Is This An Example Of The USPS's "Going Green" Initiative?

I found this letter to the editor of (04/21/2011) from Lincoln, California to be a bit interesting. Has anyone else had such an experience at their local post office?

http://lincolnnewsmessenger.com/detail/176884.html

At first, I was thinking that maybe they were doing an informal survey, but since their computer system would be able to track each person's transaction, that seems unlikely.

Then, I thought maybe they had excess staff that had nothing better to do, but that can't be the case if this was the only clerk handling the window and she had 8 people in line.

Sounds a bit strange from a postal agency promoting "Go Green" initiatives, doesn't it? So much for the USPS's efforts at good customer relations.

The letter really made little sense. I can't decide what was the purpose of the "triage". To me triage means the most urgent needs would be served first. THat doesn't seem to be the case from what the writer said.

Agreed. And in a US Postal Service situation, there should be no such thing as "triage". Customers should always be given first come, first served status no matter whether they are mailing a parcel, picking up mail, paying for a PO Box, or simply buying stamps. Perhaps the writer was not presenting all the facts accurately, which could also be a possibility, I suppose.

Just seems so far apart from anything I have ever experienced at the post office, so maybe it was just an isolated incident.

I didn't like the overall tone of the author,
a bit self centred for mine.
I could understand the triage maybe at an Aussie
counter, people pay land rates, car licences, passport fees,
and a thousand other things, but then again
this should be able to be tallied through till receipts.

Do US Post Office's use computerized terminals or registers so that many items can be scanned when purchasing them?

Canada Post does which speeds up purchases of those things that can be scanned (not single stamps).

You bring up an interesting question.

Some -- but not all -- USPS facilities use scanning technology. For example, I bought the "Go Green" stamps last week and received this as my receipt -- using scanning technology. In fact, I could even consider this a new item to collect (first day of issue receipts for purchasing stamps at a local post office! ):



Anyway, a few days later I purchased some stamps from a smaller post office and this is the receipt I received. Computerized, sure, but they have to manually enter amounts into their computer, it does not use scanning technology to detail the transaction or provide detail as to the type of stamps purchased anywhere near as closely as the larger post offices do:

My receipt, postage to Romania
to complete a trade with SCF member Wadmalatz :

The concept of triage is effectively applied at my post office, where the line often exceeds 20 people for service at between 2 and 4 stations.

When conducted (usually by a supervisor), the aim appears to be to identify which services people are there to receive, ensure they have the requisite forms filled out (e.g., return receipt, delivery confirmation, insurance, etc.) before arriving at the counter, or encourage the use of one of the 3 automated postal machines (APM) to reduce individual waiting time (the latter is generally accompanied by an offer to assist).

It does not involve handing people slips of paper, as was noted in the letter.

For anyone who looked at the original link early on, check it again. There are now some comments about the incident from news readers that offer some other interesting perspectives.