If you are waiting on delivery of a package and wondering what is going on, you are not alone. Chances are, your package is sitting in Omak at the FedEx warehouse waiting to be put on a truck someday in the unforeseeable future.
According to the very friendly FedEx employee whom I spoke with when I called to inquire about a package that was supposed to be delivered Jan. 11 (it’s Jan. 24 now), the Jan. 4 snowstorm left a huge backlog of packages in regional warehouses. Once the passes and interstates reopened, the packages were dumped in massive quantities at smaller distributions centers, like Omak, timed perfectly with the surge of Omicron cases, leaving massive backlogs and not enough drivers. They are doing their best I am sure, but it’s frustrating.
There’s one truck per day coming to the Methow Valley from FedEx and if your package doesn’t fit or its behind others’ intake dates, you’ll have to wait. They say patience is a virtue. I am trying. In the meantime, my kids’ feet are being crammed into snow boots that don’t fit and by the time his boots get here, winter might be over. I tried to buy local, I truly did. There were no boots his size. So, it’s late January and his feet are still crammed. I know he’ll survive and in the great big picture, this is small potatoes, but to his toes, it feels like rotten potatoes.
This delivery dilemma leads me to think perhaps we need a better system. A system akin to our local egg market that grew boots would be eggselant. Obviously, our complicated behemoth of a supply chain is out of whack.
The local farm fresh egg market here is a constantly shifting but reliable market in the valley that seems to work eggstraordinarily. I’ve been asking people where they get local eggs and gained eggstra insight into this hidden world. It appears there are two types of local supply chains, all of which function on word of mouth: direct market, when the egg supplier sells to the buyer, and an indirect market where a supplier drops a few dozen somewhere and buyers pick them up at the drop spot. I would guess hundreds, maybe over 1,000 eggs per week are exchanged between friends and neighbors, largely unseen across the valley. Isn’t that eggstremely cool!
Eggsactly when and where one finds eggs often shifts as production lessens in the dark months. While I prefer to get local eggs, often I supplement at the grocery store. Over the years, I’ve gotten local eggs from my veterinarian, my friends, teachers, colleagues and even strangers. Egg drop zones include restaurants, bars, local shops, the feed store, community center, and secret spots. Recently, the Winthrop Rink had a backroom surplus to dole out. I have one egg supplier I pay via digital currency (in dollars, not crypto). It feels like an undercover espionage deal when he texts me the drop’s been made. Then, I walk down to the secret spot and pick them up and text him the digital dollars. It’s eggstremely convenient and eggstra fresh.
