[theinfamousj]

What we have here is a conflict of mindsets.

On the one hand, we have a rules-follower who takes comfort in codified rules (the package will arrive in four days) and whose world is rocked when those inviolate rules are breached. My Mom is one such, so I understand. And I understand the distress it causes. My mother uses me as her coal mine Canary and calls me each time she, or others, are unable to deliver on these inviolate promises. She will then relax if I tell her that it is a situation worthy of forgiveness.

On the other hand, we have those who are able to be more forgiving and flexible without their world being seriously shook on its foundations. As a tip to those in the latter mindset - because I am and learned this lesson long ago - it isn't entitlement that runs the former mindset, and no words can change it. It is a combination of strictly codified honor - a person of the former mindset WILL ALWAYS, regardless of unanticipated challenges, fulfill a promise - and fear (how to trust the world when the assurances you receive don't actually mean what they say on occasion; is this one such occasion?).

To Stitchawl - The suggestions that you are making would have to be enacted back in October, and no one foresees an act of God (what the weather was). UPS is neither omniscient nor more powerful than the almighty. I wish you luck in trying to find a shipping company that is, but if you have been happy with what UPS has done up until this package, I urge you to give them another chance.