So:

I’m getting married. My bride and I found an item we wanted to order for our wedding made by a company called St. Louis Bride & Groom. The product by St. Louis Bride & Groom can have a customized or personalized graphic on it; one of the suggestions is a graphic of the St. Louis Arch, located on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, MO.

We see this item and think, “That’s great! Precisely what we’re looking for,” and place our order. Several days go by, and we receive no confirmation of our order. So the bride calls them to track everything down, and they tell her this:

this is what they tell her:

We regret to inform you that, for sales tax reasons, we are unable to ship orders to customers in Missouri. We are sorry for any inconvenience.

No further attempt made to accomodate or otherwise keep my business.

So, just for the fun of saying it again, you can get your specially made St. Louis themed items from St. Louis Bride & Groom, just as long as you do not live in St. Louis.

The business plan can only be some kind of oblique genius. At least judging by the acumen showed when they got our order and responded by turning off the porch light and pretending they didn’t live there anymore.

I would tell all my friends not to do business with them, except they can’t.

The plus side is that this gives me the opportunity to dust off “I Wanted to Give You Money,” a favorite hate mail chestnut that has served me well with the phone company many times.