Postal Workers...in your area.

In my towns around me it seems the USPS has cut staff and shorten hours. They even talked about no Saturdays.

Well, i went in the Unionville post office to mail a registered package. 1 guy working at front and another woman in back doing something with mail. Now Unionville is a small town but seems to be on a major road and nearest PO to it is probably 15 minutes further. Apparently i wrapped the reg. box wrong, he shuffled over to the counter 20 feet away and grabbed some special tape and slammed it on the counter next to me. He said wrap the whole box in this. OK, did that but seems i missed a few 1/4 spots so he took some more tape and finished. Meanwhile a line was forming of 4-5 people but the lady in back never came up. This guy acted like he did not want to be there and took it out on me?!?!

Of course they are pissed by the cut-backs but they work with the public and are employees of US. I mean i am the most easy going person and someone acts like that. Being said, i will just visit the farther post office and see how that one is next time.


Mark

Postal workers are not govt employees. They are actually a privately owned company but are run under very tight federal regulations and have to get everything approved by congress. I read a news story this week outlining USPS new budget. It calls for further rate hikes, no Saturday delivery and permission to close small branches that they currently cannot close due to federal law passed around 1969. The post is also barred from getting involved any other types business except package and letter delivery. According to the article, they have lost over $10 billion the past 4 years. I think they
are limit as to who can work at the counter. Especially when it comes to money handling, most businesses now days are very strict about who can operate tills and handle money so this may be why the other person didn't step up to help.

No matter what, it's not a situation over at the post office.

I have sympathy for postal workers, especially those that work the counter. They do see a bunch of nutcases and outright idiots. The other day, I was waiting in line and a 80-year woman had a 200-envelope box of metered mail from another town. It took the clerk 10 minutes to explain to her that they could not accept them there and she had to send them at the designated post office listed on the metered mail. She just could not understand it, then when she did, questioned it...and finally she need to find out how to get to the other post office. It takes a lot of patience to deal with people like that on a daily basis, so I can see how and why the postal clerks are often in a bad mood.

I know, but i was in no way a jerk to him. I was saying sorry 3-4 times because i forgot to wrap the package in certain tape!?!?!

And he still gave me this look like i was a bother to him.


Mark

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. Please give these industrious, sensitive, motivated workers an AK-47 so that they can express their inner feelings. Yeah - its the public who are screwballs, and these diligent individuals are simply misunderstood.
I agree Mark. I would not risk going back there with the wrong tape again. It could just set them off.

Now I have never walked a mile in their shoes but no one is in danger of breaking any speed records or winning any customer service awards at my PO.

Mark, not saying you should have been blamed for anything...just saying I can understand their attitude. I would not want their job regardless of how overpaid people think they are.

hey mark,

how dare you put the wrong tape on! i guess it's winter time so you were wearing some long sleeves...just show 'em your guns next time brother! who's gonna mess with that!!!

i have my one fav po i go to, they're usually friendly. other places nearby are hit & miss and seems like my stuff get delivered slower or the tracking is slow to be uploaded...bleh. i stick to what's comfortable even tho it's a lil longer drive.

Our post office has gone through cut backs. THe sad thing is that the best person behind the counter is retiring, it will make the trip to the post office a little less interesting.

I haven't dealt with a counter worker in months. One post office by me has a self service thing and I use that all the time. Mostly, I would just run anything through the Pittney Bowes machine at work and just reimburse the office.

There are two post offices by me as I live next to a border. The other town's office is better, mine has "misplaced" things.

I have 5 post offices to choose from when I send packages. Problem is that no matter where I go in Jersey, they are all slow because we have so many people (over 1,100 people per square mile). The worst of those is the one in my city. I only go there when I have to pick up a package that I have to sign for. I usually have to stand in line for 45 minutes. And that one has thick bulletproof glass in front of the tellers. Nice area (sarcasm)!

I just sent off a bubble mailer like I often to and wanted to add delivery confirmation to it. I have done this a hundered times with bubble mailers. Today the had someone working the line in a survey type duty and filling out a little check list form. They said no delivery confirmation on anything under 3/4" thick. I told them I have done this hundreds of times at this very location, just last week. They said sorry post office policy. The clerks at the window had to follow the survey line persons call and wouldnt ship it that way. I told them I will just take it to another post office. Went 3 miles down the street and sent it delivery confirmation no problem.
What it the deal. I could maybe understand variances from post office to post office but the same post office from one weeek to the next?

I have heard that....just crazy, now i hear they will cut Saturday delivery. They also cut hours at my main post office and reduced staff.


Mark

I asked why it matters since they should be happy to take the extra money. They said that pieces under 3/4" aren't examined for DC. Sounds stupid and lazy to me. How hard is it to throw the thing into a bin just DC? Everything I've sent that under 3/4" got there just fine including all the DC check points, so I don't see what the issue is. They should happy that people want to spend a little extra money no matter what the package size is.

Jay

Interesting Jay, had you heard the 3/4" thick rule thing before also or did you just happen to research the information from the post office on this? Again the funny thing is right down the street they gladly took it with delivery confirmation. I think the person working the survey check list in the waiting line must have been a supervisor or they got scolded for taking undersize packages delivery confirmation, who knows

The 3/4 policy has been around for a while, I just throw in a few packing peanuts and you easily have 3/4 of an inch. I have stopped using delivery confirmation on anything under $100. It really doesn't do much except tell you the mail man left the package somewhere, no confirmation needed from the recipient.

Lee