My first test with "Island Time"!

Haha! That's just a taste of slow for ya! Wait'll you get here! Haha!

And the Post Office is sometimes on island time too, expecially if sent book rate. Hope you get it by Christmas!

Me too! LOL If I do, it will be just fine.............:D

According to this Source story, they have retired the "Eating Machine" they had in Puerto Rico, known for jacking packages up to the point where some of them arrived barely taped back together. My latest Oprah mag arrived with a huge hank missing from the back. May have been one of the last items to be so "blessed"...

http://www.onepaper.com/stthomasvi/?v=d&i=&s=News:Local&p=1223611412

Anita,
How long has the Oprah mag been on the shelf here before yours arrives in the mail? Doesn't that drive you crazy? It's soooo much less expensive to subscribe to magazines, but I found I didn't like having to wait and holidays being over before the holiday issue arrived, etc.

Hey Anita!

I hope your magazine isn't the last blessed piece of mail because I'm still waiting for a few items. On Friday November 28th I finally received a paycheck that was mailed from California in late May, but I am still waiting (and believe it or not still have confidence I will receive) two packages sent to me from California via Priority Mail at the beginning of February (how's that for a positive attitude!:D). I have had prescription refills arrive within a week, and then had the next refill take four months. Puerto Rico is a black hole for mail, but you learn to live without dependable mail, dependable electricity, etc.

Dependable?? I think I've heard that word before...oh, wait, it was in a classified for an island car....doesn't pertain to anything else here! Haha!

Yep Juanita, it's much less expensive to get a subscription, and to the credit of all involved, at least the holiday issue did arrive the last week in November. But its bum is rather cold, feeling a draught, you know? 😛

Sheesh, dntw8up, your faith is bottomless. This is definitely part of life in the islands and I have learned to accept it with humor. I sent my best mail tale to the Delegate to Congress, as she was soliciting them in order to build her case for reform: I sent to my mother, a holiday package last year in December by Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. Not thinking anything further of it and because the family was going through some things at the time, I did not pay much attention to whether she'd gotten it - I assumed that she had.

Imagine my surprise in February (the 4th, to be exact), when my mother called to ask me the special occasion for the package, which she had not yet opened. I told her it was her Christmas/birthday package (her birthday is on Dec. 25 as well), and we both laughed. I dug up the receipt with the tracking number, and I had to re-activate the record from the archives, but the archive said the package had been delivered back in December. This could not be true. I sent it off to the Delegate with the admission that my account disputed the official record, but that I was not about to call my mother a liar. Hello...?

Usually the big problem is with items getting IN, not OUT, but I just had to share.

My favorite was when my friend from the states was sending me lots of boxes of books, media mail. Most came relatively quickly, I was surprised... but I got one box label, with the address portion, a large scrap of cardboard and a pre-printed note that said "Sometimes we make mistakes. Sorry for your inconvenience, but this box did not make it."

LOL!!!!:D

Anita,

I'd not heard that the PO falsified delivery confirmation records to indicate a parcel had been delivered when it had not, but I'm not surprised. It's no wonder vendors decline to ship here when we've got package delivery issues that the rest of the US doesn't share. We tend to attribute our postal problems to local "culture", just as we do lousy customer service in other venues, but cultural pride in poor service seems misplaced. A package shipped Priority Mail to or from the VI shouldn't take months to arrive, and when we shop in a Walmart in the states and the check-out clerk smiles and greets us warmly, we shouldn't notice such a profound difference between that experience and our last shopping trip at Cost-U-Less.

One of the islands I lived on you received your magazines thoroughly pre-read. And that was after you had to pay exorbitant international shipping rates. Also, if you received a parcel, you would have to go to the Post Office to pick it up. There the clerk would open it up to inspect the contents. One Christmas I had to stand there while they unwrapped my gift (pretty/sexy panties), and held them up one by one to assess their value!

That's about as bad as a friend of mine who got the notice from Netflix that the movie he had ordered had been received back by them. Only problem is, he hadn't ever gotten it or watched it. Whoever got it, viewed it & was kind enough to return it. 🙂

Years ago, my Mother sent me a care package with some chocolate goodies in it. I waited and waited and well over a year later when I was up visiting Mom, the package arrived back at my mothers house, never delivered. Opened the package and the chocolates were so bad by this time, you couldn't even eat them! Hmmmmm...... wonder how long they sat in our post office before they decided to return the package to Mom!
dylandrewsdad,
Please be sure and let is know IF you ever get it! The test has only just begun! 🙂

I'm convinced that the folks in PR take the magazines home, read them and then drop them back in the mail (or not) when they are finished. I just got the Newsweek announcing Barack Obama's win! KJ

Yea I just dealt with the same situation. I mailed a Priority Package on Nov 10th to Seattle. What doesnt surprise me all that much is the cheap azzz lil post card I sent that was worth a few cents made it just fine in about a week and a half. The 25 dollar tshirt I bought for someone sent the same day to a house down the street. Still has never seen it.

Hmm wonder if he will ever get it....not holding my breath!

Slimy bastards!! haha

Laters all!

I don't know what goes on in PR, but I don't think the magazines are necessarily "delayed" there. They are sent via a special rate, like book rate, and it's just slower.

Wow! I hope that all of my outstanding FWD doctor bills end up in PR. However, am wondering how in the the rest of it will come, with or without identity theft. Think I will buy some insurance tonight!. had mail held for a couple of weeks till I got local PO box, still waiting. Can I sue the US postal service for identity theft? If so, maybe I can afford to live here....

*******UPDATE*****

The package was mailed 12/2 Priority mail and was delivered today, 12/5!!! Same as if it was shipped from the mainland! Now I have some reading to do! I ordered the Settlers Handbook and Living in de VI DVD and it came with a TON of other stuff too! I can't wait to start reading!!!

Have a great day everyone!
Mike

SOUNDS LIKE YOU GOT GOOD SERVICE. ISLAND TIME SAYS IT MAY TAKE MUCH MORE TO GET ANYTHING!!!

I got a notice today from a vendor that my package was returned as "undeliverable" by the US Post Office. It had a valid physical address to a business that receives mail daily. However, the business name wasn't on the package (although mine was). Sheesh.....

*******UPDATE*****

The package was mailed 12/2 Priority mail and was delivered today, 12/5!!! Same as if it was shipped from the mainland! Now I have some reading to do! I ordered the Settlers Handbook and Living in de VI DVD and it came with a TON of other stuff too! I can't wait to start reading!!!

Have a great day everyone!
Mike

bully for you! that's the way it's supposed to happen.