2012 Secret Curly Thank Yous!! - Page 8

rouquinne · 01-03-2013, 06:48 PM

okay, we're near the end and two of our group have sent apologies for sending packages late. i will email the curlies involved privately to let them know what's up.

please please PLEASE always remember to let me know ASAP if something comes up to prevent/hold up your participation. i have resources to make sure everyone receives a gift if something happens to any participant.

it looks like a lot of stuff is being held up at that 49th parallel...

other than sending out names even *earlier*, i would love to hear suggestions for avoiding the horrendous mail delays. i cannot begin to tell you how completely SHOCKED i was that Minxy's gift only took 5 days to get to her. that is almost unheard of when it comes to Canada Post.

then again, i bought some LE MAC from someone in England earlier in the fall and it got here in 6 days.

so i'll start another thread to solicit suggestions because i don't want everyone to incur ridiculously expensive shipping charges like some have. we really want to keep this affordable for as many as possible.

nynaeve77 · 01-03-2013, 06:54 PM

I feel terrible. I sent my package on the 16th and apparently it's still not there.

I knew it wouldn't be there by Christmas but I thought it would surely have arrived by now.

spring1onu · 01-03-2013, 07:02 PM

nynaeve, you shouldn't feel bad; you can't control the very unpredictable mail service.

I've got my fingers crossed it's just held up somewhere and gets there soon.

nynaeve77 · 01-03-2013, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spring1onu

nynaeve, you shouldn't feel bad; you can't control the very unpredictable mail service.

I've got my fingers crossed it's just held up somewhere and gets there soon.

I sent it first class international instead of priority because it was a $20 price difference. I've mailed bazillions of packages that way through ebay sales and have never had such a hold-up.

spring1onu · 01-03-2013, 07:10 PM

This time of year everything is erratic it seems. When I mailed speckla's box to GA I sent the very same size priority flat rate box to a town not far from her in GA and while that one got there only two days later all the way across country, speckla's box took almost 5 days. Crazy because they both left here at the exact same time with exact same shipping and size.

Jess the Mess · 01-04-2013, 09:00 AM

The mail can be really unpredictable. I sent two boxes out priority a week before Christmas. My sis in AL got hers in 2 days while it took over a week for missbanjo to get hers and she is closer to me. I was really starting to worry it was lost somewhere because of the difference.

rouquinne · 01-07-2013, 08:32 AM

sairoo's gift arrived at her mom's who will forward it to her in Japan.

that leaves me with 3 people who haven't received anything as of today.

one of them vanished into the ether after being mailed, another was sent late and i haven't heard from the 3 sender...

rouquinne · 01-07-2013, 11:22 AM

ah, another country heard from... the 3rd package is also still in transit...

Night_Owl · 01-07-2013, 04:57 PM

I am one of the bad curlies who sent my gift late. I've had some personal issues/problems of late and wasn't able to get onto the computer to let anyone know. I feel so horrible that I'm going to try and send my curly a package later in the year to make up for the lateness. There's a lot more "cool local gifts" that I can access in the summer.

As far as the mail is concerned, it's a hit and miss thing. How long it takes depends on what day you mail it. I was told by a couple Canada Post employees, on different occasions, not to mail stuff on a Friday. I was sending a local letter and was told if I mailed it early in the week it would go to the local office and be sorted and sent out from there. Mail it on a Friday and it gets collected, sent to Vancouver to be sorted for the region and then sent back to my area, where it gets sorted again. Adds on several days.

Maybe starting the swap earlier and have an earlier mail-out date?

I know I've learned my lesson, and if I'm allowed to participate next year I will be picking up some fun local stuff over the summer and fall. I almost always mail to the US so if I have a bit of local stuff ready to go all I have to do is add a couple more personal items and then I can mail it out earlier.

rouquinne · 01-07-2013, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Night_Owl

Maybe starting the swap earlier and have an earlier mail-out date?

i did start it 10 days earlier this year.

and i really don't want to dictate mail-out dates to people. Canada Post does have guidelines, i don't know if the USPS does.

Curlyminx · 01-08-2013, 10:14 AM

While I want to out myself to my curly to tell her how sorry I am tha tshe hasn't gotten my gift, I will keep my fingers crossed that she gets it soon and that she will be able to come back here and know that I am truly sorry that she hadn't received it sooner. I mailed out on the Dec. 22, knowing that it was late, but I couldn't get it out sooner.

If it doesn't arrive by THursday, I'm making another box and overnighting it.

I'm so so sorry that my curly doesn't have her gift yet. I feel like crud about it.

NetG · 01-09-2013, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rouquinne

i did start it 10 days earlier this year.

and i really don't want to dictate mail-out dates to people. Canada Post does have guidelines, i don't know if the USPS does.

Yeah, I thought it started super early this year! I didn't get to send anything out near the start because I specifically needed a street festival to happen to shop for what I was looking for, but had I gone to normal stores I would have been done very early, and was glad we had that chance. I don't think starting the exchange earlier is the trick, though perhaps not procrastinating on the part of the senders...

sarah42 · 01-09-2013, 07:41 AM

Has the issue been with delays due to international shipping and/or customs? My only thought would be to limit it to US and Canada participants and have them in separate pools so no one would be shipping internationally. I don't really like that idea, though, because I don't want others to be excluded.

rouquinne · 01-09-2013, 08:36 AM

there's only 4 of us in Canada participating this year - and the 4 of us are the usual suspects from Canada participating...

i think it might have to be a US-only thing in the future in order to avoid these problems.

kayb · 01-09-2013, 08:41 AM

But to be fair, Rou, LadyV got her gift way ahead of schedule, and Jeep managed to get mine to me before Christmas so let's not blame it entirely on customs. Sure it plays a part, but we must also factor in procrastination.

I did enjoy participating and respect any decision that will be made moving forward.

CurlyCanadian · 01-09-2013, 08:43 AM

I don't think you need to limit countries, maybe just set a mail by date. Maybe a week or two before Christmas?

At the end of the day, we're all doing it to have fun. No one is going to hold it against people if gifts take longer. It's the time of year, and mail delays are expected.

rouquinne · 01-09-2013, 08:48 AM

yes, K, and my gift to Minxy got from eastern Canada to the western US in 5 days, so i KNOW it works.

maybe if we switch the holiday so it doesn't happen in December and choose V-Day or Easter/Passover/Spring instead?

kayb · 01-09-2013, 08:54 AM

Ha haha. That's a super cute idea, and I like CC's too.

NetG · 01-09-2013, 09:10 AM

I thought it was brilliant for sariroo to send me mine from an Etsy shop so there wasn't international shipping involved! Plus the whole fact that I love it and wear it nearly every day....

I think if everything is sent before Christmas (despite the fact my winter holiday was well over by Christmas!) international packages taking longer/getting in later depending on what happens seems an acceptable compromise so everyone can be involved who wants.

spring1onu · 01-09-2013, 11:00 AM

I understand having deadlines, but as long as there is communication between the sender who may have a delay (be it a personal problem or a shipping issue) and the person coordinating is it really the end of the world to get it after Christmas as long as we know the sender didn't flake out?