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Bite me Fed Ex.

35 Comments

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My husband flew to North Carolina last month. He traveled solo as the reason for the trip was a Marine Corps reunion of sorts…. and sorry, but I’ve been there, done that, have no desire to do it every two years. I certainly don’t begrudge him the time with his fellow Devil Dogs but we both know he has a better time without me standing around looking bored and checking my watch every 20 minutes.

Anyhoo… he spent a week there and it should come as no surprise to any of my loyal readers that some of that time was spent antique shopping.

What did surprise me was the fact he found the one particular item I’ve been searching for since we turned our barn into a man cave extraordinaire five years ago.

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An antique wall phone!

Oh, I’ve seen them up here, but they’re either in terrible shape, ridiculously expensive or remodeled to modern standards.

The one he found in Wilmington, N,C. was perfect.

From the early 1900’s, in amazing shape with original hardware, a cord that wasn’t frayed and operational crank and ringer.

Score!

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The husband called me immediately, texted pictures and said he’d talked the owner down from $295 to $265… a decent price. Naturally I wanted it and knowing he’d have to ship it home, he bought it quickly and headed to the Fed Ex down the road before they closed.

It was late Friday afternoon and he was flying home the next day. We knew it would be pricey to pack and ship, but figured paying another hundred or so was worth it.

Needless to say we miscalculated slightly.

Packing was $66. Understandable as it was an awkward and fragile item and the husband happily agreed. But when the clerk rang up the shipping cost at $610? My guy almost had a heart attack.

$610 to mail a box! Is it me, or is that completely insane?

Husband took the packed box and vowed he’d bring it on the plane with him the next day even if he had to buy it a separate seat. Which ironically, would be cheaper.

Oh, and here’s another question – have any of you run into the “convenience fee” stores are charging now if you use a credit card instead of cash?

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We haven’t seen it in Maine yet, but North Carolina is clearly on board.

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35 thoughts on “Bite me Fed Ex.”

  1. I’ve never shipped anything by FedEx but, given the careless manner in which they handle deliveries, they can definitely still bite me. Real hard. Right there.
    The coffee shop where I am called by my name and I don’t have to give them my order has a surcharge for small purchases to cover what they pay for the service. Cash is king at all times, long live the king.
    The phone looks great. If you ever want to pretend to talk give me a jingle or, in my case, contact the mental health hotline.😵‍💫

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    1. Is cash still king in your neck of the woods? I swear every time I use it I feel like a dinosaur. Even more so when I refuse to pay digitally and force companies to mail me a paper bill… that I pay with a check. Remember those?
      🤣

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  3. Staying home from someone else’s reunion is a good call. I was advised to go to Seattle with my wife but not the reunion. I went out to dinner with one of her (our) friends instead. A splendid time was had by all.

    The credit card fee is an interesting one. Since no one accepted cash at the height of the pandemic, cards became the norm. Now, some places still don’t want cash, while others make you pay the processing fee to use a card. And it’s hard to know which is which until you pay.

    Since it actually costs more to “process” cash in a high volume business (they have to pay someone to count it), will we see the advent of cash surcharges in some settings?

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  4. Congrats on the cool find! It has gotten extremely expensive to ship anything which is why Amazon has done so well – our favorite restaurant has take to adding the fee – they say it’s because tariffs are killing them. I don’t understand why but they’re a small operation and I trust them.

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  5. There have been a few “card only” instances around these parts, but with our median age being so high cash is gonna be around here forever😊. Have not seen that frustrating fee yet, but thanks for the heads-up there.

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      1. We visited a friend in CT a year ago. We bought two statues. Total cost to ship by the shop was $100. One was an elephant and the other was the Hindu god Ganesh. They were both about 18 inches tall.

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  8. The phone is magnificent and the price was a steal! Yeah, FedEx is super expensive—as is UPS and USPS. I wouldn’t have trusted any of them with it, though.

    Convenience fees all over the place using CC’s!

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    1. It does.
      At least it could, if we wired it correctly. The ringer still works and all the original wiring is in place at the back. But we don’t have a phone line in the man cave, and honestly don’t want one.
      😉

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  15. I’m super relieved. I saw the title, read the first few lines, and thought die sure this perfect phone showed up in splintered pieces at your house.

    Sounds like your husband knows when you’re dangerously close to dumping his thrift-store shopping ass and finds something to change your mind. Good for him.

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  17. Excellent find! Non-excellent shipping cost. And by bringing it on the plane with him, he could cradle it tenderly and make sure it didn’t get dinged up.
    Ah, yes, the convenience fee. I see it ’round here mainly for service companies that come out to your house and where bills tend to be expensive – plumber, electrician, etc. But they tell you before you pay AND you’re at home so your checkbook is handy. Are we all seriously going to have to go back to writing checks?

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      1. I hear you. I’ve slowly morphed to paying online these days, but that’s a recent development, and there’s no way anyone is putting me on auto-pay. I like to be very hands on with my money. And I balance my checkbook every month – I think there are about 4 of us left in the world who do that.

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