{"id":4023,"date":"2019-07-24T09:24:52","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T17:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/?p=4023"},"modified":"2020-04-01T07:11:14","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T15:11:14","slug":"i-aint-zazzling-any-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/?p=4023","title":{"rendered":"I ain’t Zazzling any more"},"content":{"rendered":"

You probably haven’t noticed the absence of a link in the upper left, “buy 2D printed objects”, which went to my catalogue on Zazzle: shirts, mugs, posters. The number of sales I made through that was not zero, but it was far smaller than the number of things I bought myself!<\/p>\n

Four years ago MC Escher’s heirs complained that my descriptions of two shirt designs included language like “The underlying geometry is closely related to that of Escher’s Circle Limit series,” so Zazzle hid them until I removed Escher’s name. No, wait, they didn’t do that, they irrevocably deleted the designs without warning, saying (until I raised a fuss) only that they violated an unspecified copyright.<\/p>\n

Last week my step-family had a gathering at a resort in the Rockies, and I ordered a personalized mug for each of them. (Here is a hint at what they look like.<\/a>) Zazzle was unhappy with the address I gave, but both Google and Apple Maps recognized it, so I said go ahead. When the package reached the town, it was bounced back for “insufficient address”. I then learned from the lodge’s owner (indirectly, through the family member who booked it) that USPS does not deliver to that street. (I wish I’d thought of General Delivery.) Fortunately this was well before we were due to get there. I suggested to Zazzle that, when the package came back, they try FedEx or UPS. They instead reprinted the order and sent it by Express Mail.<\/p>\n

I go to the gathering, stay for a largely miserable week (insomnia), come home. Two days later, some iteration of the order is successfully delivered, I don’t know how. (The order’s tracking link shows only the first attempt.) So now the mugs are cluttering up a stranger’s kitchen; I hope the stranger finds them pretty. I point out to Zazzle that I told them twice that I wanted the package to arrive no later than Friday July 19. They tell me how to return it. I explain that everyone I know left that county on Saturday morning; I will not ask the lodge’s owner or the new occupants to do my errands.<\/p>\n

We are really sorry about the various issues you have had, we would really appreciate the chance to try and make this right.<\/p>\n

Please let us know if there is anything at all we can do for you. If you have any further questions or concerns please respond directly to this email and I would be happy to assist. Thank you for visiting Zazzle. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don’t see how it can be made right. They can send mugs to the intended recipients separately, but I’d rather wait for the next gathering and present them all at once.<\/p>\n

So. I haven’t tried Cafepress, and there must be other similar services. Have you experience with any of them?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You probably haven’t noticed the absence of a link in the upper left, “buy 2D printed objects”, which went to my catalogue on Zazzle: shirts, mugs, posters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-merch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4023"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4078,"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4023\/revisions\/4078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bendwavy.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}