The End of the U.S. Post Office, Part 1 of 3

I’m grateful that nowadays I rarely have to step foot into a Post Office.  With email and social networking, the only things I mail are packages and any official correspondence.  I have a great FedEx business discount, so nearly all parcel and express deliveries are cheaper than the USPS.  Even when I need to mail a letter or if the recipient has only a PO Box, I tend to use a Pitney Bowes machine or print out my own postage.

But every now and then, I do indeed have to step foot into a post office.  It’s not the worst thing (for that, we have the DMV), and it’s probably not even the next worst thing (which would probably be Navy PSD; for civilians who cannot relate to a PSD, imagine that your HR department was run like the DMV).  But all said, the USPS is pretty bad.

I had to mail a letter via “Certified Mail” last week, so I stepped foot into the local Brannan Street post office (2 stars on Yelp).  Despite it being the middle of the day, the counter windows were closed, and taped to the metal curtain was a sign that said, “Computer broke, try again tomorow.”

I want to be surprised, but how can I?  Everyone knows the US Post Office is a poorly run organization.  Surely, they can’t be blamed for all their problems; after all, everything they do requires an act of Congress.  But “Computer broke, try again tomorow”? 

I’m not sure when my disgust for the Post Office started, but it may have been as early as the 90's.  Around 1997 or 1998, I was mailing a large package via the USPS.  Everything was nicely packed, except I needed one piece of packing tape to secure it.  After waiting in line to purchase the postage, I asked the agent if she could tape it, and she said, “We don’t have tape here.”  (This is no surprise today, but at the time this was a huge shock.)  I asked, “What do you mean you don’t have tape – you’re the post office.”  She not so kindly said I could buy tape, and pointed me to the retail shelves.

Being the activist/complainer I am, I called the 800 number to file a suggestion/complaint that the Post Office wasn’t giving its customers tape.  The customer service agent I spoke to sounded surprised and concerned, and said that I would receive a call from the postmaster of that branch.

I actually did receive a call later that same day, but the conversation went nowhere: the call was from the SAME agent who refused me tape to begin with.

Again, let me emphasize that getting “free” tape at the Post Office is no surprise today.  Hell, you can’t even find a pen nowadays.

Next, in Part 2: The Adventures of Mail Forwarding