General Forum

I've chatted off and on with another member about an international trade. He's mostly interested in selling vs. trading. I finally decided last night to go ahead with the purchase. I finalized the offer and submitted it to him. At work this morning, I was thinking about the offer and remembered something important about where he lives... Italy. My heart sunk as I quickly sent an apology message to him. I'll guarantee trading is the least of his worries right now. Other than passing along words of encouragement, what else can one do? 

I got a reply back from this member last night! All is okay with him, considering the extent of the pandemic in Italy. He's interested in a trade, but is waiting for things to settle down. Keeping my fingers crossed, (after washing my hands, of course!) Be safe everybody.

What I would be concerned with Italy, it is the pandemic, but the postal service. On Ebay, most sellers won't sell to Italians, because their postal service is unreliable and there's a history of packages that don't always make up to destination. Also, I heard something that you need their phone number as well, because they don't deliver packages to the receiver's door. A mail clerk would call them by phone and they need to pick them up at the post office. Most European countries are fine with standard mail, but when shipping to Italy, it seems preferable to use UPS or Fedex (but not the same price).

Thanks for the heads up.

I worked for UPS for 18 years. What I found absolutely amazing was the fact that the company actually paid an extra "fee" in Italy to deliver packages there. The "fee" was to certain organizations so that the packages wouldn't go missing due to crime. It's similar to what my parents told me about how they used to go over to Philly to a ball game and they'd park curbside. A neighborhood kid would be there to "collect" the "parking fee" to ensure nothing happened to the car. A small fee went a long way back in the 50s and 60s. But that's basically the same as UPS operations in Italy. There's a "fee" they pay to ensure safe package travels. That's probably why they are a preferred method for shipping there. FedEx may pay similar "fees". I guess their postal service does not.

That's why the Italians have the Carabinieri. Or the national police who carry out domestic policing duties. And carry machine guns.  Or, at least they did when I was there in the early 80's.  

That pizzo thing reminds a Sopranos episode. It was about a truckload of jackets that dissappeared one night on a territory where the owner was paying his fee to avoid such issues.