The Box That Travelled the World!

Yesterday, I had a notice in the mailbox that I had a package to be picked up from the Post Office.

It puzzled me a bit, because I hadn't ordered anything that I could think of, and since nobody in the house is having a birthday anytime soon it seemed unlikely that we would be receiving a package from friends.

A bit of detective work uncovered a tracking number that didn't really tell me much other than the fact that the package had come from outside the USA.

A bit baffled, I went to the post office to pick it up.

It took Joachim — one of the Post Office regular staff I often work with — a good town minutes to locate the box. He returned to the counter and said "It looks like it's from... YOU..."

Indeed, it was.

Back in August of 2021 I made a sale on eBay to a buyer in Shenzhen, China. I promptly packaged up the items — a very old Chinese tea service — and mailed it off. Within about 10 days, it arrived at the destination post office in Shenzhen... at which point the tracking information just show it sitting there.

And sitting there, and sitting there....

The unhappy buyer went to the post office, confirmed that his box was there, but was told that it was being "held in customs." So we waited, and waited...

The unhappy buyer went back to the post office, and was told that the box was being returned to sender from a variety of very vague reasons, that mostly seemed to amount to (a) China Customs not agreeing with the description on the packing list and (b) that the contents were broken.

The buyer told me this, and we agreed to wait till I got the box back. However, there was no further "movement" on the tracking number, so after about six weeks we filed an insurance claim for "lost goods" so I could refund the buyer his money.

In due course, the insurance claim was processed and the refund made... and the whole matter put to rest. In early October 2021.

And now, the box has suddenly shown up, back at my house, here in the USA! Five months later!

And here's the very strange thing: The markings on the delivery label suggest that the box was returned because nobody came to claim it! And what's more... the contents are not broken, in spite of the fact that the box went to China and back, and looks like it was dropped down a few stairwells in the process.

Just one of life's very strange incidents. I wonder what really happened, and why?

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great rest of your week!

How about YOU? Have you ever had any strange experiences with mailing something? What do you think REALLY happened to the box I sent? Who was lying? Do leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20220308 23:54 PST
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