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Post by mailartist on Nov 4, 2018 3:35:33 GMT
Did I find the drawing book?
No.
In fact, I spent the afternoon going from one brick-and-mortar dollar store to another, trying to find 6' extension cords. It is the holiday season, with Christmas lights and such, so extension cords should be everywhere. Dollar stores do have electronic aisles, and extension cords are regular fare all the rest of the year, so why not now?
But it appeared that the dollar stores had been restocked with zero (0) extension cords, but instead a triple shipment of pet supplies (kitty collars, kitty treats, kitty toys, kitty kibbles), mounded over in the bins, and piled high to the ceiling. Personally, I blame errant-keyboard Fluffy for hacking into the Dollar General ordering program and skewing the planned order the "feline way."
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Post by mailartist on Nov 3, 2018 15:20:50 GMT
The power of an internet search to be a "personal shopping assistant" is limited, I'm afraid.
Last night, I wanted to take another look at a drawing e-book that I had seen before. I won't mention the name of the company (only to say that it's one of the prime, online retailers), but when I went to the site, I discovered that not only had the name of the book dropped out of my memory, but it had also expired from my "recently viewed item" list. No problem, I thought. I found it once, I'll find it again.
Maybe search engines function differently at midnight, but I soon discovered that any general search for drawing books brought a couple of nominal titles (akin to "How To Draw a Fly," "How to Draw a Flea," "How to Draw a Flea that Lives on a Fly"), but the rest had nothing whatsoever to do with drawing. The subjects seemed so random, that I thought, "well, maybe my search term is at fault," so I amended that, but still -- another stream of completely unrelated items. The first page of search results had about 40% of these "sponsored items," while the second page was almost 80%.
I rather suspect a 0/1 algorithm is behind this, rather than any sort of thinking, rational, considerate human being. After all, I think sellers (let's say, of snowshoes) can buy a certain number of "ad hits," and if hits have been down that day, then the ads still have to appear. So if you're a customer searching for perfume, you get snowshoe ads. If you're looking for a toaster, you get snowshoe ads. If you're an errant kitty walking across the keyboard, "searching" for "lkollilq32awea" -- Fluffy gets snowshoe ads. So, on one hand, I get the "seeming senselessness."
On the other, I did want to look again at this one ebook. But, "likely sale" became "no sale" because I couldn't find it, and soon got irked with the scrum of unrelated marketing (so much so, that a public rant on A World of Snail Mail was needed to cleanse all ire from the system), I closed out the program and moved on. I was interested in the ebook, but not in the useless amount of time to find it.
I'm not blind to the fact that businesses are revenue makers, but treating purchashers like idiots is not the way toward customer endearment. I suppose a random person looking for Saigon cinnamon sticks might be persuaded to buy snowshoes, too, but probably not. Granted, smaller online retailers are more likely to produce the search items I look for. If I'm looking for artist-grade oil paint, then they assume "Gee, she might really want to purchase some paint, so here are the options." It's not a friendly and truly helpful customer service person, but at least it's something, and it's respectful.
I'm so irked with this big online retailer that the idea of returning to the brick-and-mortars for Christmas gifts is appealing. At least, if I'm looking to buy a soup pot to put under the Christmas tree, I know I'll find that in the kitchen aisle. They won't stash kitchen items all over the store, sending me on a wild goose chase to find them.
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Post by mailartist on Oct 31, 2018 0:54:20 GMT
Interesting to hear, Mia, how things are "across the pond." In our area, I think the expectation is that everybody "has a pad" of some sort (meaning, "digital"), so paper isn't needed.
I especially don't know how any US-ers manage Postcrossing anymore, especially with people who want postcards with this design on them, or that subject on them. A few "tourist" locations still carry postcards, but they are just for the local attractions. I don't know of a single retailer in my city who carries anything resembling postcards, although most still carry bi-fold birthday and sympathy cards and such.
I do believe there are some internet places that carry postcards, but they can be expensive ($1 each). On top of international postage, that makes a Postcrossing exchange pretty $$$. Hard for me to justify that (especially for a postcard in return that just says "Happy Postcrossing!") when I can send a full letter for less than that amount.
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Post by mailartist on Oct 30, 2018 18:39:14 GMT
I've noticed lately the almost complete disappearance of "paper products." Local big-box stores used to have large stationery aisles with bound journals and regular paper, but now those areas are shrinking, and stocked with (mostly) computer paper, digital peripherals, ballpoints, and (during school season) an occasional spiral notebook or package of wide-ruled, loose-leaf paper. Aside from padded envelopes and mailing boxes, it's hard to even find regular envelopes for sale. For a while, it was possible to find paper items at thrift stores, but now, those shelves (shrinking in size, also) mostly have old three-ring binders, and dusty staplers. While there will likely be online sellers of stationery and fine art papers, and while scrapbook paper and stickers will continue (at least for a while), I wonder how quickly all paper products will disappear from retail shelves. Mail artists have long relied on "found paper" for their creations, but with online bill pays, and online catalogs, even things like weekly advertisements have disappeared from the mailbox. One can use an envelope pattern to craft an envelope from the page of an old book -- assuming one can even find an old book lying around (those are disappearing quickly, also, as everything goes "e-reader"). Snail mail is tangible stuff. Hard to make it out of nothing. It's no surprise to me that paper products are disappearing. Retailers have to stock what sells, and "if not enough people buy fountain pen paper . . . " -- I get that. BUT I am surprised to see how rapidly paper items are vanishing.
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Post by mailartist on Oct 12, 2018 20:28:29 GMT
Since the letter I received really wasn't interested in a pen pal (as commonly understood), but more in, what I might call, "an accommodating girlfriend," I think any future letters of this ilk will be shredded without thought.
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Post by mailartist on Sept 8, 2018 14:15:11 GMT
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Post by mailartist on Aug 28, 2018 14:26:50 GMT
If a prisoner searched for those hashtags he would probably see my address there. That's part of my concern. If what I've read in newspaper articles is true, US prisoner access to the Internet (i.e., "freedom of information") is severely curtailed. If inmates are allowed the privilege of technology access at all (it is a privilege, which can be revoked, and this can vary depending on the security level of the institution), they can only do basic things: email family, check balances in their personal prison bank account, and read online ebooks. I don't think "random Internet surfing" is part of that package, because it's too easy for inmates to use it for continuing criminal activity. But, it's also not unusual to read of some prison hacking, where prisoners find a way to get access to larger information. I was able to find basic online information on this prisoner, and while it is silent on the actual crime, it sounds like it'll take some time for him to repay his debt to society. Thus, it's not some lesser crime like manslaughter, writing a bad check, or driving over his neighbor's begonias, in which case, he'd have been out ten years ago. Whatever he did was serious enough for him to remain behind bars for at least 20. Not sure I want to be in anyone's orbit who's in that category.
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Post by mailartist on Aug 24, 2018 23:10:23 GMT
Mia, do we know if incarcerated prisoners have open access to the private boards on this site, or are there firewalls that protect from that?
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Post by mailartist on Aug 24, 2018 23:07:31 GMT
I was surprised to receive a "first letter" today from a prisoner in one of the US penitentiary systems, since I have never corresponded with (nor do I intend to, ever, invite correspondence with) prison inmates. I do know that there are pen pal services that match writers with inmates, but I have never signed up, nor agreed to sign up. Perhaps my name was cadged from an old InCo list?
In any event, the envelope currently remains unopened, and I have no intent of opening it. BUT: I could either (1) "round file" and forget it, or (2) return to sender (meaning the prison itself), with a big note saying something about this being unsolicited, and the sender a stranger to me (which the prison wardens may be interested in knowing). This inmate may, in fact, be some poor soul content to pay his debt to society, but it's more likely that there is a whole lot of lies and rumpus beneath that, quite frankly, I'm have zero interest in dealing with -- especially since I have enough ongoing snail mail activities currently that I'm not desperate for new ones. (5Qs and notebooks are fun enough for me.)
Any advice on this subject would be welcome, since this letter smells "stinky," and I don't want to end up in the poo. How is the best (i.e., safest) way to deal with such things?
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Post by mailartist on Aug 13, 2018 15:15:28 GMT
This came to mind. It may not be The Bard, but the following sharp criticism of dishonest sales and commerce is from that era (1600s A.D.), and is in that very poetic "ye olde tongue":
"Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, saying When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes: yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works." -- Amos 8: 4 - 7 (King James Version Bible, 1604 - 1611 A.D.)
Such a Robin Hood, being-generous-with-someone-else's-money "fudging" may seem, to the perpetrator, a harmless thing, but ultimately it will hurt someone someone somewhere, since there is no dishonesty so small that such "Falsifying the balance [book] by deceit" doesn't ripple out and harm "the needy for a pair of shoes."
Such small "bads" matter: then again, cumulative small "goods" matter just as much, but in the opposite direction. So, keep "goods" greater than "bads" for society as a whole.
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Post by mailartist on Aug 13, 2018 14:09:36 GMT
I had challenged the sender on another photo showing similar, and she responded that the stamp was brand new and that her post office does not do mint stamps. Also, there seems to be people reusing stamps that have been used but remained unmarked. Reusing these stamps for postage is also illegal. There are two issues here. First, the action (using questionable stamps on envelopes) and second, the justification. Having done mail art myself, and known many mail artists, my suspicion is that the primary reason for choosing the stamps pictured (the "action") was likely for "artistic" value (matching the envelope's color scheme, etc.) -- rather than sheer adherence to "rule/law." I don't know how long this person has done snail mail, but this strikes me as fairly entry-level work (as mail art goes), so perhaps it's just due to "postal prettiness" enthusiasm and ignorance. Not that "postal prettiness" isn't important. I like "postal prettiness." But obeying the law is important, too. However, as for the action, this individual may not know that used stamps can be put on envelopes to mail, but they must be put in a decorative position. In other words, real stamps must be put in the "real stamp" place. So, again, perhaps ignorance. Or, "I don't wanna know what I don't wanna know." As for the justification, that's a bit more of a concern. Ignorance is one thing, but it seems rather "convenient" that that individual's post office "doesn't do mint stamps." That sounds like "creative excuse-making" and "the devil made me do it" justification, which jangles me a bit. People inclined to be dishonest in small measures are inclined to be dishonest in large ones, and one's true colors will eventually out. For certain, Mia, I wouldn't entrust this individual with any personal financial information! In the US, the postal carrier is the last step in the delivery chain, so it falls to that individual to catch incorrectly stamped mail. I don't know about other carriers, but ours is fairly fastidious, returning mail to sender if it fails to comply (which I've experienced happening before. The USPS doesn't collect "postage due" anymore.) Don't know if your individual lists a return address or not on the envelope, but if so, it could simply be that the royal post doesn't want to deal with any more dead letters than it may already have. For the most part, I have found snail mail folks to be a good bunch. It's the rare bird that doesn't, but rare birds can nevertheless cause a whole lot of ruckus, depending on their postal volume. For me part, I've "overposted" a fair number of letters (usually in using old, non-Forever stamps which have the mailing denomination listed), so the USPS should be running something of a surplus. I tend to figure that if I'm using "complicated" stamps, and requiring some postal worker somewhere to "do the math," I'll at least "over" the stamp amount if I can. That being said (at least in the US), old stamps can still to be used, so long as they stick to the envelope and haven't been franked, or used before. So, mint stamps in old "stamp collections" can often still be used, and are sometimes available for purchase in lots at slightly less than list price (so, like 85% of the listed value). These are fun to use, and I use them a lot. But none of those are franked. I think it's up to the postal system to police things like this, but if you receive a letter from this person again, can you take it to a postal counter, point out the problem, and ask that the envelope be returned to the sender "undeliverable, postage due"? Perhaps getting letters bounced back will convince this person to change. You may not change this person's social conscience, but at least you tried.
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Post by mailartist on Aug 4, 2018 14:09:36 GMT
I have heard years ago (don't know if it's true, or just urban legend) that someone from non-US country put a picture of the toothy Alfred E Neuman on an envelope and mailed it. Nothing else. No city. No zip code. No street address. Just the picture where the address material usually goes. It was successfully delivered to the HQ of Mad magazine.
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Post by mailartist on Jul 30, 2018 12:57:32 GMT
I think that there will be some sort of wax and wane to correspondence, even among those who are actively committed to snail mail. Life happens, or enthusiasm may dip for a while (loss of words . . . failure of the muse . . . laziness?), but for me, it eventually returns.
Also, sometimes my letters are longer or more involved, and those just take longer than the breezy "Hey, howya doin?" note. So that factors in (for me, anyway) in how many letters I can write, and how often.
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Post by mailartist on Jul 26, 2018 16:23:38 GMT
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Post by mailartist on Jun 21, 2018 21:25:06 GMT
Except for one that might be rootbeer (or bad chocolate?) and smells pretty terrible. Use that one for mail to the IRS. Or, your garbage service.
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