h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You should compain. I did some work, years ago, with the Lost and Damaged Parcels section. They took it seriously.

(Possibly they're still using some of the things I did.)

Next time I'll send it in waterproof packaging.

Glad everything works all right. I only use the paper sleeves because the plastic ones add some weight in regards to shipping costs.

It shouldn't have to get wet anyway. It usually means someone has left a trolley somewhere outside and forgotten it, or the van was leaky or there are too many vans on the lot and it's *tipping* down.

Christopher, did you notice that Edward and I got our post just fine and we both have worked in post-related jobs?

THE PAVEMENT IS SLIPPERY...

I keep telling people...if you phone the sorting office and ask them "Can you put a note on the walk?" they recognise you as One Of Us and you get star treatment.

I could try that, but I'd fear them asking who the hell I thought I was.

If I do complain, I'm not doing it on May 1st.

PC, your parcel is on its way. You may notice a theme.

Oh, dear! It'll be something to watch for, that theme. Is it coming to my home address, or work?

I've only had to complain about the mail delivery here once. While our mail frequently finds its way into the landlord's box (and we've gotten into the habit of checking it), I've only had one really bad experience, where something fragile was winged over the fence. We've got a new person on our route now who seems to do all right, mostly.

UPS on the other hand...

Much 'shoppage has ocurred, changing their name to OOPS.

Parcel is on its way to your work. Trying to save on size and weight, it looks a bit like a WWI tank. Let's hope cutoms don't spot that.

I'm sure they see weird packaging all the time, and it's probably not as big a deal as we think. I'll keep an eye on the mail room till it arrives. Thanks!

Cor! Did you know you can print out your own stamps at http://www.royalmail.com ? They only take Switch if it's over £3.50...but you can set up a pre-paid account, starting at £5.



Truly we live in an age of miracles and wonderments.

Wonderments, what a lovely word!

If you can print them out, can you photocopy them, sell them..?

That was me just sending off somthing to the Polis about a Fixed Penalty Notice for not displaying an up-to-date tax disk. We applied online but didn't get one in the post...and I forgot to chae it up. For three months.

But someone obviously spotted it and turned us in...and the sensible money's on the **** of a neighbour with whom we have a territorial dispute about parking. Since we only found out whaen we got the 'You didn't respond, so now you have to pay more' letter - seems someone also took it of the windscreen.

Never mind. A phone call sorted it all out. In my letter with proof of payment, I've said:
'I suspect that the original FPN will have been removed from the vehicle maliciously. I know this is a criminal offemce and will be happy to provide any information you require.'

I'm also going to stick a Post-It above the new disk:
'Don't worry - we didn't have to pay a fine...but Cheers for being so civic minded! Any chance we can have the FPN back as a souvenir?'
That'll piss him off.

>>If you can print them out, can you photocopy them, sell them..?

Possibly. But first off - what you actually print out is an addres label. Second - it has a machine-readable bit on it which I'm guessing provides a unique No. You'd get caught.

They think of everything.

Your neighbour sounds like a right... neighbour.

Same here- when you print postage, Fed Ex or UPS labels online, it's always got a notice on it that using a photocopy constitutes fraud. Usually with Fed Ex or UPS they'll just bill your account for the difference, but mail fraud's a serious offense.

Ed, can't you affix your vehicle sticker to the inside of your windshield? That's what we do with ours, and then make little cuts with razor blades to discourage anyone breaking a window to steal it anyway. Same with the license tag renewal stickers; once we stick them on, we make the little slits so they can't be peeled off in any useable fashion.

It was what you'd call the 'Violation' notice that he stole. Our tax disks are circles of paper held onto the inside bottom left of the windscree in a holder. And there's no point stealing them because they have your registration No.

Ah, OK. It'd be awesome if our city stickers (different ones for each municipality, paid to said municipality) were discs in holders instead of gumming up the windshield.

But stealing the violation notice- I get it. And then when you find out about it, your fine's at least doubled and (here) you're looking at collections and/or a license suspension.