Mail early - save money!
I’ve been mailing off Christmas gifts these past couple of weeks, and sort of following these tips, and while I am sure they will get to their recipients on time, I can’t deny how irritated I’ve become at having to pay over six dollars to send a measly fifty or one hundred gram package! This is because I’m sending it by air in most cases; sending by ground generally costs one third less, but takes three times as long and let’s face it: I don’t have three weeks.
The post office I tend to go to has an employee who is really good at inspiring panic in the hearts of holiday gift mailers. As I waited in line, he told each customer that there were only seven mailing days until Christmas, then asked if they’d like to send their package by an express service. If the person said yes, he stopped his spiel, but if they said no, he’d begin what sounded almost like a guilt trip, about how you wouldn’t want the recipient to get their gift after Christmas, would you? And with all this bad weather we’ve been having, you wouldn’t want to risk the possible delay, would you? If you are a guilty “last two weeks” shopper and mailer, his comments can make you throw your cash at his face, as long as he guarantees your friend in Maine will get her gift by the 24th of December!
So the lesson here is start early, and always start earlier than you think you need to; you won’t regret it. For next year, my goal will be to mail off Christmas packages going out of the country during the last week of November, and send by ground because it’s cheaper. I figure if the recipient gets it early, they can enjoy the suspense of wondering what they received, and my gift to them may even have the unique honour of being the first gift to be placed under the Christmas tree.
That’s not such a bad thing, is it?
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:14 pm
that looks like the package you sent me!