Keeping it real 👈😎👈 (Patreon)

No, but like...I'm about to be so honest. And that's so scary. But also, my brain hurts and I forgot about Patreon briefly because Myrna is simply doing her best. But she kinda sucks sometimes 😂

SO. Actually, on that note, I will have a bigger health update hopefully at the end of the week 👍

SO. Heckin. Shipping. Holy. What am I doing. What is happening in the world. Why is everything so hard. I am just a girl 👉👈

The tariff situation in the US is a nightmare to navigate. Not to mention the extra costs...we'll ignore those for now...I may come back to it, we'll see (I don't know why, but I do seem pretty set on the stream-of-consciousness approach to all my Patreon posts, so I mean...let me know if it's annoying 😅). As most of you probably saw in some capacity, the first day of the imposed tariffs cause me to fully crash out.

I cried. For nearly an hour. I shouted. I panicked. I stressed. I yelled to my computer that "NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE. THIS DOESN'T WORK. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!"... for nearly an hour. And on my vacation! 😮 So rude. How dare they.

Trying to create a shipping label in Canada Post leads to a point where you cannot continue without a "declaration ID" confirming that you have paid duties and customs in advance. Which means a) there is no option for the customer to pay in any capacity, and b) I basically have to fill out the shipping information twice. But I didn't even know about "b)" yet. Because I had to register with "Zonos" which is where you pay in advance.

But the instructions on the Canada Post website tell you that you need to create a Zonos account, set up auto-pay, and then find your account key in the "Integrations" tab in Zonos.

That tab does not exist! Yay 🥳

So then I go about trying to find the account key. But fun fact: The account key is in fact NOT the information I needed. The instructions say to find that number and add it to my Canada Post profile.

Not only does the tab to direct to it not exist, but there is also nowhere to add it to my Canada Post account. And when I try to find out how to get the "declaration ID" which is what Canada Post directed me to Zonos for, the instructions say that Canada Post will automatically generate it when you create the shipping label.

IT DOES NOT.

So. I gave up. I decided not to deal with it until after I actually properly took time off.

And I did!

But the decision lacked foresight because I had my botox injections a few days later and myyyyyy goodness I don't know how I always forget that I feel like BUTTS afterward. But I still have a migraine. I have not been migraine-free since...around the show, actually. Because I had also forgotten that my migraines would get worse again... or rather I forgot that my injection date was approaching.

I finally did figure out the tariff stuff, though. Thank goodness.

But it now takes at least twice as long to create shipping labels. Because I have to use the Zonos app on my phone, input the shipping details there, pay any duties (there aren't any on CDs and vinyls thankfully! But there are on the few shirts and embroidery pieces I definitely regret not shipping out the week before the show, and also the pyrography, and the duties and customs fees are basically half the cost of each item, so... love that for me👍), and generate the declaration ID. Just so I can put that declaration ID into Canada Post...and input all the information all over again anyway 🤦‍♀️

Did I mention that the Zonos app frequently experiences "unknown" errors? At any step of the process? And most of the time the only way to circumvent the error is to fully exit and reopen the app to start completely over? And even that sometimes doesn't work? :)

Don't worry, the power cycle trick only didn't work...on the very last shipping label I needed to create for the day. And it only took me 15 minutes to create that single label. :) Everything is fine! 🔥:)🔥

SO. While my botox hasn't yet kicked in at all and my migraines are approaching their worst, I got to spend nearly two full hours just creating shipping labels and trying not to cry...again. (I was not successful.) Also, I think I might need to invest in label paper so I can stop cutting out and taping the labels to the boxes because it would honestly save me a lot of time and energy, of which I have very little to spare... A thought for later Katie to ponder.

At the end of the day, it all got done, and I only spent $640.55 on shipping/duties/customs today 💀👍

Also I am very grateful that I live pretty close to the post office because carrying around 30lbs of merch in the heat and humidity while I have a migraine was incredibly unpleasant 😅

Also also, I am genuinely so grateful for all the CD and vinyl purchases so far 🥹 I don't really even expect to break even on these (I'd have to sell 3/4 of them 😅 and that's okay! I would rather them be more accessible), but it means a lot to me that people want to have physical copies of my music. Like, that's so cool! Who even am I! So thank you. And if you're in the US and you've been holding off on buying one because of the tariffs or anything, there's no tariffs on the music and I now know how to do the customs stuff, so it's all good! ❤️

Anyway...that is my overly candid and yet somehow also overly complex retelling of how I cried (at least) twice while creating shipping labels.

Ps. Tariffs are ruining my life.

Pps. I'm not dramatic at all.

Ppps. I am so brave.

Pspspsps. 😺