Robbing the little man

I am notoriously lazy when it comes to shipping packages. My family all know it, however, here's some justification for why.

Last week I purchased two Babar books for my cousin's son. I paid $41.11 at Saksfifthavenue.com and they were delivered to my door by Fedex within 48 hours of me completing my order online. Shipping cost me $8. Impressive, huh?

This morning I took the package, unopened, to Fedex to forward it to my cousin in the UK. Price quote on a small package weighing 3.2lbs? $158 to arrive by Wednesday or Thursday.

I said thanks, but no thanks and took the package to the Post Office. Price quote for delivery in 6-10 days $53 (or $33 with no insurance, but I've seen how boxes are thrown around... I'll take the insurance). Well, let me see what Amazon.com offers. Exact same books, Shipping to the exact same address $11. I think I'll just order through Amazon.com and I have a friend's daughter's 1st birthday coming up, I'll re-purpose the other books as a gift to her.... I leave the post office while still using the Amazon app on my phone to complete the order. Damn! Delivery estimate: June 17 - July 3... I cancel that order. I'll check UPS when I return to my office since that's who Amazon uses.

I run another errand to cash a check at the bank. The check is issued by a bank I don't bank with. They want $7.50 to cash it. <sigh>

So by now, I've used up my entire lunch hour and have not had time to stop and eat. I return to my office and Gigi's cupcakes is in the foyer. I managed to get past them on my way out, but now I'm hungry and in a foul mood. I buy a cupcake. It has strawberries in it. They have anti-oxidants, therefore I tell myself it's moderately healthy. (Yes, I'm deluding myself, I know).

I go to UPS.com, set up an account because apparently that's necessary when shipping internationally (!) and fill out the shipping information, follow the prompts through to the confirmation screen... $157. Uh, no. No. No. No. NO! I cancel. Well damn. What now?

Amazon.co.uk.

I can't find the exact same Babar books I had previously ordered from Saks, so I choose 3 alternatives, still Babar, just different stories. Two are only available in paperback, so I've added a third to compensate. Final cost? $28.31 including NEXT DAY shipping since I am an Amazon Prime customer.

Yes, I too am wondering why I didn't just go to Amazon in the first place!

So if Amazon.com tells me they can ship two books weighing 3.2lbs to the UK for $11.... Why The Hell can't Fedex or UPS? Amazon is using UPS.... If I was a conspiracy theorist, I'd be blaming the government for.... well, I don't know what, I'm not a zealot, but I am curious as to how and why this makes sense. The post office is going out of business because people would rather pay 5 TIMES as much to get their packages to the same locations? The world has officially gone stark, raving, mad!!