1. | Aug 4, 2014

n985Az Really enjoyed this blog post.Really thank you! Awesome.

2. | Jan 19, 2014

I have been to Costa Rica on a cruise two years ago. We came into port at Limon and took a tour with a coplue Kids running a Off Road Adventure into the upper rain forests and banana plantations. It was by far the best excursion we have had ever in the 11 cruises we have been on. I was just operated on so I was looking for a light book to read while recouperating and yours struck me to be the one. Love the book and can identify with a lot of the different places you have seen there. We love Costa Rica and are going to Belize this year on a cruise to check that island out. Great book and would love to hear more from you on your experiences.

3. | Jul 1, 2013

R:I don't think most people are out to deafurd USPS. USPS seems to make it increasingly difficult to do business with them.On at least three occasions recently, I have inadvertently printed electronic postage with PayPal on Sunday, only to have to void the label and reprint it for the following day. Sure, PayPal could rectify this programmatically. I have used Stamps.com, and their software will default to the next appropriate mail date after a cutoff time. (And yes, it does skip Sunday for most classes of mail.)A couple of months ago I shipped an iPad via Priority Mail. I printed postage with Click-N-Ship. I started to walk to the post office, which is about half a mile away. On my way to the post office, I ran into a postal carrier, so I handed the package to her. (I live downtown, so I run into carriers fairly easily.) When I tracked it the following day, there was no scan, so I was a little worried, but it ended up getting processed the following day – the day after I handed it to the carrier. No big deal, but it illustrates how the actual ship date may not match the printed mailing date. I don’t know if the carrier didn’t make it back to the post office in time for processing or was delayed for some other reason, but had the USPS rejected the shipment because the printed date had passed, it would have been an annoyance.On a separate topic, it is aggravating that only the smallest of items fit into postal drop boxes. The 13-oz. rule does not apply to electronic postage. I needed to ship a CD in a cardboard package that was about 1.25” thick. It would not fit through the drop slot at a box at the post office, so I had to park and walk inside. Yes, I remember when the 13-oz. rule went into effect and the reasons for it, but USPS should be doing things to increase ease-of-use, not make it more difficult for 99.999% of honest customers.

4. | Jun 5, 2013

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5. | Jun 2, 2013

Dan,Thanks for your article. I read your posts fafulithly and generally agree with your points. I agree with the general direction of this post, but want to provide some clarification on your portrayal of the US Postal Service (USPS).After a 19 year career with the USPS, and being married to a current USPS manager with 32 years of experience, I think I can shed a little light on the perception of little or no progress in 200 years.The USPS was restructured in 1971 to change from a federal department to a quasi-independent agency (Wikipedia). While this sounds like just a name change, it represented an amazing complication of a simple service by the federal bureaucracy.Congress mandated that the USPS was to break even or make a profit, though Congress had to approve all pricing and employment policies. Additionally, unionization was introduced, adding yet another impediment to some of the service enhancements you would expect.Again, this was a mandate from Congress, with a stifling result. Postal managers and leadership are primarily consumed with satisfying regulatory and organized labor requirements. While the pay and benefits are second to none, the work can be deeply unsatisfying.Believe me, there are many good people within the USPS that truly want to do much more than they're able, but are completely overwhelmed. Just imagine how the administration of government-run health care will turn out.