24 September 2009
A tale of two kits ... I ship Z10000 kits and assembled
boards by mail. First class mail domestically and to Canada and Air Mail
internationally, usually in a size 000 padded mailing envelope. If to the US
or Canada, I add a couple of red "First Class Mail" stickers and if
international, I use a red "Air Mail" inked stamp on the envelope's front
and back.
Early in September, I sent a Z10000 kit to a VE3 ham
in Ontario, perhaps 500 miles airline from Northern Virginia. The transit
time for this "First Class" envelope was 15 days, representing about 30
miles a day travel. (About the speed before railroads were introduced in the
1840's.) Not long afterwards, I posted a Z10000 kit to a VK ham in
Australia, via Air Mail. It arrived in six days after going half-way around
the world.
US shipments run between two to four days, depending
on distance, although some areas, such as New York and New Jersey are slower
than others at the same distance.
The US and Canada are major trading
partners—historically Canada is the US's largest export market and vice
versa. One would think that mail service between the US and Canada
would reflect that importance. I should add that this is not the first time
I've had reports of very slow mail service to Canada, with as long as three
weeks delivery time not being unknown. Where the source of delay resides is
unknown to me, but delay there is.
