Some of you would be aware that I maintain a shipping facility at Hawthorne, California in America. It allows me to collect a number of purchases there over a period of three months and then ship all at one go. There are some strange restrictions at times. Of course you cannot ship weapons, explosives, chemicals etc.. Some liquids are forbidden as are more than a couple of Li-Ion batteries at a time, but one of the strange prohibited products with one carrier, the cheapest of course, is timber.
Now this is one where I come hugely unstuck on as probably three quarters of my purchases are hand saws of some description. With the timber handles of most self-respecting saws, it normally means using a more expensive carrier. Consequently I divide up the purchases and try to have a shipment that comprises purchases without any timber component. Just before the weekend I consolidated a number of purchases that were mainly metallic, some paper such as catalogues, some saw files, a few miscellaneous items and four handsaws. However the handsaws had either plastic or metal handles (Some Disston D-95s and a Docking saw.)
Prior to this there had been some problems during consolidation when I realised they had made the package larger than necessary and also missed one package. It turned out that they had temporarily lost it, but all was resolved when it was found and the parcel was reduced in size.
I selected the preferred carrier which is primarily Australia Post, After some inquiries I found out a while back that Australia Post has no restriction on timber products. However, the carrier used in conjunction with Aussie Post stateside apparently does not carry timber.
I then received a notification that the shipment was cancelled because it contained timber. I was away from home and without thinking selected the next carrier which was US$78 dearer. When I got home I woke up with a start this morning and thought, "@#*! :(( " I had deliberately chosen no timber products. I got on to the company and asked them to cancel the shipment explaining the problem and pointing out that the saws did not have timber handles. Then I contacted them through their Live Chat facility and again explained the issue.
They checked and I waited and they finally supplied me with this picture.
Attachment 417038
There it is. A file handle made in timber. Immediately I realised what had happened. There is an Ebay seller from whom I have bought files and saws in the past. Most times he throws in a small gift. A "freebee" if you like. This along with the files he had thrown in a timber handle.
If I had known I would have placed it in another shipment later on or I could have asked for it to be discarded.
It has turned out to be a a $78 file handle :- . That's US dollars.
Regards
Paul