In today's mail, I get a nice letter from The U.S. Postal Service advising me that one of my parcels was found empty at the Bulk Mail sorting center in California (it was destined for Sacramento) and that I should apply to Canada Post, if I had insurance, to get a refund. Well, first off, by the way the chips were packaged, they would have had to have been forcefully removed from the parcel to disappear, and being that I sent them Expedited post, which is supposed to mean they are given special handling, I am a little miffed. Worst part is, the parcel contained $164.00 U.S. worth of chips for the buyer, and Canada Post, in its infinite wisdom will only insure for $100.00 Canadian unless you spend the extra funds to send it special delivery which allows you to purchase extra insurance. Being as I have shipped hundreds of parcels, and am always cautious over how I packaged them, I never spent the extra $$$ as it would drive up the price I had to charge. Well, to learn a hard lesson, It appears I will be issuing a refund to the buyer for approximately $265 Canadian, and IF I am lucky, in 3 -4 months Canada Post, once it reviews my claim, MAY reimburse me for $100.00 Canadian, putting me out about $165.00 (although U.S. Post offers the promise that if they find anything matching the EXACT description of my items, they will send them back to me....yeah right, try to describe 60 plus different Casino chips!). Would sure like to know who that CHIPPER Is at the post office!!!

A hard lesson to learn to say the least.