Fred sat at his desk in the office behind his and George's joke shop. It had been an extremely good year. Profits were way up, and they had enough orders for their products to keep them busy for years to come. However Fred was frustrated, and it was beginning to show. He kept rustling papers around and cursing under his breath while frequently running his fingers through his hair. He'd done that so much that his hair had begun to resemble a red-tinged hedgehog.
George walked into the office just as Fred threw an exploding chocolate frog at the door. He managed to just duck the frog and the chocolate mess it made as it hit the doorjamb. "Woah, bro!" George exclaimed. "Whatever did I do to deserve having chocolate aimed at me, and risking ruining my new dragon-skin jacket?"'Sorry George," Fred replied, "I'm just so fed up. I didn't sigh up for this kind of headache." "You still trying to work out a more efficient delivery system? George asked. "Yeah" said Fred, "but I'm stuck. We are starting to get complaints that our products are taking too long to reach the customers."
Fred and George had recently expanded to a "mail-order" system for customers who wanted to purchase their novelty items. Their products had gotten so popular that customers were beginning to overcrowd the store, and they were getting increasing number of owls for having things shipped instead of the customer coming to the store. After a few well-placed ads in the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler, the shipping side of their business had boomed. So much so that they had to hire staff just to answer owls, and to prepare the orders for delivery. They even had a small staff of house elves to assist in production, something they kept secret, as they didn't want Hermione Granger finding out and staging a S.P.E.W. rally outside their door. Fred and George liked Ms. Granger, they just didn't think she understood house elves at all.
Emily Wigglesworth one of the Weasley's top sales clerks tapped on the door then poked in her head. "We have just received an order for 500 exploding candy canes." She said, "And you'll never guess from who?" George said "well tell us then." While Fred merely growled. "The order came from the North Pole." Emily said. "Apparently the big elf himself wants them as gifts for his staff." "Thanks Emily, George said. "Tell the house elves to get right on it."
George turned back towards Fred, who had a strange look in his eye. "Man, you are starting to scare me. What is up with you." Fred began to laugh. "Why didn't I think of this before? Who has one of the best and most efficient mass delivery systems in the world? Who without fail gets his products delivered on time and too the right location every time, year after year?" George shook his head. "I'm not following you." "SANTA, you dunce." Fred retorted. "Santa does that every Christmas Eve. I bet your new jacket that the reindeer and sleigh is just a ploy, that Mr. Claus has been using another method all this time." "Maybe he does," Said George, "but what does that have to do with us?" "It has everything to do with us." Fred said, almost shouting. "We are swamped with orders for delivery. Owls are too slow and can't carry heavy items, the muggle method is a joke, as they don't recognize most wizard addresses. Even the floo network is inefficient as we have to have someone on the other side to accept delivery AND we can only do one delivery at a time. That elf has figured out a way, and you and I are going to figure it out." "Yeah?" Said George. "And just how do you propose to do that?"