Comments on: Friday Grab Bag: Fivethirtyeight, Lobsters, and More

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:53:21 +0000

I actually just recently ran into the PB Box thing in both Canada and the US. I was trying to get my passport renewed (required a PO Box) and trying to send a camera lens to Canada (required a PO Box).
This apparently made this the most complicated exercise on earth. So annoying (it also increased the cost of doing this by over 2x).

As for the Crumpler bag, it looks like that may be very similar to the one I have, but mine is older – they called it then “Very Busy Man” – not sure if it is that different, or just another name.

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:45:47 +0000

I struggled through some similar issues with Moo recently and ended up ordering cards through iPrint.com instead. The site definitely isn’t as attractive as Moo.com, but I was able to place my order with relative ease. Plus, the total cost was about half of what Moo wanted, and I got the cards faster since they didn’t have to ship from the UK.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:54:34 +0000

I had a similar issue with the post office. Six years ago, I traveled around the country working and when I found myself 350 miles from home on an extended assignment, I tried to get a post office box in the town I was in. To my surprise, I had to present I.D. and then get permission from the postmaster general in my home area to allow me to move my mail from one state to another.

Seriously.

That headache combined with 1) no UPS for FedEx deliveries and 2) no being able to call and check the status of my deliveries made me forsake the useless postal service and head over to Mailboxes Etc. (now the UPS Store). They’re a bit pricey now (~$18 a month) but I can get deliveries from any shipper, I can call and check whether or not a package I’m expecting has arrived, and when my wife goes out to get oversized packages, they load them into the car for her.

The postal service is ridiculously outdated in that regard.

By: Cote'

Cote' — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:51:48 +0000

Moo.com lists the resolution somewhere on their site, but I remember it being so well hidden that I’m not even going to bother looking it up. I had the exact same problem as you: their on-line tools are not really up to snuff. I made all the images I use offline at the resolution of 1024×443, and uploading the pretty high quality jpegs. That’s worked well through 3 printing runs for me.

I’ll look forward to seeing how the Part and Parcel works out. I’ve had my eye on that bag for a long time.

By: James

James — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:48:33 +0000

In Australia, most delivery services don’t deliver to PO boxes because the item can’t be signed for.