[Dx-qsl] Where's Canada Again?

Sun Nov 28 20:47:15 EST 2010

No, I think they are somewhere between the UK and France, maybe one of those
little islands in the English Channel. That is why everything you buy in
Canada is written in English on one side and French on the other side. 
Seriously, if she had stamps for Mexico at 79 cents I would have just gotten
those. The postage to Canada is 75 cents so you would have only overpaid 4
cents per envelope. The one and only APC machine in my Main P.O. lobby is
always busy starting this time of the year and what makes it worse is that
people don't know how to use the thing. When a line forms they send a P.O.
employee to the lobby to operate the machine. People just hand over their
debit or credit card and tell the person what they want to do. I complained
that before they installed the APC machine they had vending machines and you
could just stick coins or bills into the slot and select what you wanted.
You want a booklet of 1st class domestic stamps? No problem. You want just
one stamp? No problem? You want a half sheet (10 stamps) of Intl Air mail
stamps? No problem? You want a stamp for Canada or Mexico? No problem. Just
push the button for what you want and out it comes. So they replaced the
vending machine with the APC. You want 1 stamp for a letter to Canada. No
can do, there is a minimum purchase requirement. You want a sheet of 98 cent
Intl Air Mail stamps? No can do. You can only order 5 at a time and wait
while the machine whirls and grinds away as it prints your postage. Not real
stamps but little metered stickers. In the meantime the people behind you
are giving you dirty looks as you are standing there waiting for the machine
to complete printing the stamps thinking you don't know what you are doing
and just staring and the screen trying to figure out what to do next.
You can always use their online mail order system. I tried that for IRC's a
couple of months ago. My main P.O. refuses to order IRC's. They won't let me
pay in advance to order them for me and won't order them for regular stock.
So I go to the Airport P.O. which "normally" stocks them. But they ran out
too so I ordered 10 online just to see how it works. Well I got 10 IRC's in
a big envelope. Inside were 10 individual sealed plastic envelopes with each
IRC sandwiched in the plastic bag between two pieces of cardboard. You would
have thought they were sending precious pieces of art instead of IRC's. I
normally buy IRC's from the various QSL Mgrs that post them for sale from
time to time but just wanted to try the P.O. mail order system.
GL! & 73, K7ACZ
-----Original Message-----
From: dx-qsl-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:dx-qsl-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Ron Notarius W3WN
Sent: Saturday, November 27, 2010 8:58 AM
To: DX-QSL at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Dx-qsl] Where's Canada Again?
Your chuckle for the day:
Did you know that Canada is overseas, probably in Europe?
That's what I got told at the post office today, when I asked for some
Canadian air mail stamps.
I know, I know. and it was a branch office inside a mall, not a "real" one.
And the clerk looked like she was 21 and bored out of her mind (I
interrupted her romance novel... and I wish I was kidding about that). Her
chart allegedly only showed Mexico and Overseas, and she's CERTAIN that
Canada is in Europe near Turkey or the Middle East "or something."
*sigh*
Just have to go get the stamps at the 24 hour machine in the lobby instead
of fighting the crowd. So much for trying to save some time, hassle and
aggravation.
73, ron w3wn