All I needed was one strip.
I had the box ready to mail a copy of Nero’s Fiddle for review. I had only to wait until the copy I ordered to arrive at my local post office.
I had the bottom of the box properly taped with brown shipping tape. The addresses were clearly printed on top of the box. My unforeseen dilemma was that I couldn’t use the brown shipping tape on the top: the addresses would be covered and, therefore, unreadable. I needed one strip of clear tape to go across the top of the box.
I had Scotch tape but the post office frowns on using Scotch tape and I don’t blame them. Scotch tape doesn’t hold boxes together very well. The post office normally has tape available to reinforce boxes. At least they used to.
Oh, but not this day.
I approached the counter with my box and requested tape in order to close up the top of the box. I was asked, “Are you sending this Express or Priority mail?”
I responded with, “I’m sending it book rate because it’s a book.”
I was then told, “You’ll have to buy some tape. We only provide tape for Express and Priority mail.”
I told the woman to her face, “That’s just greedy. All I need is one strip. I have no other use for the rest of a roll of Post Office tape.”
To the tune of $6.58 per roll, I wasn’t about to purchase an entire roll of tape when all I needed was one strip.
The clerk finally said, “I’ll see if we have some tape,” and she went in search of some. Which was ridiculous because the post office, I’m sure, has stocks of tape in the back which they use to reinforce packages.
She returned with the tape and, as promised, I only used one strip across the top of the box.
It is a serious offense to me, how business and corporations nickel and dime everything. Seriously, is the postal system in such dire financial straits they must force people to buy their tape for just one strip? Is any business in such dire financial straits? With a revenue of $67.8 billion (that’s billion with a B) in 2014 I would think they could spare one strip of packing tape, sans the attitude.
It’s greed, plain and simple.
Business and corporations such as the United States Postal Service will continue nickel-and-diming us as long as we allow it.
Next time, I’ll use the Scotch tape I have at home regardless of who likes it and who doesn’t like it.
Pen has self-published 20 titles in print and ebook formats. Her latest endeavor, Nero’s Fiddle, can be found here: http://bit.ly/1rsEQFX Follow her on Twitter @penspen, visit her website at www.penspen.info or follow her blog www.mytuppence.weebly.com Contact her at mytuppenceblog at yahoo.com to inquire about proofreading, editing and formatting services.
I had the box ready to mail a copy of Nero’s Fiddle for review. I had only to wait until the copy I ordered to arrive at my local post office.
I had the bottom of the box properly taped with brown shipping tape. The addresses were clearly printed on top of the box. My unforeseen dilemma was that I couldn’t use the brown shipping tape on the top: the addresses would be covered and, therefore, unreadable. I needed one strip of clear tape to go across the top of the box.
I had Scotch tape but the post office frowns on using Scotch tape and I don’t blame them. Scotch tape doesn’t hold boxes together very well. The post office normally has tape available to reinforce boxes. At least they used to.
Oh, but not this day.
I approached the counter with my box and requested tape in order to close up the top of the box. I was asked, “Are you sending this Express or Priority mail?”
I responded with, “I’m sending it book rate because it’s a book.”
I was then told, “You’ll have to buy some tape. We only provide tape for Express and Priority mail.”
I told the woman to her face, “That’s just greedy. All I need is one strip. I have no other use for the rest of a roll of Post Office tape.”
To the tune of $6.58 per roll, I wasn’t about to purchase an entire roll of tape when all I needed was one strip.
The clerk finally said, “I’ll see if we have some tape,” and she went in search of some. Which was ridiculous because the post office, I’m sure, has stocks of tape in the back which they use to reinforce packages.
She returned with the tape and, as promised, I only used one strip across the top of the box.
It is a serious offense to me, how business and corporations nickel and dime everything. Seriously, is the postal system in such dire financial straits they must force people to buy their tape for just one strip? Is any business in such dire financial straits? With a revenue of $67.8 billion (that’s billion with a B) in 2014 I would think they could spare one strip of packing tape, sans the attitude.
It’s greed, plain and simple.
Business and corporations such as the United States Postal Service will continue nickel-and-diming us as long as we allow it.
Next time, I’ll use the Scotch tape I have at home regardless of who likes it and who doesn’t like it.
Pen has self-published 20 titles in print and ebook formats. Her latest endeavor, Nero’s Fiddle, can be found here: http://bit.ly/1rsEQFX Follow her on Twitter @penspen, visit her website at www.penspen.info or follow her blog www.mytuppence.weebly.com Contact her at mytuppenceblog at yahoo.com to inquire about proofreading, editing and formatting services.