It all started back at the end of July when I bought some CDs from CD Baby's constant CD sale involving buying 3 (or more) specially marked CDs for $5 ea. I ordered 4 CDs, including one that I've been wanting for a bit, but it was out-of-stock. I figured this was fine, I was going to save some money on that album, and they'll just ship it to me at the sale price when it comes back in stock. After a month of waiting for it to be back in stock, I looked to check on the stock. The site had it marked as "just a few left". I thought I was going to get my CD, but I wanted to check as I hadn't received an email stating I would be shipped that CD (like their site says they do on backordered items). I call today and I find out that they weren't shipping me a CD. After talking to the customer service agent, I was able to get him to reserve a copy for me and have it shipped. Turns out, it was the last one in the warehouse. Had I not done their job for them in making sure I get my product, I would have had to wait for who knows how long. Trust me, I know first-hand that it's not always the fault of the workers, but I should have been informed at some point, or so you would think.

The next episode is more recent. I was on deviantART and noticed there was a sale on a pretty cool poster. After much debate, I decided that I wanted to buy it and promptly purchased it. This was on the weekend, so I figured it wouldn't be shipped out until Monday or Tuesday (08/31 or 09/01). I get an email on Monday stating that it would be shipped out. "Great," I thought, "it should be here by the end of the week, and even the FedEx site states the same." I check in my building's office on Friday, no product. Later that night, I get on FedEx's site (silly me, trusting FedEx and deviantART with being honest with me), and the poster wasn't shipped yet. Uhh, it's the day that I was supposed to have my poster, and it wasn't even SHIPPED? I was just slightly annoyed, even moreso knowing that it was going to be a long weekend, and it would take an extra day because of Labor Day. I check back on it today, and it ended up being shipped out late Friday, and now is enroute. It's now slated for this Friday. I know, it's not a whole lot to complain about, but it's still annoying when you consider the previous story.

You would think that this would end my troubles, right? Nah, not quite yet. Fate had one more bitter twist for me. Granted, this one isn't really all that tragic, and it doesn't really have a lot to do with shipping, but it does involve more bad news. I decided to order some more CDs from Small Stone Records, Sasquatch's self-titled debut, Throttlerod's latest "Pig Charmer", and Greenleaf's "Secret Alphabets". I get an email from Scott Hamilton stating that Greenleaf's album is newly out-of-stock and won't be back for another 3-4 months. Great. I finally was able to find another worthy replacement of that CD in Dozer's "Beyond Colossal", so, as I said, it's not really that terrible. Still, it wasn't like everything was running as a well-oiled machine.

We'll see how the rest of the week goes now. Seeing as I haven't received any of my products, it still stands to reason that the FedEx truck could blow up, and the USPS could destroy my packages as they have to know by now how much I hate them. I have CDs coming from 3 different areas of the nation, so it'd be interesting to see how well they all ship in comparison to others. My backordered CD is coming from Portland, OR. 3 CDs are coming from North Carolina, and my Small Stone are coming from Detroit Rock City. With my Small Stone CDs being shipped today, I wouldn't be surprised if my NC albums come first just showing how inconsistent the USPS is. Though, by posting this, I hope my pessimism makes the USPS be ultra-efficient and I'll get everything this week like it should. In a perfect world.