DE Books on Amazon

Most of my Christmas gifts get ordered online anymore. Ordering online, as you know, lessens holiday stress, saves gasoline & mileage, and just makes the whole experience fun in my book.

Speaking of books, one of the presents I got is a book (not revealing which book or for whom because sometimes my family reads my public posts - knowing one of my sisters, though, she'll go filing through their books to see which one it might be. Good luck, Deborah!!). Because the book is now out of print, I looked on eBay and Amazon through their extra sellers.

Well!! This particular extra seller ((DE Books on Amazon)) is located in my hometown of Greenville, NC. I thought, "Wouldn't it be funny to find out that the seller is a high school friend of mine?"

I placed an order with DE Books on Amazon on Dec. 9 for standard shipping, which would mean that the item would arrive at a cost of $7.98. The shipping rates are typically inflated to cover the cost of shipping materials and the time it takes to package up the items. I understand this process because Matt and I do it for eBay items regularly. This time around, though, in comparing $7.98 to online USPS postage pricing, I thought, "The book should arrive by Dec. 16 at the latest!" It arrived yesterday, Dec. 18, which is a day after I'd already packaged up items to send out to NC in time for Christmas; and I didn't spend a lot of money, but everything in the package is wrapped!

I was so livid that the book arrived late and wasn't included in the shipment to NC. Granted, I will be carrying it with me, but as an online seller myself, I take umbrage with the fact that these guys charged me more than twice the media rate and the item arrived late!! If they'd spent a little more (of my money), but still making $1-2, the book would have arrived by Dec. 15!!

Amazon allows you to contact the seller, (DE Books on Amazon), which I've done:

"Hi, On this order, I requested standard shipping, which is (oddly) $7.98, and the item arrived on 12/18. Standard shipping* (3-5 business days) should have helped the package arrive by 12/16 at the latest. On the package, you selected USPS Media Mail for books. While I realize this is a good way to ship books because it's less expensive, Media Mail takes longer to arrive. If you want to make money on the shipping fee during the holidays, resulting in later arrivals of shipments, that is really bad business (and can be reflected in feedback).

However, if you had chosen USPS Priority Mail as the option, the items would have been here in 2 business days (i.e. 12/14 at the latest) instead of 7 at a cost of $5.95. I am writing to request a refund of $4, which I think is fair (and you still make money on your shipping): As a result of your choosing the later shipping, I will not be able to send the package wrapped to its destination by Christmas, which is VERY disappointing.

* Please refer to the posted Amazon Shipping Rates & Policies at the bottom of every page."

I think this is a fair request. I don't really care about $4. It's the principle of the thing. Online sellers try to make extra money on shipping, I get it. Like I said, I've done it, but within reason. If the actual price of shipping items comes to less than half of what the person has already paid, without question, we will refund a split. It might turn out to be $2-3, but it's the giving thing to do. Around the holidays, I like to think (against my better judgment) that people will have a little bigger heart; when they don't, I call them on it.

I doubt this will come to anything and the guy will hang onto that $4 for all it's worth - in this economy. I completely expect that. While writing this whole thing out, I felt it was kind of petty. But, dammit, it's not. My feedback will not be positive, but at least in this little exchange, my voice will have been heard, and ultimately THAT is what's important and what makes me American.

What a Horrible Wreath!

We've programmed out Tivo to collect as many holiday programs throughout the season as possible. We always start this up just around Halloween after we've (sadly) discovered that we missed It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! Along with the Thanksgiving specials, food shows, and odd HGTV holiday decorating episodes, we also happily find things we've forgotten about or don't see too often, like The Wizard of Oz, It Happened on 5th Ave, etc.

Then there are all the religious shows, the arias, operas, musical extravaganzas, plays, and other things they show during the entire holiday season. There's a show with Joanna Bogle, a Brit who's a die-hard Catholic. She writes a weekly column for the Catholic Times, has authored a few books, and has been providing humanitarian aid to people in Africa.

Her show, Feasts & Seasons, comes on around the holidays. I watched her show briefly last year and did the same today, but I can't watch the whole thing; it's kind of a train wreck and I find Joanna Bogle tremendously condescending. She actually leans on her counter for most of her show, supposedly making you feel comfortable to listen her spew her religious hypotheses.

The show is horribly produced and her creations are left wanting. Left wanting for more talent and creativity for sure! Even though her show lasts for 30 minutes, I have to turn it off after about 10 minutes or just fast-forward to see what other atrocities she makes or find other postulations she asserts, such as there being a sort of "Summer Christmas" based on the birthday of John The Baptist. I find it all a bit strange. Not foreign, but strange.

Here's a perfect example of a wreath she made a few years ago, which she finds "wonderful" and "exciting". She goes into explaining how the circle/wreath represents eternity as well as the cycle of a year.






Apparently, this is a straw wreath that's held together by red, shiny, plastic ribbon. The ornaments she "changes from year to year" are horribly placed around the circle. The ornaments aren't placed very aesthetically, either.

She mixes in the pagan timing of the Christmas celebration with "biblical time lines", so that John The Baptist's "Summer Christmas" is opposite Jesus' Christmas in the winter. John The Baptist (JTB) said, "As he increases, so must I diminish." Bogle's explanation of the passing of the summer solstice (in terms of JTB and Jesus - and their two "Christmases) the days get shorter (JTB diminishes). Then after the passing of the winter solstice, the days get longer (Christ increases). And this cycle repeats itself annually. She finds that analogy very instructive, while the audience might tend to find it all very convenient to her interpretation.

Just now, as I was researching a little more about her before I posted, I discovered that she's got a totally different biography than I would have expected AND there's a YouTube video of her speaking out against the use of condoms in Africa as a means to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Here's the video. Please watch in amazement - the women are "Bogle" and "Baggaley" are on the show and disagree very much - Bogle, in particular, becomes "fierce"...):