Pass The Parcel – What’s your name? Who’s your daddy? Is he rich like me?

So, the parcels have been opened. And I shall reveal all, eventually, but I want to look up some retail prices and, in some cases, do some research on what the fuck some items are – no, really, there are a few things I have absolutely no clue as to what they are (because most being in the modern electrical genre, my inner Luddite was quite fractious during the opening ceremony).

But in the meantime, both my curiosity and frugalness were piqued by some things. For example, who bought these items? It comes as no surprise that identifying info was blacked out:

But don’t most parcels contain some sort of invoice or receipt in them? There was nothing like that in any of the parcels. And it was interesting too that none of the parcels were from Amazon, considering its world dominance. Although, some were marked with this:

So those could have originally been from Amazon. But the others, well, it was quite obvious that they had not been opened beforehand. But wouldn’t they have to be, just in case it was a sex toy or a weapon? If they were opened and any identifying paperwork removed, whoever repacked did a very fine job of it.

And then, why did the people who purchased these items not make a greater effort to track them down? I once had a $5 Kohl’s order lost and I did all I could to get that sucker back. So, I would for sure make an effort to locate a missing item that cost me $50 (the most expensive item I have researched thus far, but I think it is going to be surpassed by a very fancy looking bottle of perfume). Yes, I am sure there are extenuating circumstances, like maybe you died after placing the order. But then, it hit me: the majority of these items are the kind of things that men would buy. And men, being inherently lazy, and on the good side of the pay inequality scale, probably just couldn’t be arsed to find out.

More soon!

Pass The Parcel – An Introduction

 

OK, let’s get this out of the way first: I will never dumb down this blog a la Harry Potter (philosopher/sorcerer) or King George (the third). I know it’s called Pass The Present in the States, but I grew up playing Pass The Parcel and so that is what this series of posts shall be named.

Secondly, I never realized until very recently that “parcel” is not a common word in the States.

So, before I start this new series, I should share some background:

I believe my two most prominent personality traits are my frugality and my curiosity. The latter came in handy in the late 1980s when I was a newspaper reporter for about five minutes; and, for the most part, has not caused too many problems.

My frugality, on the other hand, has always been a bit of an issue. Some of it I am sure comes from my childhood. We were not a well-off family. Now, don’t get me wrong, I always had a roof over my head and I never went to bed hungry; but the clothes on my back and the shoes on my feet were from Primark rather than Top Shop (the Brits out there will get that reference!).

I do try to not let my frugality effect my life; and several of my friends might call me generous (especially those with kids). It’s when it comes to spending money on myself that it gets tricky. I drink generic vodka; my wine comes in a box; and I cannot remember the last time I bought new underwear. European butter is my only indulgence, and if you’ve ever tasted American butter, you know why!

So, when I found something that inflamed my curiosity, but was kind of expensive, I was torn.

And in this case, the curiosity won, and I purchased, for $97.53, a box of unclaimed mail, with maybe some customer returns, and overstock items thrown in for good measure. Huh? I hear you exclaim. Well, apparently, it’s a thing: various businesses collect the above items (herein thereafter referred to as bits and bobs because that is just so effing British) and sell it. And it is all legal too.

And, well, going through other people’s stuff is my idea of paradise; and Storage Wars is my idea of porn.

Now, the Storage Wars stuff is way out of my league financially, but this bits and bobs deal is not (although it did take me a long time to cave in and buy). And I did some research, and this seemed the best deal.

The box arrived two days ago. I opened it and did some feeling of the parcels but did not open any of them yet. Because I had decided, when I first placed the order, that I would like to open them all at once, with maybe a glass or two of (boxed) wine inside me with music playing in the background (oh, eff, I need to get a life).

So that is what I plan to do in a few days’ time. I’ll take pics and do posts about each item individually, plus some other posts about the whole experience.

So excited!!!!