Do you love tracking packages? I do and I am obsessive about it. Once I get notification that an item has shipped I begin compulsively checking its progress. And once I see “Out For Delivery”, efforts are ramped up despite the fact that all I have to do is look out the front door.
We have been labeled a society of instant-gratification seekers, expectors really, and I am still thrilled and in awe that an order I place today can be in my hands tomorrow. But there is something so satisfying to me in following its journey. Maybe I miss the anticipation and build up more than I know, the presents that begin to appear under the tree the week before Christmas when I was a kid. It could also be nothing more than the control freak in me, the need to always know where things stand.
We usually don’t see the bad stuff coming and there is an argument for both sides: warning or no warning. But when it comes to something good, I like to look forward to and participate in its impending arrival. I’m surprised they don’t charge us for that feeling, a line item “Anticipation” above Shipping & handling and Tax. Don’t tell Amazon, but I’d be more than willing to pay it.
