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Keep something else in mind: I've found over my years of sending and receiving mail throughout North America and Europe that postal services (and especially Canada Post) can be stupendously erratic. One thing will arrive in two days, another will inexplicably take 2 weeks. As though it depends on the mood the postal workers are in on any given day, the specific alignment of Neptune and its moons, and the beating of the wings of an African swallow half a world away.

Anyway. I just don't want anyone assuming a pattern. On the other hand, a vast majority of the stuff has now been mailed. Hooray!

Nevrmore wrote:

Evil Jim wrote:

Nevrmore wrote:Still want to know about tracking my package...

This post is relative to your interests. O_O

So what you're saying is it is all a matter of faith?

FAAAAAAAAAAAITH?!

Okay.

Faith, Canada Post, Customs, and the US postal system. Frankly, you're better off relying on faith for things like this, and maybe the USPS. Canada Post and Customs, on the other hand...not really reliable. (and FYI, expedited parcel service to the US has an approximate delivery time of 6 business days. If you have faith in Canada Post. )

ETA: Further to Tally's comments, when I sent the prototype WoD dolls to Paul, Canada Post sent them from Calgary, Alberta to Mississauga, Ontario (where they sat for a couple of days) before routing them to Victoria, BC. That's half way across the country in the wrong direction.

Evil Jim, I didn't specifically see Story Guy's box in either of the two batches the crew shipped, but it's possible they wrapped it in shipping paper and I didn't recognize it, or it was under some other packages. Either way it's probably been shipped, and now it's just the waiting.

Graham said Story Guy might be the small brown box on top of the larger, white box in the foreground.

I'm not chomping at the bit, by the way; I only jest. When the auction ended I figured it would be about three months before I received my item, like last year. So anything short of that will be a bonus.

I'd be happy if I got my hat at any time during the Winter so I'd have cause to wear it.

When Alex did his first round of shipping buttons, they got to Elomin (in England) before they got to a guy one province over.

That might just be Story Guy's box, the size looks about right. I didn't recognize it because of the brown wrapping, the box I packaged it in was white. The crew has been much more efficient about shipping this year, probably because they can't afford to waste time with three video series to produce, and because they need the space back for other moonbase related activities.

Nevrmore, hopefully your head will be OM NOM NOM'd into toasty warmth soon.

Kathleen wrote:Ha ha. Sorry about the note. Basically, since Tak's stuff didn't arrive during DB, we couldn't auction it off [...] we haven't gotten them, and we didn't want to delay any shipping.

That explains why I was never able to find out who won/when was auctioned. Haha.

Chemistring wrote:Faith, Canada Post, Customs, and the US postal system. Frankly, you're better off relying on faith for things like this, and maybe the USPS. Canada Post and Customs, on the other hand...not really reliable. (and FYI, expedited parcel service to the US has an approximate delivery time of 6 business days. If you have faith in Canada Post. )

Honestly, have more faith in Canada post then the USPS, I mean, the USPS is terrible. At least I haven't heard of Canada's postal system being bankrupt (being bankrupt is the new theme of America, by the way, California, post office, the country in general).

Kaemon wrote:Honestly, have more faith in Canada post then the USPS, I mean, the USPS is terrible. At least I haven't heard of Canada's postal system being bankrupt (being bankrupt is the new theme of America, by the way, California, post office, the country in general).

I can't speak to the financial health of Canada Post, but the USPS has them beat service-wise. We also pay exorbitant shipping costs for parcels within Canada, even more for international destinations. Shipping from the US to Canada is around the same price as domestic mail in the US, at least for small parcels.

Come to think of it, the lower postage rates may be why the USPS is having money trouble...

Chemistring wrote:Come to think of it, the lower postage rates may be why the USPS is having money trouble...

Oh cripes, don't let them hear that. They raise postage so often that they now have "Forever Stamps." You can buy them at whatever the current 1st class letter rate is & they'll always be good for a 1st class letter, regardless of how much that rate goes up in future.

I do have some faith in Canada Post. It's about the same amount of faith as I have that no one will ever again confuse Matt and Tim, that Morgan will take a vow of celibacy and solitude and enter a monastery, that Paul will never again put anything on his head and that pigs will one day fly.

Actually, that last one seems quite likely.

I should stop this. Your stuff will get to you. I don't think I've ever had Canada Post fail utterly to get something through. It's just that sometimes the seasons change first.

However, we are sending most stuff by expedited mail (faster), and the fact that stuff is already beginning to arrive is an excellent sign.

I bought a rare action figure off of ebay and it was shipped from Canada(don't remember what part), it took three months and when it arrived customs had...had...OPENED THE BLISTER PACK! Making my paying an extra $50 for a mint in box figure completely pointless. And it's not like you can get a refund for that.

Evil Jim wrote:

Chemistring wrote:Come to think of it, the lower postage rates may be why the USPS is having money trouble...

Oh cripes, don't let them hear that. They raise postage so often that they now have "Forever Stamps." You can buy them at whatever the current 1st class letter rate is & they'll always be good for a 1st class letter, regardless of how much that rate goes up in future.

If I remember correctly the USPS can only raise it's rate to match inflation, I belive that was put through a while ago. So the rate raises aren't actually bad, but it's why they're broke, other countries that have a privatized postal systems cost more I'm sure, but they're probably better too......

And wow, I never thought about it but canadas postal system sounds worse than the US one when you guys talk about it here.....

Must be really bad.... Haha

Here's a fun blog post about why the USPS is better than you think... Link.

My experiences with Canada Post have always been positive. Cross-border stuff is a pain in the ass, yes, but that's to be expected.

Edit; Oh, and my fiance's mom is the postmaster for Pender Island, so I'm probably biased.

I worked for a retail postal outlet for a year, and don't really have a bias against Canada Post. Packages do get to their destinations with only occasional hiccups, but the roundabout routes make me say WTF on a regular basis.

It's unfortunate for small businesses, because it's almost always cheaper to buy something from a US seller than it is from a Canadian seller (especially on Etsy and other small marketplaces). Even if the products can compete on price, the shipping costs from US to Canada are significantly lower than within Canada postal rates, and the item will usually arrive faster unless the package gets held up at Customs.

Evil Jim, Canada Post has perpetual stamps too, so you're not alone in that.

So I got a little package in the mail, today. It had some nice stuff in it.



Some buttons, a cool little necklace, a nice card, oh that's swell. And - hey, here's something else in here. What's this?



MOTHERFUCKIN' CHAIN CHOMP HAT!!!!




*Note: The 1-Up Shirt was completely coincidental.

Quite a good haul. Of course, even though the Chain Chomp Hat was so good that I had to change pants three times before I could muster up the courage to touch it, I do love all my children equally.

Haha That's awesome. Glad to see you got your stuff too.
That hat is too awesome, you may now never take it off.

I presume the letter is washing instructions & such?

Yeah. I meant to get a good picture of Chemistring's nice handwriting, but then I didn't.

Kathleen wrote:Ha ha. Sorry about the note. Basically, since Tak's stuff didn't arrive during DB, we couldn't auction it off, however, if we did recieve it, we were going to add his stuff to other LRR themed prizes. However, we haven't gotten them, and we didn't want to delay any shipping.

HOORAY! I'M A FAILURE!!!!! *sets off fireworks and throws candy*

Note to self: next year, get the stuff done two weeks before DB and ship it as soon as possible.

Luckily, it's not like anything isn't shelf stable. I'll keep working on and creating stuff and maybe you'll see more soon.

I didn't win a prize, but I was the one who donated $50 and paid for the cost of the book to have Paul read 10 minutes of Twilight out loud. It's coming with me on my plane ride to the West Coast; I wonder if it will beat the current record of how long I've read a book before putting it down completely and forever.

I received it on Monday, Tally was kind enough to get the crew to sign it, and when I get home, I'll upload pics of the signatures.


Trisha Lynn
...The Devil Wears Prada, the very first page...

Nevrmore wrote:Yeah. I meant to get a good picture of Chemistring's nice handwriting, but then I didn't.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHA
Ahem. Seriously, my handwriting hasn't changed since 6th grade. I take solace in the fact that it's usually legible.

Glad you like the hat, hope it keeps your head toasty warm and doesn't drool too much. Chain chomps are so hard to train...

*sits in a darkened corner of the same city Chemistring is in, pining for his mystical Chibi warriors, while cursing those Nevada dwellers with theirs*

CRAWLING IN MY SKIN
THESE DOLLS THEY WILL NOT ARIIVE

in seriousness's though, /faith

Chemistring my handwriting looks like the scribbles from an armless POW vet trying to write by placing a pen between his ass cheeks. I have bad handwriting; yours is quite lovely.

Also I wore the hat out on the town today and got several compliments for it. I pretended like they were personally complimenting me instead of my super cool hat and my terminally low self-esteem bumped up a bit.

Don't worry, Vaughn, I'm sure Canada Post has just routed them through Newfoundland or Quebec. Or maybe Santa rerouted them through the North Pole where Derek has expanded his sacrificial animal base to include reindeer.

Nevrmore, I sympathize on the handwriting issue. My longhand writing looks like I chased a flock of chickens through an ink puddle and across the page...which is why you got my pretty pony princess printing.

Stuff i ordered from quebec a week ago is going to get here first, via the same service =P