Periodically, over many decades, I've sent gifts by the US Postal Service. I've had the good fortune of living my adult life primarily with my wife, mostly in proximity to her relatives. My kinfolk had just the right distance. Easier for me to get to them when I wanted to than for them to travel to me. Birthdays and Hanukkah generated gifts. My wife and I would wrap them, put them in cartons by destinations, and ship them to the recipients by parcel post. E-commerce existed, but not in its current form. I could order from Sears or JC Penny's catalog, but never did. On occasion, I would receive an edible package as a gift, maybe fruit basket or an array of nuts in packages. I never sent them. To a large extent, I still shop as I always had. With the emergence of Amazon and onIine divisions of most retailers, sometimes I will select a birthday gift, filling a form to have the company ship it to the recipient instead of to me. More often than not, the seller would add a nominal shipping fee. They usually had another section of their order form where I could slip a brief note to accompany the gift. When I incurred a shipping surcharge, it seemed nominal. Not much different than me putting the items into a carton then taking it to the post office, or more recently, independent mailing services.
A much different experience came my way recently. Visiting family on the other coast, one with cramped housing, I anticipated needing a hotel. That city's hotels were notoriously expensive. None stood in reasonable walking distance of where she lived. With some effort, she found a friend who would be vacationing the week of my visit. I could stay there all but the final night.
The owners kept a spotless place. Its floor space paled next to my spacious suburban home. While my house has been a depository for enough stuff to one day burden my survivors at the Estate Sale, this lady added only tasteful, selective things to her interior. Each room had a function with just the things needed to enable that function. Sparse decorative elements appeared, a few wall hangings, glass items arranged in an orderly way on a few shelves, a few hooks and towels in the sole bathroom.
By allowing me to stay there, I saved a thousand or so dollars that would have otherwise gone to a hotel and transportation daily to the people I was visiting. On returning home, I knew that I needed to send them a gift. I also knew that my choice had to be something consumable, probably edible. I doubt if she wants anyone other than herself choosing anything decorative.
Distance and appreciation have created a brisk market for gifts needing delivery. I had received a few from a company called Edibles, so I looked there first. They are known for carved fruits, the perfect short shelf life, tasty edible, marred only by what to do with the vase that contains the arranged fruits. I thought the price seemed high, but the assortment of gifts allowed me to pick something for about $50. While the company depends on long-distance delivery, I found it difficult to arrange shipping to the people on the other coast when I ordered it from home. I reviewed My Cart. That $50 item had a shipping charge of $20. I understand that it is perishable, but that still seemed extreme. Let me look some more. Harry & David, perhaps the prototype of high mark-up, high quality edibles. You get a few pears for $50 but they also offered less perishable edibles. And everything comes elegantly packaged to impress a recipient. $50 items were few but available. Shipping $18. Similar findings at Gift Baskets. Apparently, as an industry, their standard seems to be to maximize revenues by shipping fees well in excess of ordinary employee handling and global delivery services. A little like what we now see at restaurants and hotels. Reservation Fee, Resort Fee. It used to be the car dealers that would sneak stuff into the car you ordered in the 1970s era, when Americans specified the options they wanted. The Japanese companies understood how The Bump, as it was called, irritated drivers. They just built the popular options as standard features and included them in the price of the car. The new standard of selling cars based on respect for purchasers.
Still, I do my share of online purchasing. I will even buy a little extra sometimes to reach the free shipping price threshold. I know what Amazon charges to send orders from warehouse to destination. Maybe Amazon sells chocolates or cheesecakes. They do. I picked one. Same exorbitant delivery fee appeared in My Cart. And when I tried to divert it to my hosts, Amazon took my card number and sent me an automated message that it would come to me instead of as a gift to them. I was able to cancel it in less than two minutes. I know that Katz Delicatessen, that Manhattan classic, ships worldwide. As a native of the Indian subcontinent, pastrami, however classic, may not be suitable for the lady who shared her home. And they have a cheesecake, but some people are vegan. Same limitation of chocolate, perhaps, but hardly anyone other than LDS spurns that. Shipping fee $15.
Walmart better appreciates people like me. They have edible gifts, though not the perishables or elegant gift packaging of the companies focused on shipping gourmet gifts. I was able to find something there for what I intended to spend. Shipping fee, pretty much what I would pay for Amazon or other mainstream e-tailer to send an item that does not reach their free shipping minimum. It let me send the item to the address where I stayed. It did not let me include a note of thanks. A few clicks, and my new friend from India, who I did not meet during my visit, will soon have a token of my gratitude to nosh on, something vegan.
The note of appreciation is important, though. As soon as I authorized shipping, I asked my wife to harvest one of those blank note cards with envelope that we often receive from non-profits wanting a donation. She found a few. It's been a while since I've written an old-fashioned, once mandatory, thank you note on a handsome, sturdy card with an artistic picture on the front. A few sentences of thanks jotted down, and signed. Into envelope. Stamp and return address. Mail carrier picked it up the next day. I'm not sure if my note or the gift basket will arrive at her home first. She will be appropriately thanked.
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