Post Office Blues

Thursday I tried to go to the post office at 5:15 pm. The line was almost out the door so I turned right back around not confident I would make it through the line in 30 minutes. Friday morning I stopped in at 8:30 right as it opened and found it much emptier, so I stuck around and figured I would be in and out.

The lack of pens on the center counter should have been my first indication this was not going to be a quick in and out. It took a few minutes before I could get the attention of one of the two women working. I was not given a ball point pen so I was fear the carbon backed form I needed to fill out would not be fruitful. Little did I know, it was not the pen that would cause the problem.

The last time I had been to the Post Office I had sent out some letters overseas, so I knew I had a small form to fill out. I found it on the counter and filled it out for both India and England, where my two boxes were headed.

When I got to the desk, I got the trainee girl who had no idea how to do anything and had to ask the woman next to her for everything. She got the letter I was sending home to my mom scanned in alright, although the supporting supervisor told her it was too thick and too hard to be a letter so it had to be charged as a parcel (it was camera batteries, barely thicker than lots of folder paper, and in a very normal envelope).

Then, I was told that the forms I used were not good for boxes and that I had to label the boxes (this usually gets covered up) and that I needed to step aside, fill out the long form, and come back to the front (there were now 2 people behind me, this was not a concerning wait ahead of me, but a ticked off second form). I scribbled through it, ignoring the pre-determined spaces set aside for each individual character. The supervisor looked at it and got upset. On one of the boxes, I had said “Candy/Clothes 1 $30.00”. “Sir, would you be able to itemize that?” “No, ma’am,” was my swift reply. “Sir we need you to itemize out the candy and clothes for the Department of Homeland Security.” “Ma’am, the box will get there, it’s fine.” At this point, I’m just trying to get out of there. Nope, I had to break it out. She was not pleased with my attempt but relented and began to ring it up.

I should have researched my packaging option. I was charged $60/box because they were flat rate boxes and I was shipping internationally. My fault here, but dare me to ever use that system again.

Every few months I see announcements of Post Office closings, stamp price increases and what seems to be an ongoing threat to end the Post Office system altogether. I’m not suprised. I shared this story quickly with a friend and family member, each of whom had horrendous stories to share as well. Someone needs to right the ship because the USPS looks a lot like a Greek cruise ship the way it is being run today.