The Boardanian mail syndrome

We've all noticed this strange behaviour of the mail services around the world. Whenever we try to send each other something by snail-mail things go astray. For months, or forever.

Last week I ordered a book from Amazon.com and I got the package today. From Arkansas it had traveled to New Zealand then to Hong Kong before reaching me.

This has to be another instance of BMS (Boardaninan Mail Syndrome) hasn't it? I mean, what was it doing at the other end of the world?

I rarely have trouble with snail mail. Books that I order from Amazon arrive in at most two weeks (whereas the stated delivery time is over a month). As of recently, things I order from the US arrive in a matter of days. Mail to (and from) other Boardanians seems to travel fairly quickly, with the exception of Tephlon (the Portugese mail service is horrible).

As for your package, air delivery can be like that. The direct route is rarely the quickest available, and it's certainly fun guessing through where your newest package will travel.

Of course, we could always go for the first-class, direct route deliveries.

And pay ten times the going price for the pleasure. Next-day deliveries are insanely costly, for example, and in some cases it may even be cheaper to buy your own plane ticket and deliver the package in person rather than pay for next-day delivery.

I've noticed that which amazon website you order from really changes how long you wait.

To Australia,
Amazon.com 1.5 to 4 weeks
Amazon.co.uk 1 week

Amazon marketplace purchases tend to be even quicker (I suppose the sellers are kept on a tight leash) as I have had sellers on the US and UK sites do it in under 1 week and apparently the french are quick too as I have a DVD slated to arrive tommorrow from the french site that I ordered on sunday (I doubt it will arrive that quick but lets see).

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Honestly, nothing makes me happier than circumventing the unjust markups* they put on retail goods here ($30+ DVDs, $20+ Books, $100 new release video games) as the currency conversion from AUD usually means I can be saving over 50% on the price here if I buy a few items to make the postage cost neglible.

* Originally it was justified by import costs and the low Aussies dollar, now it is just because our market will tolerate the high prices.

My mom ordered some books for me off of Amazon three weeks before Christmas. They were shipped from the UK and got stored in some warehouse in New Jersey. My mom e-mailed them to find that out, and as far as I know they still haven't been delivered yet. I am not at home though, and when I'm not there I don't get told if I get mail. Hopefully my parents will bring them up when they come visit in a couple weeks.

Amazon are weird, sometimes, thigs just get stuck. And not necessarily rare things, sometimes a really basic order will be delayed over and over again. the best way I have found is to cancel the order and re-order...