Coming out of our first mail forwarding event, I learned a few things. Most notably, I need to give myself more lead time to receive our mail.
Despite this lesson from the postal service, I still felt pretty confident in my Amazon ordering skills. I had no issues ordering items while we were stationary during our first three weeks of full-time RVing. So, how hard could it be while we were on the move?
Getting access to Amazon can be a chore in itself
I am spoiled. I’m so accustomed to broadband internet. But, as most full-time RVers will eagerly tell you, getting reliable internet on the road can be a challenge. Especially if you enjoy traveling to more remote places like us.
A few weeks into our time on the road, we learned we needed some more things for the RV that hadn’t been apparent in our weeks of stationary camping. For example, we didn’t have nearly enough leveling blocks for some of the ridiculously unlevel sites we’d encountered.
We’d been up in Michigan’s upper peninsula when I decided we really needed these things. So, as soon as I found a town with more than half a bar of cell signal, I hastily ordered a few essential items from Amazon.
You paid for delivery?!?
I placed my order with Amazon on July 1st. Because there was an upcoming federal holiday (4th of July), the soonest Amazon Prime could deliver my package for free was July 5th.
Unfortunately, we planned to head off to our next campground on the 5th. And this was be the last private campground we’d be at for at least two weeks. There wouldn’t be another reliable address I could to send anything to until at least July 18th.
So, with my back up against a wall, I decide to pay for shipping to make sure everything arrived by July 3rd. I never pay for shipping. I have Amazon Prime for exactly this reason. However, in this one instance, I decided it was totally worth the money so I wasn’t stressing over the delivery.
It’s coming when?
After completing my order, I received an email from Amazon telling me they split my items in two separate shipments. Despite this change, both packages were still scheduled to arrive on July 3rd.
All was still good in the world. I had UPS tracking numbers, and I felt pretty smug. I had a narrow window to get the things I needed (ok, I wanted) and I’d made it happen.
The following day, I received an email update. My packages were going to be delayed.
What the heck?!? I paid extra! Noooo. UPS can’t do this!
One of the packages eventually got back on track and arrived by the 3rd, but it only had a single item in it. The primary package with all the other items was truly delayed, and UPS wasn’t putting any updates on their website. All I could see is that it arrived in Lansing, MI at 5:33 am on July 3rd, and then it was supposedly in Missouri an hour later.
That’s completely the wrong direction by the way! What the heck?
There were no further updates for the rest of July 3rd. And nothing more on the 4th because UPS was closed for the holiday (as they should be, but.…)
Waiting for the mail
Once again, I found myself in the unenviable position. We wanted to depart for our next campground, but I would probably be sitting around waiting for the package to arrive.
This was a serious blow to my morale. Full time RVing is supposed to be fun, right? What am I always at the mercy of mail delivery?
When I woke up on July 5th, I eagerly checked with UPS again hoping for good news. I could see was that my package made it to northern Michigan, and was out for delivery. But who knows what that meant? It could be the very last item the truck delivered that day 🙁
Knowing I couldn’t do much to change the result, I decided to go out for a run and we could deal with it when I got back. Maybe Keith and Finn could drive to the next campground, while I hit a coffee shop (to goof off on free wifi) until the package arrived.
As luck would have it, my package wasn’t the last one on the truck. It arrived at our campground around 11:30 that morning. 30 full minutes before our checkout time! Crisis averted. And, yet another lesson learned:
(1) spend more than three days at each location; and
(2) don’t ever, ever pay for shipping!