Final Word from Friday, September 1, 2006
In "The Gift," the Velvet Underground told the tale of Waldo Jeffers, who sent himself as a box in the mail so that he could visit his girlfriend. For many foreigners living in the CR, this might be the only way to trace where their own packages end up. Czech TV reported that foreigners often lose their parcels. When they have packages sent to them under a Czech name, they miraculously have a better chance of receiving them. Light-fingered employees at Česká pošta are one reason many online retailers consider the CR an "other" country, with shipping rates significantly higher than those for EU destinations of equal distance. Some German online retailers have addressed the issue by bypassing the Czech Post Office entirely and switching to DHL. Česká pošta is aware of the theft problem and advises foreigners to deal with it by "learning to send things by registered mail."[Czech Republic European Union Television]