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USPS Customer Service – If You Can Call it That
By JLP | December 13, 2005
I just got back from my local Post Office. Here it is one of the busiest times of the year and they only had two of their four windows open. It was 9:30 and there was already a line forming. Finally, after about 5 minutes of waiting another woman showed up at another window. However, she was so slow that I swear a turtle could have moved faster. It took her 5 minutes to get her window ready.
It just cracks me up that when the local news stations interview postal employees about how busy this time of year is the employee always stresses that the customers need to be patient. Okay, I’m fine with that but ONLY if the Post Office is doing their part.
This leads me to today’s Question of the Day:
Topics: Rant | 15 Comments »
December 13th, 2005 at 3:57 pm
Extensive union protection and federal subsidies.
December 13th, 2005 at 5:29 pm
You are describing my local post office to a T!
I finally stopped selling books on half.com [now Ebay, I guess] because I loathed having to go to the post office. Post 9/11, they had a rule that anything over 1lb neeeds to get handed to a person at a window to be dealt with. I understand that they will now let you use the automated machine for packages, but I haven’t been back since then to try it out. Standing in line for 30 minutes is bad enough, standing in line for 30 minutes while pregnant and with a toddler … heh. No, thanks.
December 13th, 2005 at 5:29 pm
Well, I have never been that impressed with the service at the Post Office. There doesn’t seem to be a widespread realization that the people there in line are customers, and that keeping them happy is the key to staying in business. In these modern days of FED-EX, UPS, email, and fax machines, the USPS no longer has a monopoly on mail/package/message delivery, but many employees still have a monopoly attitude, in my opinion. Also, the majority of USPS mail and revenues come from large bulk mailers, so the general public is small potatoes in comparison.
Having said all that, I frequently encounter poor service from private businesses as well, so it isn’t just a problem of the Federal government of bureaucrats. And although I may have to endure slow, indifferent service from a USPS employee, I frequently deal with high pressure, dishonesty, and all around sleazy behavior from corporations and private businesses.
December 13th, 2005 at 9:22 pm
Here in Sun City West, Arizona we have a wonderful post office with fantastic staff (really!).
There can be very long lines , especially at this time of year, but they have a system,
and each clerk is working hard to keep things moving. I don’t know if all post offices have
the take-a-number system, but we do, and it allows those who can’t stand in line
for a period of time to sit on one of the benches without losing their place. There
is a station to the side of the main counter for quick, simple transactions, and a self-help
station which is fairly easy to use, and it takes debit cards, too. We also have a drive-
through window which opens at 8:00 AM (an hour earlier than the inside facility opens).
The workers are reliably cheerful and helpful, which can be quite a feat when dealing
with some of the more confused, harder-to-communicate-with clientele.
December 13th, 2005 at 10:05 pm
It all boils down to you get what you pay for. The lower level as well as upper management positions are very low paying jobs that also carry very high evels of stress. As a result you have poor upper management with poor management skills which trickle downwards to the even more drastically underpaid staf. If USPS were to offer slightly higher salaries then they would definitely be able to recruit better management who would then hire more efficient staff.
December 13th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
I came across the same kind of thing at a pack and mail place (Fedex). There was only one capable employee (the other guy just tossed boxes) – two weeks before Christmas and two employees in the whole place! The guys were friendly, but the other customers were pushy. Two people skipped in line ahead of me without so much as a thanks – I was just too tired to argue (normally I would have jumped all over this). That was my good deed of the day – wait in line for 45 minutes so a gussied up cell phone obsessed soccer mom can tell me she’s so busy she needs to skip in line. On top of the frustration of losing my lunch hour, the shipping totaled more than the gifts cost. Next year, I’m only shopping online so that I don’t have to ship anything myself.
December 14th, 2005 at 9:49 am
I think park of the reason for the slowness is their computer systems. Just the other day I took two packages in to ship, and I wanted them both sent Media Mail. Rather than just letting me specify what I wanted, the computer system evaluated all the options, and the clerk had to click through over half a dozen screens just to get the label to print. Their system isn’t set up for efficiency, it is set up for the shipping needs of people that don’t know what they want.
December 14th, 2005 at 1:49 pm
the PO i regularly visit has really-really nice people working there, and they are not turtles. how about trying a different PO nearby if you possibly can? they can vary by location. also, keep in mind it’s a govt institution….
December 17th, 2005 at 7:52 pm
“You are describing my local post office to a T!”
You are describing EVERY urban post office I’ve ever been to. The only post offices I have seen that are nice and folksy are in small towns that are nice and folksy. I really need to learn how to everyone online and have them pick it up next year.
April 2nd, 2006 at 12:02 am
Tavarious, I don’t understand your concern about the postal workers’ pay. Years ago I saw a statistic on a 60-minutes type of show saying the average postal worker made over $45,000 at that time. Considering the incredibly generous federal pension, benefits, and job security they get on top of that (compared to private industry), I don’t see shedding too many tears over the “low” salaries these folks get.
I got a post office box at our main post office in Lexington, KY since the USPS seemed to have so much trouble delivering my mail to my apartment mailbox. Now they deliver it to an adjacent post office box. Fabulous. Packages and letters – same story.
I think my favorite is that occasionally properly addressed mail is returned to the sender as “undeliverable address”. When sent again the SAME way to the SAME address, it arrives just fine. Packages and letters – same story.
Management is just terrible if you try to politely ask to resolve a specific issue. They NEVER returned promised calls. They NEVER seem to do much of anything but blame the customer.
I have had certified mail delivered, but the record of delivery was apparently lost. (What am I paying for?) Though I did receive a polite refund, I would REALLY prefer that the process work properly in the first place.
I can’t believe such folks would last in the corporate world. I NEVER have such problems via UPS or Fedex (air).
November 29th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
YES they make good $. In my book, unless you know how you want to get your packaged shipped, there are too many choices along w/the employees NOT knowing the finer points of using there computerized machines proficiently=takes up time. THANKS, Rob.
November 30th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
The USPS has a monopoly on letter sized mail. Whether they are government or privately run the result would be the same. Add to this the union protections and motivation to serve the customer goes out the window.
January 5th, 2008 at 4:08 am
I came across this site and I totally agree with most of what you are saying. The computer systems are poorly built for addequately giving the customer speedy service, that added to the postal services constant strive to downsize staff, makes it an utter nightmare for customers. Our post office had 17 clerks on staff 2 years ago and now we have 12 clerks and one casual that is good for 3 months, then we get another casual to retrain. As far as union protection, yes we do have a union, but it is one of the weakest unions I’ve seen. They fight more amongst themselves then they do against usps management, and the new contract adopted in Nov. 07, allows for more downsizing and contracting out work, which leads me to believe that it is only going to get worse, along with health insurance increases of 6%, unless the employee chooses to use the APWU coverage, which covers almost nothing; a union that sides with its own needs. I would say in our office less than 30% of the clerks are union members. We need our customers to direct as many complaints as possible to the postmaster general, and district management, that is the only way a voice is going to get heard.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:42 am
as someone that has worked their way up the “customer service” ladder from sales associate at 16 to successful marketer and sales rep, i say that people in “customer service” perform poorly when they hate their job. there’s no other reason than that. or that they’re lazy. either way, i understand COMPLETELY. i recieve OPENED mail sometimes in the city i live in.
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
WHAAAA WHAA PAY EXTRA FOR UPS