POSTSCRIPT: Thank you so much, nice people!!! So many of you stepped up – wow! So here’s the story: I found a super-cheap Oster blender in WalMart here today. It cost more than the blender jar I was looking at, but if you figure in the cost of shipping it twice (once to somebody in the US, then once to me), it actually (and stupidly) worked out about the same to buy a whole new blender here JUST FOR THE JAR. And, I guess, in case my excellent pro-quality blender (base/motor) ever does break, I have a spare made-in-China blender to fill in! Plus, it came with an extra blade, just in case… Plus, after reading this post, Cristina Ramos Payne (of Home Spun Juggling) offered to sell me the book DIRECTLY, cutting the Amazon middleman and shipping straight to my house. All of which still leaves me with a credit on Amazon.com that I cannot use for eBooks or MP3s, so at least $10 must go towards shipping. Sigh....
I am sad about my blender. The glass jar broke a while ago and it’s tough to find a replacement here (probably because I bought it online – doh!), plus, these are expensive here.
WalMart.com currently offers EXACTLY the unit I need for $9, plus $4.99 shipping within the US, even less than Amazon, and significantly less than I’d be paying here, even with what it would cost to ship it on to me.
(do you see where I’m going with this…?)
From the USPS website, it looks like it would cost $7.45 to ship the package to my home address via First-Class Mail® International Parcel. You’d (see what I’m doing here, using the second person?) need to do it at a post office, and I could add a couple of bucks for your mileage etc.
I actually have a decent-sized credit on Amazon.com that could, theoretically, be used to buy such a thing except for the fact that a) most Amazon vendors don’t ship to Canada, or b) they want a million bucks to ship it to Canada – like base shipping of $30 or so…
I would reimburse you either with PayPal or by buying you something of equivalent value on Amazon.com, since my credit is virtually useless to me anyway with their minimum shipping charges to Canada (per package minimum = $4.99, per-item $3.99, for a total of $9 shipping before you even get a book in your cart. :-(
(they won’t let me buy a gift card with the balance in my account - probably because that would be too convenient)
Here’s what I was planning to buy, by the way, if only it didn’t cost $12 to ship. No School Today?: A Home Spun Comic Strip Collection, by Cristina of the Homespun Juggling blog. I love her cartoons, and this is a whole book of them! If you live in the US or anywhere else that isn’t, apparently, Siberia, I highly recommend you pick this up. I may still buy it from BN.com, who manages to charge $3-5 for shipping to the same places Amazon doesn’t venture for less than 10 bucks.
Anyway, if you live in the US and can help a sister out, I’d appreciate it. I promise this isn’t one of those things where you have to PayPal a bunch of money to Nigeria!!!
I can help. I'll email you.
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy to bail you out of your Nigeria problem. :) I have to go to the p.o. anyway to send something to my sister sometime in the next few weeks, so it's no trouble.
ReplyDeleteI can help you out easily with the book. I have a copy here I could mail to you directly. (I admit, you confused me a bit with the whole blender thing. Did you want that as well?)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, my email is on my profile. You might have it, too, from the carnivals I've done.
Peace and Laughter!
I see you have an offer already. I was going to say that I could pick one up on my next Wal Mart trip and send it. I'm all about trying to do things the less expensive way :-)
ReplyDeleteYou'd think shipping wouldn't be bad between the US and Canada- I mean we're next door neighbors and all.
Hey, all! Read the update at the top of the post and thanks to everybody who volunteered to help!
ReplyDelete