Sockwatch 2007

Subtitle: Why I hate Canada Post

I mailed my Sockapalooza socks on August 3rd. Mailed from Canada, to Canada. Canada Post all the way. Are they there yet? Not from what I can tell!

My pal contacted me on August 3rd saying my socks were winging their way towards me, and should arrive August 8th. It's now the 18th. I'm not sure what country my pal is sending from (I'm guessing the US), but in order for the socks to reach me, they have to pass through Canad Posts's hot little hands. Or should I say hot sticky hands? They seem to have trouble letting go!

Other recent examples of slow Canada Post service:

1. I won a contest where the prize was a printed pattern... basically a sheet of paper or two inside a plastic sleeve. The lovely lady sending me this didn't have any brown envelopes at home, and assumed she could get them at her local USPS post office. Nope! After waiting 45 minutes(!!!) in line, she was told that they only have *priority* envelopes, and was dinged a whopping $16!!!! For something she should have been able to mail for around $1! Not wanting to spend her entire life waiting in her local USPS snail-paced line (I've been in one of those in NY... Chapel Hill was much zippier), she paid the fee. Want to know how long a $16 priority mail envelope took to get to Canada? A full week!!! Aren't those only supposed to take a day in the US? What on earth does Canada Post do with the mail? (Back when I was dating J, he was confused... he couldn't figure out why Canada Post wanted to pay to store the mail for as long as they do rather than just delivering it!)

2. I ordered a rug hooking kit from the US. I seem to remember it taking about two weeks to get to me.

3. H ordered a pattern and some yarn. I think it was sent a week before my order, and didn't arrive until nearly a week after my order. That was 3-4 weeks! We were wondering how long we should wait before declaring it lost!

4. This isn't a recent thing either. Back in high school or undergrad it once took a letter I wrote a penpal *three* *months*(!!!) to arrive at her home in Germany! She wanted to know why I hadn't responded to her previous letter. It wasn't my fault I live in a country with pathetic mail service!

So. No socks here yet. There's no mail service on weekends (I found Saturday mail a strange novelty in the US), but I'll post on Monday as to whether the socks have arrived here. On Tuesday I'm going up to the lake for a week (back the following Tuesday), so I'll be out of mail and e-mail contact during that time. I'm sorry you're feeling antsy, sock pal(s)... but Canada Post is slow. Very slow. Mindnumbingly slow. For people used to USPS, it's *ohmygoshthepackageislost!!!* slow. It's too early to declare packages lost. Don't despair! I trust you that you did send the package as you said. It's not your fault that Canada Post is so slow. All we can do is relax and have patience. (And perhaps write complaints to the Canadian government? But those would be sent by Canada Post, which is slow...)