The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Tuesday 7 October 2008

Stop Press: UPS Makes Successful Delivery!

Even when a company gives a delivery window that extends to 5pm, there is a time during the afternoon when I lose any confidence of my delivery being made.

Today it was at 3.30pm that I reached this point. Beyond that time my annoyance was only going to grow by the minute (quite unreasonably really, given that there was still a whole hour and a half available to UPS to make a successful delivery on the sixth attempt).

At 3.40 there was a knock on the door.

“Finally, we’ve caught you in” said the driver.

Mick (who I had despatched home to receive the parcel), was very restrained. He didn’t point out that they may have a better rate of successful deliveries if they tried to make the delivery on the agreed date (and I’m sure it wasn’t the driver’s fault; I’m sure that it’s some person in the office at the depot, who doesn’t have to deal with customers, who kept initiating erroneous delivery instructions).

So, finally I have my parcel.

And what was in it? Well, there was a Steripen. But there was no covering letter or note. Nothing to indicate whether it has been repaired or replaced. It looks like it may be a new one. It’s certainly got a new light tube and it doesn’t have a serial number sticker inside, which my old one did. It’s also been supplied with one of their fabric cases and I note that it is of a lighter design than the original one I had.

I’ve not been able to test it yet. I didn’t think to ask Mick to bring some batteries with him, and it wasn’t supplied with any.

So, I’m pleased that the parcel has finally been received. I’m pleased to have a repaired/replaced Steripen that should work. The only issue during my disgruntled-with-Steripen period I bought one of the Aquagear filter bottles, which looks to be a much more reliable option to me, so it’s questionable as to whether the Steripen will now get any use.

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