💁 Continued: It looks like regular mail, but? 1275

Two credit cards arrived one after another.
One was a family card for which H (my ex-husband) is the 'primary' cardholder, which left me bewildered as it was so unexpected.
The other one, of all things, had been dropped into my mailbox via regular mail.

The one that arrived by regular mail was a Famima Card.
I had signed up for it as a favor when a FamilyMart opened in the neighborhood, the owner has since changed, it's not my main card, I hardly use it, and I wouldn't be troubled if I didn't have it.

In the first place, I shop at convenience stores maybe once or twice a month, if that.
Even when I do buy something, it's a small amount, and I can't use it for copy or print services.
If there's no benefit, I have no objection to canceling it.

And yet, oh, and yet.
The phrases 'Up to 5% discount when used at FamilyMart' and 'Save by linking' caught my eye.
Hey, wait a minute, even if I spend 1,000 yen, that's only 50 yen, right?
It's not like I ever spend 'as much as' 1,000 yen.

And yet, oh, and yet (second time).
Linking?
Can I do it on the app?
Is it easy?
I don't have to cancel it now; I can do it anytime, right?
It was just a whim.

However, perhaps because it was determined that 'this person won't use it anyway,' I kept getting errors no matter how many times I tried.
There was no explanation for the error message, and I couldn't get through to the inquiry chat either.

I left it alone for a while.
I'll just cancel it after all.
But still, what could have been wrong?
Even though I should have known better, I tried asking the service desk.
The person in charge was N-shima-san.

They said that if there is a discrepancy between the information registered on the card and the app, an error occurs and it gets rejected.
Could there really be a discrepancy in my own information that I registered myself?
There was.
It seems I had registered a landline number for the card and a mobile number (which I can't use for calls, but use for SMS authentication) for the app.
Oh, so that was it.

I was able to link them successfully.
So, when will I use it?
Besides rarely shopping at convenience stores in the first place, I also have 11,000 yen worth of QUO cards that Susumu (pseudonym, my second son) gave me.
I'll never be able to use all that up.

Since I had gone to the trouble of speaking with N-shima-san, I decided to ask one more thing.
Fortunately, it was a toll-free number.
This isn't customer harassment.
It's the valuable opinion of a single customer, you know.

What's the deal with sending credit cards by regular mail?
Perhaps because there are many similar opinions or complaints, N-shima-san responded with the practiced, fluid ease of a pro.

They used to send them by registered mail, but changed it to regular mail.
The reason is that many people are away when delivery is attempted, and there are more cases where it takes time to get it into the customer's hands.
They said, 'We drop it in the mailbox to ensure smooth delivery to you.'
How about that, customer first.

N-shima-san is not to blame.
They work at the call center and are likely not in a position to interfere with delivery methods, and they are probably just saying what they were trained to say when asked.
But are you saying that with a straight face?
You realize you just want to cut costs, right?
I realize it.

Regular mail cannot be tracked.
If it's lost, misdelivered, or delayed, there's no way to know.
It might even be stolen from the mailbox.
I can't stand the thought of my card being used fraudulently.
By focusing too much on 'smoothly delivering it to your hands,' haven't you left peace of mind, safety, credit, and trust behind?

|It seems my ramblings, or 'customer feedback,' were taken seriously.
Whether it will be improved or not, I won't know until the next renewal card arrives.
Although, if I cancel it, the next card will never reach me, so I wouldn't mind at all if it wasn't improved.

2025.10.3

#Essay #Blog #Column #Prose #MiscellaneousWriting #PersonalNotes #Depression #CreditCard #FamimaCard #ConvenienceStore #FamilyMart #RegularMail #SimpleRegisteredMail #ServiceDesk #CallCenter