Deliveries

In these recent days before Christmas, our hallway filled up with cardboard boxes. They were brought to our door by an array of delivery drivers. Most of the parcels had been ordered by our son Ian and we had no idea what was inside them. A particularly large box was addressed to our daughter.

When she finally opened it, we discovered a mattress inside. But nobody here had ordered a mattress. It arrived via Amazon Prime. Clearly a mistake had occurred.

We attempted to let Amazon know and we tried to contact the intended recipient - a Mr D. Spencer who lives in the village of Killamarsh east of Sheffield. It's about ten miles away from our house. Yes we really did try but to no avail.

But the bottom line was that we didn't want that massive box in our hallway. Consequently, today I transported the box to St Vincent's Charity Warehouse on Queens Road. This worthy charity helps needy people  to furnish their homes. The brand new mattress was gratefully received.

Nowadays, there seem to be many issues with deliveries and delivery companies. Maybe it was here in Blogland but I heard of someone who had received a Yamaha electric organ in error. When they pursued the matter, they were told to just keep the organ. It would have been too much trouble for the carrier to correct the matter.

You hear of dishonest delivery drivers and of parcels being stolen from doorsteps. Shopping may have changed forever but not always for the good. It would help if all delivery companies had well-staffed customer service facilities to ease communication. Instead, the reality is that you are more likely to wait for a bot in a telephone queue as a recorded message fibs, "Your call is important to us".

I hope that a weary and deserving someone is soon able to lie down upon that mysterious mattress and then sail through sleep's archway to The Land of Nod. They will have no inkling of  knowledge about the mattress's prior journey.