I made the mistake of trying to buy some online postage today. I’ve got 4 cards for overseas and I thought if I printed the “stamps” now I could get them away frst thing and save myself some queuing .
“It’s Easy with Click and Drop!” Hmmm. So easy that I’ve already had to input Australia twice, then my email (again), then my address (it’s a Christmas card, I don’t need a return address), then the weight of the card – which according to my kitchen scales is 0g, then Paypal, and could I confirm my address, (which paypal holds), then I wait because they are sending me a email with confirmation, and a link which I can follow to the page where I can print.
I persevere. No email comes. I check my Spam and Trash. I update…. and nothing. I return to the purchase page where I notice that I can “view my label” (why then would I need the email?).
I have already ticked the box that I do not require a return address, however my “stamp” is a full A4 print out with customs declarion and return lable, and declaration of 0g weight and value – £1- smallest number it will accept . Since the accompanying second page of “instructions” makes it very clear that I must print and attach the “full” form to my (I guess) A6 size = card and envelope. I decide that discretion is the better part of staying sane, and resolve that I will go to the Post Office and buy some stamps early Monday.
This will of course invoke the risk of “superpower weakness” = where I get stuck behind someone who wishes to pay with Albian Zlots – which have always been legal tender (when buying goats), or, more typically, behind “Jan”, who is astonishingly the long lost godmother of “Hermoine”, the sole staff member free (because Senga is trying to get the exchange rate on Zlots). However right now it seems like the better bet.
I can ask for a refund on my online “postage”, however I must give a reason from a preset list. Strangely; “Stamp too big for package” does not feature, so I opt for “other” while shouting imprecations at the keyboard, and then alter it to “Changed mind”.
Given the elaborate detail , and requirement to repeat, I really wonder about the existance of the option “accidental purchase”?
Next week: So is anyone actually playing any music?
Dalmallyfest the Asylum 