Surprise package?

I received the following email this morning:

From: xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:  Re: Puppy Adopt…
Date: November 20, 2011 12:58:43 AM EST
Reply-To: [email protected]

I have both male and female Bulldogs and i live in East McKeesport, PA. with the puppies.I am selling them $650 each including shipping fee. All their papers are current and shots are up to date. You could view their pictures via attachment. To start the shipping processing, i would need you Name, phone number and delivery address.

Names have been x’ed to protect the innocent.

I have to admit I found this e-mail slightly disturbing for a few reasons:

  • I was not actually aware I was in the market for puppies.
  • It came from an email service that I thought went extinct many moons ago, making me wonder if I went through a time warp.
  • The return address is through an email service that, though I know it is not extinct probably should be, making me wonder if I went through a time warp.
  • There was no actual picture attachment … and …
  • The price of the puppies included the SHIPPING FEE.

I have to admit, the way it was worded conjured up a rather scary vision. I could imagine a knock at the front door (our doorbell still does not work) to find a largish package on the stoop. I would be surprised about how heavy the box was, but even more surprised when I opened it ….

How DOES one ship a puppy anyway? Does the postal service offer special packaging? And is it cheaper to send your puppies bulk?

<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1207" title="box o’ puppies" src="http://ninjacatjournals.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/box-o-puppies.jpeg" alt="" width="280" height="180" />