UPS/USPS shipping issue

[shootingstar]

I'm going to just use this as a venting place...

I live in Canada. I shop online a lot, and 99.5% of the time, it's coming from the states. Take the current order for example. It's getting on close to 3 weeks, yes, THREE WEEKS for a small package of vitamins to arrive. Last time it was 3 weeks minus a day. Very frustrating.

So I just use my friend's address in WA for shipping and I go once in a while to pick them up. At least you guys get it delivered free to your doorstep in a few days!

I have yet to buy any physical object online from outside of Canada because this waiting problem plus customs brokerage fees. And I don't see it happening for myself in the near future.

When I go into the U.S., I do shop --in person. Just for me to buy a pair of shoes in the U.S., I consider it a risk in case I discover at home it wasn't a good purchase because my feet are slightly uneven and I have my orthotics to consider. I bought a pr. anyways..I guess the shoes will get broken in soon.

[sundial]

3 weeks ago I went to a UPS shipping terminal in my town. I was shipping a painting and it was to arrive at the destination the next day. It never arrived. It never received an initial trailer scan. UPS put a tracer on it but it was a no go. They checked in the damage/lost bin at the terminal and it was not there. It's somewhere out in the great black hole. I'm still waiting for UPS to pay me for a lost original oil painting.