We've lost the capacity to think

Last week, I went down to Georgia and paddled with some local people. One of them had a decal on his kayak and I asked where he got it. He said he didn’t know. He bought the boat used and it was on there.

The reason I asked was because I discovered the same image on a t-shirt a couple years ago and bought it. I’ve since acquired another. Obviously, I like it. But, I didn’t know you could get a decal.

When I returned, I did an exhaustive search on the internet to find the decal. I found one place, a manufacturer and direct seller of specialized sporting goods. Not to digress too much, but I was curious about how they happened to possess license of the image. It appears there’s a father-son relationship between the owner of the company where I bought the shirts and a partner in the equipment company.

So, I ordered a few decals to slap onto my kayaks. They also had t-shirts with an interesting variation of the image, so I bought one of those.

A couple days later, I received an email from UPS with the shipment tracking number. Pretty standard stuff except something caught my eye. They were requiring a signature from the recipient. Oh c’mon!

I emailed the company, saying that I order and receive cameras, electronics, jewelry, etc. without having to wait around for the UPS delivery to sign. Surely, we could trust UPS with a t-shirt and a few decals. I requested they change the arrangement with UPS.

The response was that their main product line was high value units and their policy is to require the signature. Yes, but this is not high value. It’s a t-shirt, for crying out loud. Can you understand that this is low value and does not require the extra measures?

Of course she could see that. But, she can also see their policy. I asked her to talk to her supervisor and get permission. She said that would make her look stupid.

As opposed to?