Mass. Trip '10, day SIX

[pyesetz]

Another visit to the in-laws, to pick up a package.  It was from an American clothing company that refuses to accept money from anyone in Canada, even American citizens using American credit cards for delivery to American addresses.  Wifey had used PayPal to give the money to an online friend of hers in Nebraska who then entered the order at the company’s website for shipment to BIL #3’s house in Massachusetts.  But everyone had forgotten about the package back on day three!  Due to the way the roads are arranged, it would cost two hours to drive to the in-laws and back to our hotel in Billerica, but it adds only 40 minutes to stop by their place on our way to New York.

Comments

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

company that refuses to accept money from anyone in Canada, even American citizens using American credit cards for delivery to American addresses

The solution to that is to NOT tell your American credit card company your Canadian address. Give them some American address. Then you can have all of your American-only orders shipped directly to that American address.

[pyesetz]

Actually, I think the solution is "do not do business with such companies".  Because of the way the banking systems are arranged, it's just xenophobia on their part to treat Canada just like any other foreign country, even though it's much easier to wreak vengeance on a Canadian deadbeat than an Albanian one.

When I was setting up the credit-card processing system for Company 𝔾, I noticed that my American ATM card, in its "Visa" incarnation, still had my New Jersey address even though the bank statements were being mailed to Canada.  But that card didn't work with that xenophobic company.  On the Mass. Trip, I tried using that card at a gas pump that requires entering the zipcode associated with the card to prove you're a red-blooded American—didn't work, so maybe the address on that card finally got updated.

There seems to be little use for a card that can only be used to mail things to a house that I only visit every other year or so.