That’s a penny per minute’s wait!
Apparently the United States Postal Service celebrates becoming debt-free by raising rates, as anyone who’s visited the post office in the past couple of weeks has noticed. I found out what that extra two pennies buys you: a longer wait!
I know there’s always a line at the post office, but there’s no excuse to have one person open when the line is 20 people deep at out the door. Especially when at least one of those people is the old guy who’s coming in to mail two books. Not a package containing two books, mind you, but two books he’s holding, no envelope or packaging material of any kind. Though he looks about 70, this is presumably his first trip to the magic depot where all the mail goes in and out! “What? You mean I have to supply the envelope? Huh. Address? Oh, it’s right here in my pocket. Somewhere. On one of these scraps of paper and gum wrappers. Oh, you want money? Say, while I’ve got you here, how about I launch into a discussion about gas prices?”
Geez, mister, didn’t fighting in the Battle of Chester Station teach you to be prepared?
January 25th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
My local post office has coin operated stamp machines which help keep the lines down for all of those folks who happen to have $3.90 worth of change in their pockets. Then again it really doesn’t matter seeing as how the machines are always out of order.
January 25th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
My world has been changed by two things: carrier pickups, postal kiosks and… wait, make three things… Endicia.com. I’m still desperately trying to figure out how I can print my international postage on-line since it’s just about the only thing that forces me to go to the post office, where the long line, incompetent customers (like you Rod I always get in there with the people carrying stuff that has to be mailed like they’ve NEVER been in one before) and one clerk who visibly detests me turn me into a mumbling basket case.
January 25th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
It always makes me wonder how blind these old people are that wait in line forever and then when it’s their turn, all they want is a stamp or two. Geez, with so little life left in them, why not use the machine in the lobby? Lord knows old people love to carry around change!
In other news, I love the automated postal center in the lobby. I’d use it every single time if only it allowed you to send media mail. But it doesn’t, and that’s 90% of what I send.