Stupid Postage

[marasbaras]

Erm? I hope you're using "The Yukon" as a generic term...

Yes, to refer to the remote, cold, nasty regions of Alaska.

[froglet]

Yes, to refer to the remote, cold, nasty regions of Alaska.

Not to be a pain, but thats akin to saying 'the Arizona' when referring to any desert region. I'm mostly just picky about people calling America and Canada the same.

[marasbaras]

Not to be a pain, but thats akin to saying 'the Arizona' when referring to any desert region. I'm mostly just picky about people calling America and Canada the same.

No, it's not akin to saying that. And, I wasn't calling them "the same".

Had I meant Yukon Territory, I would've said Yukon Territory. Excuse me if I colloquially referred to the general region (not just ANY snowy region) as "the Yukon".

[Ree]

Wow, what an off topic route this thread has started to take.

I guess mail from the post office isn't the only thing that tends to head all over the map to get to a destination...so do CS members in pursuit of a reason to be offended and start a debate.

How did we get from some annoying and uninformed person sending mail back to the Government of Canada with a simple "Return to Sender" into a discussion of whether a person has committed an unpardonable crime by referring to a snowy region of the world as "the Yukon"???

Move on, people.

[Dreamstalker]

Think about the post office corruption in other countries. I hear that Italy's mail system is notoriously bad.

Yup. Go on the ebay international shipping boards some day, there are plenty of tales. The only absolute way to ship something there seems to be via FedEx as they have their own customs clearance (Italy Post never actually touches or looks at the widget). Most buyers will understand and are willing to pay the exorbitant FedEx rates to make sure it gets there intact.

Somewhat related, How It's Made had a segment last night on how mail gets to where it's supposed to go. That never ceases to amaze me.

[nekoro]

With the price of fuel jumping, we're likely to see more increases soon. I just wish they'ld make the price something that's a multiple of fives, though, and keep it that way.

Sadly, we can't. We're required by Congress to not make a profit, so all we can do is raise prices to break even.

Believe me, it's frustrating to us too.

[marasbaras]

If I recall correctly, when the USPS initially offered Global Priority Mail, Italy was on the list of countries. Didn't stay there long.