No Wonder Post Office is dying

I totally get that the bill passed by congress that makes the post office pay an outrageous amount of money for retirees is severely hurting the post office financially.
That being said, there is no excuse for the lack of customer service most post offices provide. And, as with most things, cuts could be made to save some money I'm sure.

Hopefully the person that slammed the door is one of the soon-to-be 75k jobs that USPS plans to cut.

I don't know which branch you had trouble at, but at the main office downtown that sort of stuff was commonplace, specially at night when they claimed to be open to box holders.

I guess you don't have to worry about customer service when your the only game in town.

Except FedEx, UPS, e-mail...all competitors that have knifed USPS into billions of dollars in losses. Imagine what they would do if that stupid law saying "only USPS can deliver to mailboxes" was lifted.

I don't think of it as "they're the only game in town"; it's more like "they refuse to acknowledge it's 2011, not 1970, and customers can go elsewhere."

But heaven forbid that they change the way they do business...the taxpayers will be there for a nice big bailout. After all, their service is mandated by the Constitution, so we will have-to bail 'em out...without changes. Just watch...

Tried to ship a package to Afghanastan thru fed-ex, they said they couldn't. Had to deal with the post office. It was not pleasant. I will continue to bite my tongue and deal with it for the sake of my nephew and all of our service people. It's about the only time I do have to.

I don't think of it as "they're the only game in town"; it's more like "they refuse to acknowledge it's 2011, not 1970, and customers can go elsewhere."

I understand the frustrations people have with the post office, but will FedEx or UPS stop by my house and take a letter to anywhere in the United States within three or four days for 44 cents? No. If the US Mail shut down tomorrow, people would be screaming bloody murder when they had to pay $3 to send a Christmas card.

Or they could pay nothing and create an online Christmas Card

44 cents (soon to be 45 cents) to mail a letter or card is obviously not what USPS can charge and break even. Not even close.

The Hill

[Postmaster General] Donahoe told the Senate panel that the Postal Service’s net loss for this fiscal year could run as high as $10 billion, and projects to around $9 billion for next year.

Maybe they should charge $3 for that Christmas card...

We use the post office in 43613 regularly to ship to my sister and family in Australia. They are pleasant and remember us. The parking situation there is awful though.

I have run into rude PO employees at main PO when I worked. But never at our local branch.

I give kudos to our local postman. He keeps an eye on the elderly and reported one person on our street when they didn't pick up their mail. Saved a life that day!

kudos also to the guy on the desk at Walbridge PO. very nice and patient and helpful. Years ago, I needed to mail a one pound package to Australia. took it to UPS, $55.00. guy said did you try the post office? no, didn't know they sent overseas. took it to the post office, $12.00.

while i'm sure there are plenty of good people/ workers at the post office, my unfavorable customer service experiences far outweigh my positive ones.

the worst is having two employees work the counter during xmas season (kenwood office). the line is out the door and those two employees are moving at the speed of snail.

Kenwood, for some reason, is a lower circle of Hell disguised as a post office. I was there one time while a businesswoman was reaming out the branch manager for delivering her summer-season advertising brochure in September. She missed a whole season of business opportunities because of ineptitude at that post office.

Go to the Monroe street branch, behind Bed & Bath. They have a credit-card-enabled package shipping machine right in the lobby. I've never waited more than 5 minutes for anything there. Sometimes it looks like there's a long line, but it moves fast. As opposed to Kenwood, where the line can be three people, but it takes 20 minutes to get your turn.

Regarding that Monroe Street post office: was there today at 11:45 a.m. The line was moving slow and growing into the lobby. I used the machine to ship an insured, priority mail package with delivery confirmation, and was done as the line continued to grow. The automated system can also be used for letters, stamp purchases, and many other P.O. shipping needs. I doubt that a package to Afghanistan would be easy to send from the ATM-type thingy, but it is generally a great time-saver. There used to be one in the McCord-Bancroft P.O., and I would imagine they exist elsewhere. Available 24/7. Good stuff, in spite of the inefficiencies and aggravations of the USPS.

P.S. I would hope that the PO told you about the special rates for shipping to our troops, particularly the discount on heavy items. Care packages. Very important!

there is an ATM mailing machine in the Oregon lobby, too, those are great!

I haven't set foot in a post office in years. I don't ship a lot myself, but for those occasions that I do, I get online and print out my postage and shipping label, then schedule a pickup with my local carrier.

I've never tried to ship anything internationally, but it looks like you can do that online as well.

I use the post office in Point Place several times per week to ship documents fore work, and customer service has always been top-notch.