It doesn’t seem like that axe would fit in that crate, does it? The stump and basket, maybe–though after UPS rolls it around the back of the truck several times, I doubt the basket would be in that good condition.
ObAnecdote: I have nothing against UPS, but I worked with a woman who hated them with a passion, and with justification: they lost her bridesmaids’ dresses. All of them. Forever. Never reappeared. I’d hear her in the next cubicle calling a company and trying to find some OTHER way of shipping their item, and cancelling the order if they had no choices except UPS. Still makes me laugh.
P.S. Yes, this post is late. Y’all are all entitled to a full refund of your CIDU membership fees.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I knew a guy in an online group who worked part-time for FedEx, and said his favorite sport / martial art was boxkicking.
The old joke is that UPS stands for “United Pummeling Service”. That being said, my experience with them has been generally favorable. I do wish they, and other services, would give a rap on the door before scurrying away.
Maybe he already had the axe and just ordered the stump and basket? That doesn’t seem to be what’s implied here.
Is the axe handle telescopic? Doesn’t look that way. No tapering.
Is the axe handle self-assembly and came in pieces, like from IKEA? I don’t see any joining marks, and if it was from IKEA, it’s unlikely it would be that straight after assembly.
I dunno’, but I’m with you. I don’t think that axe is fitting into that create.
The block is the wrong shape. Here’s what an actual beheading block looks like.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-executioners-ax
The axe could be in 2 parts like a pool cue. Wouldn’t be good for swinging, but presumably it’s only for intimidation.
Maybe if the head was separate and the stick was in the box diagonally? Or, you know, the artist didn’t bother to calculate dimensions…
Oddly, no one in comments seemed concerned with it. You need the people from Dick Tracy.
UPS has been responsible for most (if not all) of the colossal delivery failures that I can remember, such as a broken turntable (for which they were willing to cover only 50% of the damages), and incessant problems with customs duties here in Germany, because anything that UPS touches is almost always classified as a commercial shipment, no matter who sent it. On at least three occasions, this has resulted in fees that were more than the value of the contents (Gemany includes shipping costs in the base for calculating customs). I have (repeatedly) told my father never to use UPS ever again, but he keeps forgetting.
“Y’all are all entitled to a full refund of your CIDU membership fees.”
Didn’t get them yet. Did you ship them UPS?
@Kilby 8: I have found, at least shipping from Germany, that DHL is the absolute worst. The most egregious episode was when I ordered something from Germany, it got held up in German customs for a month, and I was unable to track the package, despite a tracking number, because apparently DHL has completely different tracking numbers depending on the country! That’s right, an international shipper has different tracking numbers that only work in one country! I was hitting the DHL.com site, entering the tracking number, and being told it didn’t exist. Only a few weeks into the process, dealing with the seller, and trying stuff in desperation, did I chance upon going to DHL.de, and in the identical looking tracking page entering my tracking number, and only then finally finding my shipment, finally released from customs and apparently on the way…
(Although for UPS, when I was living in the third† city in Brazil, I had to go to UPS headquarters to find my package once, “headquarters” being someone’s house, with packages piled up all over the living room — not only from UPS, but apparently FedEx too; I got to rummage around until I found my package. This was around 1995….)
†third in the sense of Chicago being the “Second City”; Belo Horizonte is now like sixth in population, and Brasilia is now more important, and Salvador is much bigger; but São Paulo and Rio are still the top two.
larK: Chicago is now #3, although the improvisational theater troupe is still called Second City. I read one idea that Chicago is the “second” city because it was actually built twice, including the rebuilding after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Also in dispute is Third Coast, which is used around here (including for a very exciting percussion group), with the idea that the Great Lakes are the body of water supporting the “coast” terminology. But has also been claimed for the Gulf of Mexico coast — chiefly NOLa as far as cities having a distinct culture (like East Coast and West Coast), but in principle including anywhere from Brownsville to Naples/FtMyers/Sarasota.
I have heard that Chicago is “The Windy City” not for any meteorological considerations but because of its politicians. Weatherwise, Boston is windier,
MiB, that’s also what I understand the documented origins to be. In common parlance, though a lot of people do seem familiar with that origin, still it is generally used in connection with literal winds.
In between periods of residence in Chicago, I spent one year in Buffalo. (I think I have described finding the local dish of “hot wings”, not yet widely known as “Buffalo wings”.) It was SOOOO COOOOLLD and SOOOO WIIIINDYYY, and I was constantly snorting about how Chicago could not call itself windy after that.
I’ve never been to Chicago, but I remember reading at some point that part of the “windy” reputation had to do with lake-effect winds whistling through a matrix of skyscrapers right next to the lake.
P.S. While Manhattan does have skyscrapers near water, it’s more or less surrounded by the stuff, whereas Chicago sits on the edge of a land/water boundary.
Well, in connection with the configuration of the lakeshore, we do have “cooler by the lake” and “lake effect snow”. Many are the cultural groups and events that have made “cooler by the lake” their (usually unofficial) motto.
Longish, (well it is me) – part about shipping towards the end after info about why.
When Robert was selling our crafts online (back when Etsy started and actually had only handcrafted items for sale, before the craft artists who started it sold it to big business) we would ship by UPS and they were pretty good then. (He has not sold through Etsy since the switch in ownership as hand crafted has become manufactured items which have something done to them and cannot price compete.)
About a decade ago he bought a certain type of loom which was relatively inexpensive, could be folded up for storage and was about 44 inches wide so it fit in our living room. We negotiated and the deal was that the living room was his “loom room” from mid January to mid December and I got back for the remaining month so the Jewish girl could overdecorate it for Christmas. He really loves weaving – he will whistle while doing so plus once we took a few hours to set up a project he would be busy working and whistling and leave me alone to get things done around the house.
A couple of years ago we were asked with our reenactment unit to do a few events which were looking for craftspeople who do period (ish) crafts to demonstrate – and selling at the event was okay. So he needed a loom he could bring to the event. The company who made his loom makes a smaller loom (about 18 inches across), as does another company. He decided he liked the other company (B) loom better and bought one of same. After using it for a year he decided he did not like it and managed to sell and ordered the small loom from the same company as his original one.
He has now used that smaller loom at the few events we went to this year and decided that the first smaller loom was better (easier to assemble at events) and he was going to try to sell this smaller loom. He printed pages to put in supermarkets etc locally to avoid having to ship it when he sold it. Apparently no one has a board for same any longer around here.
So he looked it into shipping it. Depending on where the person who was buying lives in the continental US – it could cost up to $45 to ship it -broken down and boxed! (REALLY?) Less of course for closer delivery – but how does one list that in the ad. Plus the company has changed how it sells the legs -so when buying any of their looms one gets all 3 sizes of loom assembly with the leg and is charged for all 3 sizes of assembly. Then – just to drive me crazier – we spent 2 days going to Lowe’s Home, Depot, Ace… looking for alternative metal connective pieces (screws, washers, etc) to assemble it with at events. Sooo, now he found a way to assemble it easier and he is NOT selling it! Now nicely disassembled and sitting in our dining room until next spring.