I don’t think I have the “buy, buy, buy” bug yet, but here’s my problem. For the past 4 or 5 years, medical bills for both myself and wife have kept me from the purchase of any train related things. She passed away this past January and now I’ve got all the bills payed off and now able to spend a few dollars. I’m also a trucker and gone all week long and sometimes up to three weeks at a time. I’m not close to any good train shops. Closest one is in Spencer, NC and that is basically an all day trip for me. After studying the imput from this and other forums for various online shops, I feel I could order from a few with confidence. I’m in the process of getting together with a forum member that I believe is close enough to easily make the drive to make the purchase. I dread the thought of ordering things and have them sit in the open on my front porch for a week or so. I have neighbor I can trust, but hate to impose on them to have things shipped to them and then have their mail bombarded with flyers and such. Do any of you have this problem, and how do you manage it? Thanks in advance for any replies. Ken
You could rent a box at the local post office. Or just temporarily stop mail delivery each time you’re out of town and know something might be delivered. The post office will hold your mail, including parcels for that period until you come back to restart delivery.
The problem here is not everyone will ship with USPS. If you have something delivered via UPS, DHL, or FedEX they won’t deliver to a PO Box.
Good point, although I think most vendors will ship USPS, sometimes at higher rates. Another possibility for UPS is if you have a local Mailboxes or similar franchise, they offer package acceptance service for UPS I believe, much the way the USPS does for their own mail boxes.
Sorry to hear of the loss of your wife, and both your medical problems. This must have been a real tough blow for both of you. I’ve gone through 4 back surgeries, and I’m now on disability. If not for my wife’s support there would be no buying. And there is definately no buy, buy, buy.
Hearing your story makes your signature of lifes too short, play with trains more important than ever. Good luck there out there on the road. Dave
Hi Ken,
I am Sorry about the loss of your Wife, other than losing a Child, the loss of a spouse, must be one of Life’s Greatest Heartbreaks.
I am a Truck Driver also, and what I did was to get a Mailbox at the UPS STORE. This will give you an actual street address that looks just like an apartment address, it would look like:
Ken Smith
6872 NE 118th Ave. #249
Hometown, USA 26583
At the UPS Store that I use it is about $10.00 a month if you sign up for a year. UPS (obviously) The Postal Service, Fed Ex and DHL will all deliver to them. To shops and ebay sellers it looks like an apartment address, not a PO BOX, I have bought from many that say that they wont ship to a PO BOX, and I have had no trouble at all. I also use it for credit card bills, and any mail with sensitve information that I wouldn’t want stolen out of the Home mailbox. Now my CTT, Trains and Model Railroader magazines and junk mail are about all that I get in my home mailbox.
Doug
Ken,
I am really sorry to hear about your wife passing, hope your health is improving too… I just had a months recovery for some leg surgery and now just getting back to work…but I have to tell yah even sitting on that table in the O.R. all I could think about was trains, it really takes your mind off the bad times…hope it brings back the good times.