Not a Good Start for the Post Office

2010 is off to a rip roaring start for the post office, where today dozens of residents in the 10009 zip code waited on line for over an hour to pick up their packages, served by one woman who appears to have trouble with her feet and lungs, but took the time to thoroughly check all IDs and make a complete search of the back area for every package. Estimated time to serve a single customer = 4 minutes. Plus, the package I got today was postmarked December 17 with priority mail stickers and insurance, and the notice arrived at our door on December 28.

Taking a page from the Wall Street playbook of overpaying executives so that they don't leave for greener pastures, the post office closed early on several days during their busiest season, including additional time off for when it snowed, to ensure worker happiness so they don't lose such wonderful talent. In a similar ploy, they no longer post the hours of operation, which keeps it a fun and interactive guessing game, ensuring that you meet your neighbors as they gather around the door scratching their heads and cursing. During the entire holiday season there were just two windows open to ensure long lines so that they appear to be popular, similar to how restaurants try to sit people near the windows to entice other hungry diners inside.

And as the final effort to ensure long lines and terrible service, the self-serve machines have no place to deposit the package you are mailing - so you can buy your postage, but you can't actually drop it in a box without waiting in line. To be fair, I believe this is a safety issue, since every person entering that building gets the idea of blowing them up within 3.5 minutes of waiting on line; it's a spontaneous and collective impulse.

I'm not sure when they stopped actually delivering packages, but it has been a long time since a postal worker has rang the buzzer to let us know our package is here - we just get the notice stuck to the door, or sometimes inside the mailbox.

I would encourage everyone to switch to UPS, but they aren't much better, as this week I had a box thrown on the floor of the entry area. The delivery person didn't bother to ring the buzzer, leave a note, or go up the stairs and leave it by our door, just left it on the floor.