My first Google Adsense Check

My first Google Adsense check amounted to $105.05. It will be very memorable for me but not for the reasons you're thinking. Sit tight and let me tell you why.

Google Adsense only releases checks when earnings reach $100, and mine attained the required amount last August 2006. Needless to say I was eagerly awaiting this.

When I set up my first Google Ad on this site, I was not really expecting a lot. After all, my goal for keeping the Couch Kamote website is to have an online archive for the stuff I wrote and the itches I needed to scratch.

Yet the thought of actually earning from it -- and from Google, nonetheless -- made me visit my Adsense account regularly. I watched patiently as cents trickled in slowly. Then visitors started coming in and some began clicking the ads. The goal of reaching $100 seemed more attainable.

After a long wait, my earnings finally reached $100. Google advised me that it usually took 1-3 months to deliver this via standard mail. I surfed about this, on whether Filipinos actually have received their checks and I found some sites that have said that they indeed have received Google checks. This got me more excited and I started telling friends about my Google check. Upon its arrival, my first Google Adsense check would go straight to the scanner so I can brag about it on this site. I would even print it and file it or even frame it.

September passed and I started checking my mailbox regularly for the Google check. I resisted the temptation to email Google support to ask whether my check was on its way; the climax kept building up. The Google documentation said to send them an email only if the check had not arrived by the 25th of the third month. In my case, that meant October. I became too busy October and I started toning down my excitement whenever I checked the mailbox.

October 25th came and brought more fidgeting. There was still no check. I gave it another few days before I sat down and wrote Google an email. The first reply was a proforma reply that told me not to hesitate to email back if the copy-paste response did not really answer my question.

I visited my mailbox a couple more days and then replied to Google, saying that after following all steps and poring through their documentation, I still have not received the check and could they help me look into the matter? I gave more details to Kento -- the Google guy who was assisting me. Kento came back to me and said that records show that my check had actually been claimed and deposited!

I told Kento that I certainly have not received the check, and I was chagrined to realize that those stories about postal theft have actually caught up with me. Someone had most probably intercepted my first Google check. I told Kento my suspicion and I appreciated his reply: he had requested their bank to send a copy of the cleared check and would send me this copy. Hopefully, we could further investigate this matter.

If you're looking for a good ending to this mishap, there is none yet. Probably the only good thing that has come of this so far is that I was pleased to know that Google actually got back to me and have shown interest in looking into the matter.

Somehow, I will not be surprised to learn that the theft happened from our postal office. I have had dealings with our postal system before and all I can say about it is that despite all the laws, regulations, enchantments and spells that our lawmakers could muster to stop corruption, corruption won.

So there you go. I promised to tell you at the start of this blog why my first Google Adsense check is memorable. I will always remember it because I will never receive it.