Customer Service From The USPS!

Like many of you, I grouse about marker monkeys, slow service and lost mail through the USPS.

I thought I'd share an actual occasion of customer service:

I don't actively collect self-adhesives but I occasionally pick up an issue that interests me. I've been collecting the Civil War series. This year I forgot about the 1865 Civil War Stamps issued this April. I was recently at the local post office so I thought I'd ask if they had any Civil War stamps left. The postmaster was working the counter. (Yes, the post office is that small) She checked and said they were out of them but she would gladly order them and let me know when they are in. I thought, "yeah, right," but I went along with it.
Well, much to my surprise, I got a call from the post office informing me that my stamps are in and sitting in their safe to be picked up! I am now the possessor of two Civil War S/S.

Is there still hope for the USPS???

Dan

I've fund that the smaller the office, the better the customer service. It seems as if the clerks in the larger city offices are much too busy and important to be bothered with service.

Yes, the smaller the PO is the more "TLC" is experienced.

But in such POs as there are in Manhattan NYC, you are treated with the legendary Civil Servant attitude of "I do not care whether you have been in line for 3 hours, I'm going on my 3rd lunch break".

Regards,
Stampalotapus

I agree that smaller post offices are much less bureaucratic and more customer friendly on balance.

What surprised me was that I was called and told "my order was in." Heck, that's almost like the private sector!

Dan

I've had good luck with my branch post office also.

Small town offices can be interesting, I went in 1 and they had a box of live baby chicks on the counter, I was like youall deliver live birds??? She said yes so evidenty they do.

I used to pick up newspapers at the Main Post Office in Flint, Michigan at 2:00 AM every morning, back in the early 1980's. They had a large crate of chirping baby chicks on their loading dock every night. The mail handlers told me that they were so used to them that they didn't even hear the noise anymore. Occasionally they would get baby ducks, too.

The USPS also delivered bees & crickets.

Yes,the even delivered children in 1914-15. 15c worth of stamps and even insured for $50.

Small P.O.'s give better service?!?!? Don't bet on it! My local 'small town' main P.O., with two clerks, has the same obnoxious clerks as large offices. When I went to mail a registered envelope four months ago, I requested the clerk place commemorative stamps on the oversized envelope. The USPS clerk (who has been there forever) said, "No. I don't have to-- and I'm not going to -- that's too much work!" And he proceeded to print-out a postage label and that was that. I even said to the clerk, "If it's too much work-- just hand me the stamps -- they are advise backed --I'll put them on for you." The USPS clerks' response to that was a flat "NO!" The office was not busy; there was nobody behind me waiting for service.

So, I now ship everything by UPS or FEDEX even if it costs me more $$$. The USPS can kiss my "stamps"! The USPS is responsible for their own downfall.

Hal

I have had both good & bad experiences at my post office ... but fortunately the bad ones are very infrequent. If Hal's visit had occurred at a large office, I would suggest that he complain to the local postmaster. At a small office, I suspect the attitude is likely endemic & any complaint would likely be met with indifference or hostility. This also points out the difference between a "for-profit" business and a government entity. Consistently poor performance in a business environment would result in a chastised or out-of-work employee ... or, eventually, an out-of-business company.

On the delivery of bees, while I was a letter carrier in Rockford, Illinois, if there were bees to be delivery within the delivery office I was in the supervisor would ask me to deliver them, because no one wanted to handle them. Of the 20 - 25 containers of bees that I delivered I was never stung. I was even able to force one bee keeper move because he had set up right next to a grade school. On the crickets most of the crickets delivered by the USPS are white crickets, not black crickets. The white crickets have a softer covering (body shell), these crickets are used as food for small reptiles.

You're sure right about the bees, it's the hornets that will get you every time, it's the hornets that will do you in.

I will rate my local Post Office at Cupertino 5-star!!

Same here. They always come through for me. (Small post office)

Jack Kelley

My local P.O. was excellent until about ten years ago then, for some reason, everything went downhill. And the incident I recounted wasn't the first problem of "attitude."