Post office games

     This should be a fun blog.  Each time I've written a book, with the exception of the very first one, I've put them up for a free giveaway on a web site called goodreads.com.  It's a nice way to get my work out there, and people enter to win a copy (or copies, depending on how many you want to provide) of my books.  The contest ends, and goodreads lets me know who the decided I need to give my free copy away to, and I have to mail them off.  No problem.  You also get to decide what countries you want people to be able to enter from.  What countries?  People from other countries can enter?  Oh, that's so cool that I can maybe go international!  So I allow America, Canada, England and Australia to enter.  And of course, a girl from Australia wins a copy.  No problem, I know how to fill out a customs tag.

     I buy an envelope, address it, and head to the post office to mai lthe book.  Congratulations, hooray!  I find out it costs me $14.20 to mail the book overseas!  HOLY COW!  Do you believe this?  Oh well, I guess it's a small price to pay for having someone from another country read my stuff, right?  While I'm waiting to pay, I notice the "pre-paid boxes" hanging on the back wall with signs telling how much it costs to mail each one.  I mailed one of those boxes out to another author who was having some kind of book fair giveaway thing last week!  Cool...cool...uh...the size of box I used shows a mailing price of $10.90 or something like that.  I mailed mine with a cheaper stamp.  My stamp said $5.40 or something.  Oh no, now maybe the box didn't make it?  Oh &^%$!

     So I run home and check my computer.  I did have tracking on the package, so I can see where it went...hopefully.  I check, and the package went anyway, even with the short postage.  Where did it go?  It was MISSENT!  The post office sent it to Seattle when it was supposed to go to some other Washington city.  They figured it out, and finally send it to the right place, though.  And...no one picked it up.  It says a notice was left.  Hopefully someone will pick it up soon. 

I hate the post office.