[PRCo] Re: THE UGLY AMERICAN

[Fred Schneider]

Are you suggesting that globes sold in other countries do not use the terms North
America and South America?  Seems to me in Germany they are Nord Amerika and Sud
Amerika.   Sadly, because we behave like the proverbial 1,000 lb. gorilla and we
are from the United States of America, many other people don't even want to admit
to residency in the Americas.

While I find a lack of willingness to sell to people outside the US just as
offensive as the garage owner in Kittanning that refused to work on my New Stanton,
Pa. - built V. W. because it wasn't an American car, perhaps we should address
other issues, such as what happens to insured and lost items that passed through
the post offices in several countries?  Who pays the claim?  Or does it get sluffed
off.  If the latter is true, I would not accept bids either.

And while we are on the subject, our own postal service only pays insurance claims
if you can prove the loss.  Example, Paul Stringham sent some negatives through the
mail.  He insured them against loss ... just enough to pay to have prints copied if
they were lost.  They were lost and the postal service demanded receipts for their
value.  Paul pointed out that they were taken in 1933 and that he no longer had
those receipts.  The postal service reply was simple.  If you have no receipts, we
don't pay.  And we will never pay replacement value.  And they did not refund his
insurance fee either.  I checked locally to see if this interpretation was correct
... yes, sadly, it was.   Like the post office, UPS will not pay for your own labor
... if it was included in the price you paid, OK.  But if I insure a photo shipment
including my labor, the labor isn't paid.   We should also note that we have one of
the most reliable postal systems in the world.  In other countries it is common to
soak the stamps of letters and resell them ... and destroy the mail.  Perhaps,
before we condemn the person in West Virginia  too soundly, we need to find out if
the man (or woman) had legitimate reasons for refusing to ship outside the U. S.

Maybe you want to ask him if he accepts Canadian bids if you come to pick up the
item.

Donald Galt wrote:

> On 23 Jan 2003 at 6:18, Dennis F. Cramer wrote:
>
> >
> > I know too many citizens of the USA that are prejudice.  We are all
> > Americans on these two continents.
> >
>
> Your sentiment is laudable, the expression - taught in error to all
> schoolchildren in the US - is off the mark.
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