Rant of the Day v2.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Particleboard for sink cabinets!!!
I build my own kitchen cabinets.
I build almost all of them out of particleboard.
I build the sink cabinet out of plywood.

[Hydromet]

Particleboard for sink cabinets!!!
I build my own kitchen cabinets.
I build almost all of them out of particleboard.
I build the sink cabinet out of plywood.

+1.
Particle board (used, recycled, free) is for templates, not much else.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Some sleuthing has located my package.
I pass on the details in case it is useful to others.
Amazon just shows the rubbish above.
The UPS website for my home country still shows that the package number is invalid.
However, I guessed the package was in the US. Accessing the US UPS website also showed invalid number.
However, after three days of this, sometime in the last 12 hours the details are now available on the US website only.
It would appear to be in a rail yard outside Chicago.
Let's hope the gangbangers don't decide to raid this one.
I am guessing that the UPS website in my own country will 'discover' the package once it arrives in-country, as this happens with postal stuff from China, with Canada Post only 'discovering' it when it arrives in Vancouver.

[PHXPhlyer]

Fans on drying out under-sink cabinet.
Took a pic of Model # and took it to my neighborhood appliance parts store and the counter guy looked up the most likely culprit, the drain pump, and he gave me some troubleshooting tips as well as how to remove and replace said pump if it is the problem.
$90 for the small plastic pump module.
Haven't decided if it will be worth my time to put a plywood bottom on the cabinet or just make do with the slab.
A little more space if nothing else.

PP

[tango15]

Some sleuthing has located my package.
I pass on the details in case it is useful to others.
Amazon just shows the rubbish above.
The UPS website for my home country still shows that the package number is invalid.
However, I guessed the package was in the US. Accessing the US UPS website also showed invalid number.
However, after three days of this, sometime in the last 12 hours the details are now available on the US website only.
It would appear to be in a rail yard outside Chicago.
Let's hope the gangbangers don't decide to raid this one.
I am guessing that the UPS website in my own country will 'discover' the package once it arrives in-country, as this happens with postal stuff from China, with Canada Post only 'discovering' it when it arrives in Vancouver.

What I have learnt both from working in parcel sorting from the Royal Mail and my own experiences of shipping books overseas, is the following:

None of the systems that the companies use seem to talk to each other. Despite all the electronic assistance, the amount of mis-sorting is phenomenal - possibly due to poor geography skills. Usually, it disappears into a black hole once it leaves the Sorting Hub at Heathrow, until it appears at the destination sorting office, often with a week of nothing in between.
I recently sent a book to Greece. Despite having the correct customs documentation, it sat in their warehouse for over a week.
I recently ordered a book via Amazon, to be delivered by the Book Warehouse. A week later I get a message from the long river saying that they have no idea when it will be despatched, because Book Warehouse is not responding. It arrived in the post the next morning.

[1DC]

Have noticed when shifting stuff between Oz daughter and us and vice versa via various parcel delivery companies.Going south the parcel quickly gets to Melbourne airport and then disappears for a week before reappearing for distribution in Melbourne. Coming north, similarly, the parcel quickly gets to Heathrow and then disappears for a week before it reappears for distribution in the UK.
Usually distributed quicker in Oz than in the UK.. As an aside the fastest delivery occurred when Oz daughter decided that she was going to be a permanent resident in Oz and we shipped 7 tea chest sized boxes of personal stuff out, air freight was cheaper than sea freight and for the money we could have sent up to 15 boxes within a weight that I can't remember! A van picked the cargo up and 3 days later Oz daughter got a call to say the boxes could be picked up at a Qantas freight warehouse at Melbourne airport.She just managed to stow them in her SUV and was told to present herself at Customs on the way out. At Customs a giant female jobsworth (Oz daughter is 5ft. 1in.) made her remove all 7 boxes from the car then open the one nearest to her she gave it a cursory glance without moving and told her she could repack her car and leave, then went back in her office. I suggested to daughter she should be happy she wasn't caught for any duty, daughter thinks the woman was just being nasty!

[tango15]

Have noticed when shifting stuff between Oz daughter and us and vice versa via various parcel delivery companies.Going south the parcel quickly gets to Melbourne airport and then disappears for a week before reappearing for distribution in Melbourne. Coming north, similarly, the parcel quickly gets to Heathrow and then disappears for a week before it reappears for distribution in the UK.
Usually distributed quicker in Oz than in the UK.. As an aside the fastest delivery occurred when Oz daughter decided that she was going to be a permanent resident in Oz and we shipped 7 tea chest sized boxes of personal stuff out, air freight was cheaper than sea freight and for the money we could have sent up to 15 boxes within a weight that I can't remember! A van picked the cargo up and 3 days later Oz daughter got a call to say the boxes could be picked up at a Qantas freight warehouse at Melbourne airport.She just managed to stow them in her SUV and was told to present herself at Customs on the way out. At Customs a giant female jobsworth (Oz daughter is 5ft. 1in.) made her remove all 7 boxes from the car then open the one nearest to her she gave it a cursory glance without moving and told her she could repack her car and leave, then went back in her office. I suggested to daughter she should be happy she wasn't caught for any duty, daughter thinks the woman was just being nasty!

One of my most unpleasant encounters with a customs officer was in Brisbane. I was actually in transit from Singapore to Auckland, but we had to get off the aircraft and go through customs. A very dominant female (possibly an ex-prison officer!) asked me where I was travelling to and why. I was then made to open my cabin bag, whereupon she took everything out and placed it on the bench. I had a couple of lighters, (gifts from a bar in Singapore that was frequented by Nick Leeson), but she said that only one was allowed, even though I was in transit. She kept the other one and moved away, leaving me to re-pack the bag. That incident totally put me off ever visiting Australia.

[PHXPhlyer]

I worked in a UPS sorting hub in the early 70's while in college.
Huge building crisscrossed by by large conveyor belts going to and from truck loading areas and through sorting areas.
It was amazing to see the number of mangled parcels due to jams on the conveyor belts and also to see the various contents coming down the belts after their packaging was destroyed.
An appalling number of the destroyed packages were in flimsy boxes that should have never been accepted in the first place.
More than once there was great mirth when a bunch of sex toys came down the belt after a jam was broken up.

PP

[llondel]

I ordered a new hard disk on Friday because my server is telling me it's getting read errors on one of its drives. Amazon said delivery Wed-Fri next week, UPS says it's arriving today.

Side rant - I had a couple of 4TB NAS-rated drives and they've both started showing defective sectors in less than two years. At least I know how to replace the drive this time, having done the first one a couple of months back. Running a ZFS pool on the server so it can copy data to the new drive fairly painlessly.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I have never had an issue with Western Digital drives. I use those exclusively now.

Looks like my parcel has just been driven across town for a 'plane ride.
So far, it appears to have moved by van, semi, train, van, and now aeroplane.
It will probably then be van, semi, van, van, for 9 transfers in total.
Probably another 5-6 days, allowing for customs at CYYZ, and will arrive on time or a day early.
It's a replacement part for my snowblower, so I am keen to know that it will arrive before the next significant snowfall, which is forecast for 6 days' time.

[Smeagol]

Living, as I do, down a dead-end rural lane in remote Norfolk, deliveries and collections by courier companies can be very uncertain. Probably not helped by the fact that our 'main' road, a single track metalled lane is called Back Lane and the rear entrance down an unmetalled track is Front Street!
Two packages have been delivered to the wrong houses, the first I recognised the location from the photo sent as proof of delivery, it was a near neighbour with a completely different name and address, the second I found slightly further away but in the same post code when I knocked on doors in the post code, different neighbour with similar name. Collections have been worse. Tried to return a car part that was incorrect for my vehicle took three attempts. Twice DHL claimed to have visited but 'no one home' except that I was at home both times. What they should have said was 'couldn't find house so gave up'.

[Wodrick]

In these parts Amazon deliveries are done by dedicated Amazon branded vans. They show position and number of stops on the application.
Yesterday waiting for my cameras I had the van a few Km away, 8 drops to make. 16.30.
I have things delivered to the English Supermarket 0900 - 1700 are his opening hours.
I decided to wait as not much else to do so I sat outside the S/market and waited, it was ages before the van moved, now showing 6 drops to make. 1650.
Stopped again moved at 1655. Going to be tight thinks I. She arrived with 2 mins to spare. I got my parcel. no ID request or anything like that.
Don't understand the instructions

[OFSO]

Ordered some large capacity AA NiMh cells from Amazon on Wednesday. Promised delivery Friday. They arrived Thursday. I complained. Jovial post lady said look, they came to us a day early, we weren't going to keep them a day down at the post office just for you......

(They are excellent, by the way. Last twice as long as the puny no-name batteries that came in the solar lamps...)

[PHXPhlyer]

Ordered some large capacity AA NiMh cells from Amazon on Wednesday. Promised delivery Friday. They arrived Thursday. I complained. Jovial post lady said look, they came to us a day early, we weren't going to keep them a day down at the post office just for you......

(They are excellent, by the way. Last twice as long as the puny no-name batteries that came in the solar lamps...)

Brand?

PP

[OFSO]

Kamcy
Apex CE Specialists GmbH
63453 Neuberg Germany

2800 mAh 1.2v

[tango15]

Living, as I do, down a dead-end rural lane in remote Norfolk, deliveries and collections by courier companies can be very uncertain. Probably not helped by the fact that our 'main' road, a single track metalled lane is called Back Lane and the rear entrance down an unmetalled track is Front Street!
Two packages have been delivered to the wrong houses, the first I recognised the location from the photo sent as proof of delivery, it was a near neighbour with a completely different name and address, the second I found slightly further away but in the same post code when I knocked on doors in the post code, different neighbour with similar name. Collections have been worse. Tried to return a car part that was incorrect for my vehicle took three attempts. Twice DHL claimed to have visited but 'no one home' except that I was at home both times. What they should have said was 'couldn't find house so gave up'.

I have yet to have a package delivered by a driver whose first language is English. These people rely entirely on Satnav to get them around, and when it gives them the wrong address, they just leave it outside a convenient door. The local town's FB page has at least one of these every day.

[Woody]

Basingstoke and Deane Council have solved their pothole problem

[PHXPhlyer]

My Blink doorbell cam, outdoor and indoor cams, all specify non rechargeable lithium AA batteries.
The ones I have how don't seem to last very long.
Anyone have any thoughts on using recchagaeble LI or NiMH for these applications?
At least I would have charged up spares.

PP

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I have yet to have a package delivered by a driver whose first language is English.

I have one, who is the only one who delivers to my door. All the rest dump the package somewhere along the driveway without covering the extra 60 yards to the house. They never have delivery photos available, for obvious reasons, despite this being policy. Yet strangely they all apparently have western first names.

[OFSO]

My favourite amazon delivery drivers are the Sikhs.
"Sat Sri Akal !"
But being from the Punjab they speak English.