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Dad's Birthday Gift #1

Dad's Birthday Gift #2

You’re looking at my Dad’s birthday present. His birthday was on the 7th of March. It’s now the 10th of March. He won’t be getting the gift. Here’s the story why….

About two weeks ago, my mum called and said…..you know….your dad would really like a “_________” from “_________” for his birthday….do you think you could organize that. I thought….that’s rather large, but yeah, i can work it out. So….Melody and I researched it, found the right price, and purchased it. When it arrived, it had instructions on it for international shipping. The usual legal stuff about “make sure you include your original invoice or receipt” — this is to prove that it’s a commercial product, and certified to not contain grains, wood fibers etc…you know….the stuff that they frown upon when sending stuff from one country to another.

If you’re asking yourself why I didnt get this shipped directly to Australia…..unfortunately they don’t do that. They only shipped to the continental USA and Canada.

So…when it arrived at the house, I opened the rather large package, and made sure that I couldn’t shrink it down anymore into a smaller box. No luck. It’s in the smallest box possible.

I got online and checked UPS to see what it would cost to send via them, and it ended up being around $420. For your information, it’s a package that’s about 4 feet long, by 2 feet wide, by 5 inches tall, and weighs 35 pounds. So…that was rather expensive, and almost 3 times the price of the actual gift itself.

Next, i checked the US Postal Service website, and used their guide to make sure that i’d be able to send it with them. It was close, but the measurements were within limits, and the weight was fine too. The price was $200 or thereabouts, which wasn’t great, but was much better than the UPS rate.

Huzzah!….or so i thought.

The plan was to split the cost of the gift and shipping between myself, Mum, Chris and Matt (my brothers), and Mama (my grandmother on Mum’s side). That way, the total cost would be affordable for everyone involved.

So…i sealed everything up nice and good, using packaging tape and single handedly keeping Duck Tape in business. With a sense of optimism i delivered it to the US Post Office in Apex, and plopped it up on the desk. Here’s the exchange…..

Me: This is going to Australia

Clerk: You HOPE it’s going to Australia

Me: I checked the online calculator, the your website said it’s within limits

Clerk: OK, well you’ll probably be fine.

Me: Great……(he hands me a customs form, and i start filling it out while he keys in the dimensions on the computer)

Clerk: Uh oh…it won’t go that way….lemme check this……..yeah…it won’t go that way either….well maybe if we send it like this….nope…not that way either.

Me: Problem?

Clerk: well…the dimensions are fine individually, but they are over the limit when you add them together

Me: (puzzled look on my face, because that doesn’t make mathematical sense)….ok….so, what do we do?

Clerk: well…it looks like it will go via priority guaranteed blah blah blah….but it’s going to be around $200.

Me: That’s fine…i know it was that much…i checked online

Clerk: Uh oh.

Me: What?

Clerk: Well…it will be fine via US Postal, but Australia has different limits on dimensions, and this is over the limit for the total length/width/depth calculation.

Me: So….

Clerk: So that means it can leave the USA, but it won’t be accepted when it gets to Australia. I can’t accept this. You can send it via UPS, but it’s gonna cost you about…

Me: $400. Yeah I know. Thanks. Have a nice day.

I head back to the car. demoralized. Calling mum, we decided that my dad would have a fit if we spent close to $600 on this gift, so we decided that he now owns a prime piece of comfortable real estate in North Carolina. What he owns is going to sit in my attic until they visit next time, and then they’ll take it back on the plane as extra freight luggage, which will be pennies compared to the UPS charge.

So….wondering what this grand gift is? Scroll down…….

Cracker Barrel Rocking Chair

Yeah…my dad wanted an authentic cracker barrel rocking chair for his veranda….and we were so close to making it happen….and as a surprise. But….this just means that he has something waiting for him over here, which might make him save some pennies to make their next trip sooner rather than later

Sorry dad……

…..we tried…..but in this case…..it’s definitely the thought that counts….and the attic space counts too

Anytime you want a picture of how she’s doing…just let me know….I’m not un-boxing it….so at least you’ll be the first to sit in it….when that time comes.

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