother (some said he looked like Bruce Lee - heee!). Maybe I'll turn this into Friday Cat and/or Family Blogging.

And I love my little map from whosamung.us (see right hand column, just under my profile). So much fun to see who's been reading your blog - I've had readers from all over the US and Canada, and in the UK, Finland, Poland, France, the Netherlands, Japan and Australia! Try it out, it's free!

Ok, gotta be heading off to the post office soon and then working on some jewellery for the day. Taiko practice tonight ☺Have a good week-end!

Solution

Yippee for orders that arrive a day after ordering them!

Now that Uline has a warehouse here in Canada I can order shipping supplies at great prices and the shipping fee to my home ends up being reasonable too (helps that our dollar is still pretty high). Yes, even receiving orders of shipping supplies makes me happy. You can see Chibi likes the boxes too.

I was particularly excited because I wanted to try this out... This little slab of cardboard is the solution to what, up to now, has my biggest shipping problem.

Since I’ve been selling online, I’ve been shipping many of my jewellery pieces in a cotton-filled jewellery box inside a bubble mailer. Very secure, looks good, and easy. Rather costly for me though, and shipping is pricey for my customers since Canada Post considers any parcel thicker than 2cm a parcel. Crazy but true. They charge a flat rate of $6.45 anywhere in the US and between $7.80 and $8.20 internationally, for a small jewellery box in a 4"x8" envelope. And what makes even less sense, is that it’s even more expensive to ship to many parts of Canada – my own country ($11 to Vancouver)! Sheesh.

I recently switched my earrings and chiyogami pendants over to just bubble mailers, thus reducing shipping costs on those; I was envisioning frustrated, unionized mail carriers jamming them into tiny mailslots, but I'm careful to wrap them well before putting them in the envelope, and all is fine so far.

I’ve kept my sushi pendants and larger necklaces in the jewellery boxes though, for the added protection, until this piece of cardboard... that folds into this wonderfully flat cd mailer. ♫♪ Ta daaa ♫♪
And when folded up, it's all ready to address and send. All this protection and 1.2cm thick - take THAT, Canada Post! There are a couple things, like my taiko (Japanese drum) pieces, that are too big and will have to continue to be shipped in a jewellery box and mailer, but I am thrilled that I can now use these for the majority of my jewellery pieces. I have peace of mind that my things will get to their destinations safely and the customer pays less in shipping. A win-win situation ☺

If you'd like to try these out yourself, you can find the cd mailers at Uline Canada and Uline USA .