My buddy Kurt sent me a note this a.m. about a new U.S. Postal Service directive telling us we have to present any package of more than 13 ounces, containing only stamps (no metering) to a live postal clerk, rather than putting it into a mail bin. Seems terrorists are winning again.That's another layer of inconvenience on top of the USPS' almost laughable lack of staffing at its counters. I can't tell you how many times I've walked into the post office needing something as simple as a single stamp (the machines are gone) and seeing a line of 12 people waiting for the single clerk to get to them. The clerk leisurely goes about his business, as if he has but one customer to deal with. The standard is for the customer to look in the door, get an exasperated expression and leave.
I don't know what the solution to the massive inefficiency is, but one more requirement of my time isn't in the equation I'd select. As customers, we're already doing the half the job the USPS used to do and our rates continue to climb. The little episode last week of charging more than $3 for a tenth of an ounce package difference infuriated me (see previous post). There is little recourse, however, other than to ask the people who run the post office to get their collective heads out of their collective butts and work FOR us, not against us.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm midway between two small-town post offices. I've never have to wait longer than three minutes (and that was right before Christmas) and post masters always tell me the cheapest way to send something (sometimes first class is cheaper than media mail).
ReplyDeleteBut I can remember the long lines I encountered a decade ago at the Cave Spring post office. At times, even trying to get a parking place was difficult.