[HBR] YOU ARE ALONE in your postal delima

[rob]

The postal rates in the USA are still worth the costs of doing mail 
order flea business.
I have a steady stream of EBAY packages coming my way with fees ranging 
from 80 cents to $8 American.
All of which cost half as much as buying from MOUSER  who wants a 
mandatory UPS ground as a minimum
postal amount.
Just last week I got  100 voltage regulators for $10. They arrived in an 
envelope with 60 cents of stamps on it.
If I tried to buy TWO of them from MOUSER they would have charged me the 
same $10 amount. $2 for the regulators and $8 for shipping.
Yep... you pay more then we do for postage in Canada....but I figure its 
because there isn't as many people
to put money into the postal system so its always going to be more cost 
to you to use it.
We have 300 million people in 200 million mailing addresses. Everyone 
pays bills by mail so thats
a terrific  backbone of service requirement here in the USA.
 Look at the bright side of it.
You don't have 300 million people screwing up your country.
Whats your ebay name?
Do you have more elextronics magazines for sale? Maybe I'll take some.
My vision is impaired and I have been housebound, haven't driven a car 
in 5 years.
I buy EVERYthing on ebay before even looking to a real business anymore.
My voltage regulators is a great example of cheap postage verses 
businesses charging $8 for shipping $2 parts.
The money order clearing is going to be the standard now that nothing is 
safe. Really. Nothing is safe.
The only thing I really trust is PAYPAL on Linux. Windows has lots of  
spyware and so far...knock on wood...I haven't had any troubles using 
paypal on Linux to make payments. PAYPAL has protection guarantees and 
works great for the buyer. No always so good for the seller.
I know a guy who sold a trumpet and it was returned smashed to bits.
Definite case of abuse. The buyer said it arrived broken and thats why 
he returned it.
PAYPAL just dipped right into the seller bank account and took back the 
$300 the buyer had paid a week before.
Thats not right. It was clear the buyer had mangled the horn and sent it 
back.
The seller had NO recourse at all. He was just plain screwed out of $300.
so I don't know what right to protect the seller these days but I do 
know that as a buyer I have done quite well for
a guy who hasn't been able to drive to a mall in 5 years.

Now...back to regulalr scheduled LIST.....
I joined this list because I wanted to learn about radio...real 
radios.....tube radios and I did get many
tube related educational materials.... been collecting 
tubes...transformers ...standoffs.
I lost a bid for an ebay auction that was selling ALlied Knight 12 in 1 
tube kit which was a learning lab kit.
Does anyone HAVE this 12 in 1 kit or something similar and can I have 
the manuals and schematics....XEROXed copies ... so I can learn how tube 
rigs works?

73 Rob KB3BYT