This is a blog, and so not a forum for ever-popular "unboxing videos," but here's my halting attempt at revealing the shoes I'll be wearing on my long hike later this year:
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| As always, I go with New Balance as my brand. NBs fit my feet best. |
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| lots of blah-blah-blah |
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| —in all their glory. And the tracks on the bottom are hexagonal, too. Note the "WIDE" tag. Ha. |
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| Alas, I'm helping China's economy. Something I don't want to be doing. |
Amazon shipping proved to be difficult yet again. Korean Customs called me at work and talked to me about my international packages, saying I needed to give them either my passport number or my customs-release number. This has happened a number of times despite the fact that Amazon had asked me to enter my customs-release number into my profile for international-shipping purposes. So why didn't Korean Customs pick up on this? I have no idea. Anyway, it was a short conversation with the Customs lady, and my packages arrived a day or so later. Why this problem happens with some packages but not others escapes me. I'll never understand parcel delivery.
My feet are really a size 11, but because I need the width and the roomier toe box, I buy 13EEs now (EE is labeled as "Wide" on Amazon... I wonder if I should've gotten X-Wide, but I recall ordering whatever was available at the time). That size is comfortable, and the extra room is all in the toe box, so it's not as though the larger shoe rattles around. I'll doubtless take these new shoes for a spin soon, and I'll report back on their performance then.
4 comments:
They do look nice, except for that "made in China" label. But what are you going to do?
I wish I could find some nice hiking shoes in my size here. Whenever I order online through Lazada, I've received the wrong size or an evident knockoff brand. Haven't tried ordering from somewhere more reputable like Amazon, but now I wonder about customs issues I could encounter. When it comes to shoes, I like to try them on first, anyway.
Good luck as you achieve your New Balance!
Any time I get something shipped from Amazon I have to go through the same crap. Amazon won't let you order unless you submit your information, but then customs contacts you asking for your information again.
I'm guessing it has something to do with privacy laws and how long companies are able to hold on to your information, etc. Either that or it's just incompetence. Which explanation I lean toward depends on how cynical I am feeling on that day.
Charles,
Let me ask you, then: does this happen every time or just some of the time for you? For me, it happens only some of the time, but I can't figure out the pattern. This time around, I had ordered shoes and food-grade powders from Amazon. I've ordered other products, though, without having had to go through this Korean Customs rigamarole. Maybe it's as you say—privacy laws, etc. I've given up trying to understand bureaucracy. It's all a mystery. Or it's Mark Salzman's "Let's Make a Regulation" game from his memoir Iron and Silk, about living in China before Tiananmen.
Honestly, I don't order stuff from Amazon often enough to give you a solid answer on that. It does seem like it happens every time, but that could just be confirmation bias and/or recency bias kicking in.
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