It’s not in the mail!
2011/07/05 1 Comment
Today Priority Post was an oxymoron!
/… I arrived at the suburban hole-in-the-wall post office not far from our house fully intending to send via Priority Post,
two important envelopes that had been gathering lint while the posties and their union battled it out with
Canada Post–a name suggesting solidity but in reality another Canadian under-achiever.
The very pleasant woman behind the counter was not sure if the backlog had been cleared but was nevertheless ready to take
some big coin for a Priority Post stamp!
Me: “Are you sure these letters will get there tomorrow?”
Lady behind the counter: “well, we haven’t had a real update about the status of the backlog today.”
Me: “..so what does that mean?”
Lady behind the counter: “..it probably isn’t a good idea to go Priority because I don’t think they’re picking up today and we have nothing
today on the backlog. But let me call someone. Thirty second call to some other person in another hole-in-the-wall post office:…no
she hasn’t heard anything definitive about the backlog anything either. (This must be one of those Canadian things–no matter who you call, they won’t know!!!)
Me: “..do I have any options?” LBTC: “..well you could just mail it. It would get there in a couple of days, probably just as quick as Priority Post.,”
Me: “..considering there is no Priority Post you’re probably right. How about registered would that be quicker?”
LBTC:..”not really, registered isn’t fast, it’s only for signatures and tracking. But we could send it registered and that way you can track it.”
Thank you very much ! !! I don’t know why I didn’t blow a gasket at this point . Probably because I was heading for Staples home of the
Purolater pickup! Stamped before five, delivered the next day-private enterprise moving the mail etc.,etc.,
Lady Behind the Counter at Staples:…”I’m sorry sir, but Purolater doesn’t deliver to mail boxes!! ” What? What!
So Sandy and Missy there is no Priority Post today and the two important letters stranded by a strike, a backlog and the inability to deliver to post office box numbers
means they are back home immobilized by that oxymoron Priority Post!!!>>!!!
/…the moronic part of today’s frustration, of course lies with the failure of the managers(that may be an oxymoron too)at Canada Post to recognize the huge potential
of getting Priority Post up and running the minute the strike was over. As they cleared away the millions of pieces of mail, Priority Post would be setting the
return to business pace, delivering urgent letters and parcels by the next day and racking up big dollars at the same time.
Instead they idled their best weapon and instead concentrated on “clearing the backlog.” Brilliant.
Lord, I hope the people running Canada Post are never asked to lead us through a major challenge!
/…Shopping for groceries is another exercise in frustration. Product distribution and availability forces many shoppers into
multiple grocery stores. For instance you can be sure that quite often Loblaws won’t have it. The other day, a day made for barbecuing
the nearby Loblaws store had no briquettes. Are you serious? Absolutely! Loblaws bakery isn’t as good as Metro’s but the prices at Metro
are stratospheric. And over at Highland farms the produce is fresh and the choices are double those at Metro but the staff doesn’t look very happy.
I often wondered whether this was a requirement of working there-not smiling. The other day I was at Loblaws to buy buttermilk. “won ‘t have any
until tomorrow.” Right. No so long ago a Metro didn’t have clove of garlic in the entire store. I kid you not!! When I shop for groceries
I plan to visit at least two to four different stores.
/…is there anyone in the vast reaches of the web who has noticed all the gasoline prices at all the different gas stations move up and down
in unison? Anyone notice that everyday, the price at the pumps is the same at Shell, as it is at Esso, as it is at Petrocan, as it is at Husky, as it is at Sunoco?
What would we call this in a country driven by private enterprise and the spirit of competition? Would we call it freedom from having to choose?
Would we call it coincidence? Would we call it a force for good riddance to competition in the gasoline business? Would we call on the
Competition Bureau to investigate? Of course not!!
What have you done to magnify this blatant disregard of competitive pricing? Have you called on the people who represent you politically
to do something ABOUT FIXED GASOLINE PRICES????
Not yet? Let’s get ‘arountoit.’
holidayatlarge 
You can’t get there from here!
2011/07/07 Leave a comment
/…You don’t get many air miles at one time so it takes a longtime to accumulate enough to get from here(Toronto) to say….Chicago.
A few years ago when it was hard to find merchants who had a deal with Air Miles, I think it took me a year to
compile sufficient Air Miles to get me to Pickering,……. well maybe Ajax but not Oshawa!
Given that backdrop you can appreciate how wildly enthusiastic I was when Air Miles reported I had amassed more
4 thousand!
Because two members of our household are heading west in a few weeks it was the obvious moment to tap into the
Air Miles vault and fly away to Calgary YYC. So I googled Air Miles.Ca….and what followed was several hours of unsolicited frustration.
I didn’t know some organizations actually work hard to create an endless parade of poppycock and phiffle. My first impression was the Air Miles people
actually wanted me to be successful in my quest. They sent me an e-mail saying they were “glad that I was interested
in redeeming my AIR MILES reward miles for booking a flight.” The e-mail names a roster of airlines that were at my service, some of which I’d never heard of…
Central Mountain Air, Canadian North, Calm Air, Horizon Air–and the biggies, Air Canada, West Jet etc…all I was assured would give me, personal service voluntarily,
after all this is a service industry!!!!! “If you want to book right away, gushed the e-mail simply click on “continue to flight results.” Of course that doesn’t get
you anywhere–fool, that’s me!! There are no other tabs or widgets or prompts to get you to “booking-a-flight,” so we went back to Air Miles.ca.
At this stage I wanted to ask Teresa-that helpful person from whom I received the e-mail, a couple of questions but she was beyond my growing frustration. I wanted to call her because
near the end of the email she wrote “feel free to let me know if I can be of “additional assistance to you.”
That of course its poppycock because it says quite plainly in another part of the air miles website …”we assure you that we will reply to your questions within 3 to 5 business days!!!!
OK so Teresa is not going to be of any help!!
Let’s go book something. Here we go, from travel assistance to a place to type in flying from YYC to YXE, but it will not let you enter the date on which you want to fly.
OK, I’ll just punch find flight info–uh oh, here’s a flag–it says: “oops, there is an error in your flight search please check the highlighted fields and try your search again.”
OK, so now if you punch in the to and fro(again) they will also allow you to punch in the date you want to fly!! Search..search..search–uh oh, another message:
“there’s no availability on the dates you have selected.” And then they let you know there’s a cash option. KAZAM. Magically there’s a flight for me. Cost $273.28!
Thanks for nothing Air Miles. Let me try something else. So I checked in with the FLIGHT NETWORK— YYC to YXE: cost $188.00.
I booked that flight for two, saved almost $200 dollars and spent no AIR Miles just so I can drive myself nuts in the future, (some rainy Wednesday afternoon) trying to book another flight to somewhere
with the assistance of the Air Miles network!!!
Given the short supply of “available flights on the dates I wish to fly” Air Miles ought to add the GRACE L. FERGUSON STORM DOOR and FLYING COMPANY to their roster of airlines.
Bob Newhart would have understood and appreciated the falldara, gobbledygook and poppycock(or is that poopycock) of trying to book a ticket when there are” no available flights on the dates
you wish to fly.” Pick another option! How about another website!!!!!!
BECAUSE You can’t get there from here!!
/…gasoline at the pumps: 126.1 at Sunoco, Shell, Esso, Husky and Petrocan.
Funny how they all picked the SAME number on the SAME day! What do we need five major oil companies when they all charge the same price?
Why not have just one ? Of course then you wouldn’t have all those different loyalty rewards programs, would you and that would be a shame.
?…the Competition bureau has stirred—it’s going after Bell, for not playing fair with us, consumers!!!! More tomorrow.
/…For whom the Bell tolls, the Bell tolls for thee, English!!!
Beginning this year Sweden will be teaching Mandarin in all elementary schools!
Holy Toledo!!!
Filed under daily comments, Uncategorized Tagged with Air miles, cash, gasoline, mardarin