Housemate will possibly have presents for Valentine’s Day in February, for his birthday in early April or for Easter in mid-April. We don’t normally exchange gifts on Victoria Day in May or Canada Day in July but that could change in 2025.
Reliance on Canada Post for prompt delivery of catalogue orders was taken for granted when we were growing up in rural areas and that reliance extended through several decades of our aging process.
It was simple: fill out the catalogue order form, enclose a cheque or money order for the total amount, including taxes and shipping, and then eagerly volunteer to fetch the mail and parcels from the post office. There was much rejoicing in the home when catalogue orders arrived, particularly in the cases when the parents disappeared to another room to open what turned out to be gifts for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.
Alas, the two major catalogue companies no longer exist, but in their place are online shopping and a tiny bit of catalogue shopping from companies whose reputation is mostly unknown and therefore untried.
Then Housemate finally answered my question: “What do you want for Christmas?”
His response surprised me but I took it under advisement and proceeded to pop into a store or two in search of the items he thought he would enjoy, (I’m not identifying them here in case he might be reading this column and that would spoil the surprise on Christmas morning.)
The surprise will likely be an IOU in his stocking for those items because, I have found, they are almost as rare as hen’s teeth or dishwasher-safe fine china. The outlets I have visited no longer carry such items in their inventory and phone calls to other spots verify that low sales have removed them from the shelves.
In desperation, I reluctantly went online and found a treasure trove just waiting for my choices. I made a few choices and filled in the necessary information required for delivery purposes. I crossed those items off my shopping list and sat back to wait for delivery.
All I’ve received so far is a notice of apology, noting that delivery is through Canada Post, the Crown Corporation that has been on strike for dozens of days. There is no guarantee that the merchandise will arrive in time for Christmas.
But then the company offered the solution: I could pay a few dollars more to have delivery undertaken by another firm, but still without any promise of before-Christmas arrival. Why would I pay more money without such a guarantee? I declined this offer even though it might suggest that I don’t think Housemate deserves an extra $49.53 expenditure to get him a gift on time.
When another speciality catalogue arrived in the house, I browsed and saw at least one item Housemate might appreciate. In addition to the price plus taxes, there would be an additional charge of $16 for delivery. I had to ponder that a bit, then found out Canada Post would be involved and I shuddered to pay the delivery fee without an arrival date.
Because we don’t know when postal workers will be back on the job, Christmas might be a dismal morning for Housemate. Perhaps if I ask a friend to bake a pie that I can place in a gift-wrapped container, he won’t notice his stocking does not contain any items he requested.
It could be called his Merry Christmas pie and he will think he has a brilliant partner who knows just what he would like for Christmas.
Joyce Walter can be reached at [email protected]
