Bah Humbug!

Petescorner

Buying and selling coins through the mail is fun 11 months out of the year. But December is nuts if you have to go to the Post Office to send or pick up any coins. It took me 45 minutes to get to the front of the line today, and that was about 5 minutes more than the two times I had to go last week.

What's with these dozens of people mailing 10 cardboard boxes to God-knows-where? None of them have their insurance cards ready. Half of them are taping their boxes at the front of the line. Everyone is asking to borrow a pen. Don't these people have jobs? Don't they use gift certificates?? Haven't they heard you can order gifts on-line and have them sent direct without going to the Post Office???

Arrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, Merry Christmas to you all, too. I feel better now!

fcloud

Dan,

The busiest day of the year in the post office is Dec. 16. You can take a deep breath now, we are through the worst of it.

Merry Christmas.

Tony

nwcs

Yeah, I know how it feels very much. Same waiting I've had to do. First thing I do is grab the slips and fill them out in line. My packages are always 100% ready tape-wise and label-wise and I go through quickly. I wish they had express lines for people who are totally ready to go.

GP

yep December is amateur month at the PO! I try to make my last triip to the PO by Thanksgiving if I can. So far I went once in December, it was raining pretty hard so the line was only 10 minutes. If all goes well, i wont go back until January


[edit] I was just talking to my mom about an express line for people that are ready to go, right after she finished complaining about a 45 minute line today to mail something for work that had to go out.

Spooly

What really pisses me off is the old people that have to stand in line to buy a stamp............. USE THE STAMP MACHINE!

nwcs

'round here the stamp machine always seems broken. And some seniors seem to want/need the social contact afforded by paid postal workers...

Petescorner

Neil, I like the suggestion of the Express lane! No questions allowed. No incomplete forms. Heck, not even a pen for you to use, if you have to fill something out, then you're SOL!

I forgot to add, the worst part of my 45 minute wait in the line was listening to the two ladies behind me babbling on for a half an hour about one inane subject after another. Oye! I felt like the people in Airplane! who kept opting for suicide over listening to Ted Striker's problems! But at last I heard those magic words, "Can I help you?" And all was well.

Loki

What get me riled is having an ebay seller in front of me that has his boxes taped, his insurance card ready, his labels made, for ALL 58 BOXES! *grrrrrrr*

Android

Thank God they don't accept coupons at the PO....

Andy

Conder101

Loki,

Now what if he had all 58 of those boxes but DIDN'T have them all ready? Be thankful for small favors.

And some one please explain...insurance card?

Twowood

And after being put thru these tortures,it all ends with..."Have a good day!" Twowood

Outhaul

Okay...here's what really pisses me off:

POSTAL CLERK: Can I help you?
DIMWITTED CUSTOMER
(Clutching a hundred or so envelopes): I'd like to buy some stamps
POSTAL CLERK: How many would you like?
DIMWITTED CUSTOMER: How many come in a book?
POSTAL CLERK: Well, we have books of ten, books of twenty, and rolls of 100, plus, we have sheets.
DIMWITTED CUSTOMER: Well, I need a hundred, but I think I'll take...ummm...What designs do you have?
POSTAL CLERK: We have these, these, these, and these.
DIMWITTED CUSTOMER: Hmmm...Well, I'll take five with the Christmas tree on them, four with the wreath...etc...etc...

THEY'RE STAMPS FACRISSAKE! YOU'RE GONNA SLAP THEM ON AN ENVELOPE, SEND THEM OFF, AND NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN! The person on the receiving end is going to TEAR open the envelope and not give a rat's ass what kind of stamp is on it!

I don't know how postal clerks put up with some of these people.

Thanks for the opportunity to vent

Cheers,

Bob

agfox

Ah yes the Post Office. I went yesterday to purchase a money order for an auction and after I left the line to fill it out and drop it off a young gentleman came in. He wanted a single stamp and went to the machine. He scrounged 50 cents in nickels out of his pockets then made his selection. The machine said deposit $36 and at this he went ballistic. Seems he pressed the 100 stamp roll button to much his surprise and let everyone in the Post Office know he wasn't about to pay 36.50 for a stamp. A good 3 or 4 minutes of shouting this over and over before some one just gave him a derned stamp. I love the holiday season.

darktone

What really bugs me is my local post office can open six lanes but only have employee operating three! I was in line yesterday and I counted 37 people in front of me before I decided to give it up and go to work. What makes it worse is there are other employees behind the counter doing nothing but talking about thier personel life. mike

ccrdragon

We have the same problem with the PO across the street from my office - if you don't get there when the doors open you might as well forget about it. There are six windows and there are NEVER more than 2 people working behind the counter! And the real pisser is when you go in there at lunch - 30-40 people in line, 2 older gentlemen behind the counter, and then one of them goes on break for 10-15 minutes!

Petescorner

And some one please explain...insurance card?

Conder, I'm probably mixing up my postal services, but I know in the past the clerk made me fill out the blue form when I was shipping a highly insured item. I've since shipped a few items for the minimum amount and just had the clerk give me a receipt with the zip code on it. The lady in front of me yesterday had 3 packages that were all going Return Receipt Requested (Maybe she wanted proof in case she didn't get any Thank You cards!) and of course, none of the green cards were ready. I think the clerk went to have a donut while he was waiting for her to complete them.

dram

Sure am glad I live in a small town, never more than 5 people in line here. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

TheNumish

Went to the post office yesterday and the line was out the door. To give my post office credit there are 5 stations and all 5 stations had clerks. The line moved fast. If you didn't have you forms filled they tell you what to do and then move you to the side and help someone else.

I must say it's comical looking at the way people wrap things and expect them to go through the system safely. Was watching one lady trying to wrap a package and it took her what seemed 10 minutes to open the box and figure out it was too small for her item. Finally I couldn't take it and helped her. Then there was the guy who knocked all the forms on the floor and walked away. I picked those up. Almost got in a fight with the guy next to me when he started yelling at the clerk blaming her for all his mailing troubles. I told him to give her a brake and he was about to go off on me but decided not to. I'm lucky I'm big because I can't fight. What is wrong with some of these people?

Merry Fricken Christmas. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

1956Quarter

Glad I use PayPal instead of a MO at these times. I do a lot of shipping, and I always keep a lot of forms ready at the house. Everything is free. Priority mail boxes and envelopes in various sizes. Priority mail labels and tape, all are free. Forms are a must. Green insurance forms for items insured $49.99 and less, or blue insurance forms for anything insured from $50 to their maximum limit. I ALWAYS have everything filled out and ready to go, all I need to do is hand it to the clerk and pay. Getting to the window is the trick. The clerk can make it worse or better. On one end of town if anyone comes to the counter unprepared, they get handed the proper forms and a roll of tape and are asked to step aside and fill everything out. At another PO the clerk gets right into packaging and wrapping the item, and filling out half the forms. THAT ticks me off.... and I've told her and the customer they waste my time doing that crap at the counter. Now.... you can go to the UPS customer service counter. Just bring your own cot.......

Steve27

How about a separate line for pick-ups. I went to the post office yesterday to pick-up a coin; forget it, the line was out the door at 7:30 PM.

Rotts

Loki,i concur...Rotts

zenny

<< <i>
DIMWITTED CUSTOMER: Well, I need a hundred, but I think I'll take...ummm...What designs do you have?
POSTAL CLERK: We have these, these, these, and these.
DIMWITTED CUSTOMER: Hmmm...Well, I'll take five with the Christmas tree on them, four with the wreath...etc...etc...

THEY'RE STAMPS FACRISSAKE! YOU'RE GONNA SLAP THEM ON AN ENVELOPE, SEND THEM OFF, AND NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN! The person on the receiving end is going to TEAR open the envelope and not give a rat's ass what kind of stamp is on it!



Cheers,

Bob >>



A resounding "AMEN."

z

Outhaul

To my Post Office's credit, I think they handle the crowds pretty well. My PO has a "PICK-UP ONLY" line. In and out in less than 5 minutes. The clerks also stagger their breaks so that out of 5 windows, only one will be closed for about 15 minutes to half an hour and usually, another postal employee fills in.

Cheers,

Bob

Outhaul

To my Post Office's credit, I think they handle the crowds pretty well. My PO has a "PICK-UP ONLY" line. In and out in less than 5 minutes. The clerks also stagger their breaks so that out of 5 windows, only one will be closed for about 15 minutes to half an hour and usually, another postal employee fills in.

Cheers,

Bob

prooflike

Same problem here at my post office but they also have an option if you have 5 or more packages you can make an appointment and go through the back door and have no wait, other post offices may offer this, they don't advertise it.

presleyh

Worst part is the talking about everything but mail! Our local P. O. is a family friendly place where everybody catches up on the gossip. The big black lady named Mary knows EVERYBODY! She loves to talk.

Petescorner

Worst part is the talking about everything but mail! Our local P. O. is a family friendly place where everybody catches up on the gossip. The big black lady named Mary knows EVERYBODY! She loves to talk.

Presleyh, you might want to be careful what magazines you subscribe to!

Conder101

<< <i>And some one please explain...insurance card?

Conder, I'm probably mixing up my postal services, but I know in the past the clerk made me fill out the blue form when I was shipping a highly insured item. >>



Ok, I get it. Sorry, I work in Registration at the local hospital and I am always asking people for their Insurance cards. I thought maybe the post office had come up with something like a pre-paid phone card. A pre-paid insurance card or postage card. "I want this to go to Cleveland and insured for $300." Swipe the card through the reader, it automaticly deducts the postage from the amount on the card and you're off.