Posting pops

A fool's gold

It doesn't seem like a daunting task.
The grandson in England wants some more Tootsie Roll Pops.
He's eaten and enjoyed the ones I sent a short time ago.
And Easter is coming so it's kind of a no-brainer.
I figured I could find some on Amazon.uk.com and I'd be a hero grandma.
The problem is they only make these lollipops in the United States and it costs a ton in shipping to get them to Jack. I hadn't noticed when I packed in a few with his Christmas presents.
(I'm kind of a cheapskate when it comes to paying shipping.)
I thought I could do better, better than paying $40 for 100 pops.
I took my granddaughter with me to the store and we bought 25 pops and a mailing bubble envelope.
We journeyed to the post office where we tried to self-mail the loot.
The machine told us we had to go to the front counter.
We had time so we stood in line a bit and asked the lady to weigh it for us.
"$22.50," she announced.
I gulped. That much for $5 worth of suckers?
I hesitated and she added, "And you need a customs form filled out."
I said I didn't have one yet. I just wanted to know how much shipping it would cost.
She pushed the envelope back at me.
"She doesn't have a customs form so we can't help her," she told the girl standing beside her, a postal worker in training, apparently.
We left the post office.
I was thinking hard.
Meanwhile, my granddaughter and I both really wanted a Tootsie Roll Pop.
"Let's have one while I decide what to do," I said.
Adell started trying to get the package open again. It had self-sealed really, really well.
She pulled on it and gnawed on it and finally made a small hole. Then she reached in and grabbed hold of a sucker.
"Ah ha!" She got another one and one for each of her siblings.
I went back online later on and found the $40 package. Amazon wanted another $28 to ship it. The $40 was only for the candy.
That came to $67.
Are you kidding me?
I decided it was a bargain to mail it for $26.
So today I rewrapped the suckers, resealed the package and filled out a customs form. I paid the postal service their $26 and the candy is on its way.
There are still 20 suckers so $4 plus $26 is only $30, right? $1.50 a pop?
Oh, and there's me, the biggest sucker of all...
A grandchild's happiness is worth the price, don't you think?