When I was little I went everywhere with my parents..one of the places we went was to the post office.
There was a little window there..and my Mom would get stamps. I was too little to see what was going on behind the wall. I was always curious.. what happens back there? When I got a little taller I could see the wooden floor was scuffed and worn from the wheeled carts that were pushed around. The big old containers were made of green canvas ..how much mail could they hold? Where were all those letters going?
I think I would have liked sorting the mail..getting all the letters and magazines in their proper mail boxes.
Far Guy handles all our postal business in our nearest small town..there are idiots working there. I go either 7 miles west or 14 miles east to go to a post office where there are no idiots:)
My son worked in the mail room when he was in the military. When he died they dedicated the room to him, and I was told he was one of the good ones. I've always had a soft spot for post offices. :-)
ReplyDeleteOur Post Office is terrible. They are forever delivering our mail to someone else with a our same house number and a street name very similar to ours. Then they have lost our mail and mangled our mail. Not to mention our mil carrier who drives around in a truck all day has better benefits and better pay than my husband who works for a Fortune 500 company and I'm sure my hubby works harder than our mail carrier. No wonder the Post Office is going "down the tubes". I know there are some very hard working postal employees and some very efficient Post Offices but ours is not one of them.
ReplyDeleteThere are places you can lodge a complaint. Use them. They do not know they are making errors unless it it brought to their attention. Go online and fill our the form. The office that is "bad" has to answer and resolve the issue in question. If not, file the complaint again, call the office, talk to the carrier, talk to the postmaster. There are avenues to correct this problem.
DeleteMany people, and the number is increasing, that work for the post office have no benefits. Unually the "truck" drivers are contracts carriers and have won this job by presenting the lowest bid.
I love the old wooden post offices and you captured those cool old post boxes too which are an all time favorite of mine!
ReplyDeleteCute memories from your childhood and I love this photo. I found a deserted little p.o. in the country where there are no idiots!!!
ReplyDeleteFor Linda M: Most mail is worked by machine and the sheer volume of it would amaze you. Mangling is not personal, it happens. One point five percent is damaged or lost. That is a small number but if it's your piece of mail damaged, it does seem awful. In my life of 58 years, I have had one piece of mail lost. I would say that is pretty good service. If you have never worked in the postal service, you don't have a clue about what you speak.
ReplyDeleteFar Side: I apologize for the note above but it needed saying. Now for my two cents worth. I love the personal service received in smaller offices. The bigger they are it seems the less attention to the details. We have a report card and believe it or not are graded on customer satisfaction and even the amount of stamps and services we sell. It is sad that one office is nice and others are not but there are places to complain online to bring it to the attention of the boss.
Sadly the post office is replacing many personnel with people untrained and underpaid. By 2014 there will be no postmasters in small offices, only the large ones where you rarely see the postmaster. The payscale has been cut and there are few if any benefits for the ones coming in now. Sadly I do think it is the beginning of the end. So enjoy your little office where they know you by name and really care about what you need...their window hours will be cut by half pretty soon.
No tax dollars are used to support the postal service. It is an independent service. Until the Government insisted that the postal service prepay Five million a year for future health care, they were holding their own.
Yep, I worked for the postal service for thiry-nine years and I take it personal when someone trash talks (above, not you) something they know nothing about. Sorry...forgive me, Far Side.
Post offices are like computers and cars - can't live with 'em and can't live without 'em! Small town post office employees really know where all the bodies are buried, don't they?
ReplyDeleteJust like customer service, there's good ones and bad ones. Having worked at the post office as a teen, sorting and delivering mail, I have a good idea of what is involved.
ReplyDeleteSome bad experiences for sure with the postal system, but it amazes me how that small flat envelope can usually make it safely from one place to another, and sometimes in just one day.
It is sad that so many PO's seem to have surly, inept workers. There is a PO about 20 miles from us that has the nicest employee, with the biggest smile and enthusiasm for his job. It is so refreshing to stop in there and be greeted with a smile, sometimes a song and maybe even a joke!
ReplyDeleteYour post made me laugh out loud. There are good ones and bad ones here in town. I usually use the one that is about a mile from my house. Because I go there often, I have become friends with the main clerk and we talk about dogs, grandbabies and one of his co-workers whom I know very well. I avoid the main post office at all costs.
ReplyDeleteSharon
This looks like the real thing when it comes to post offices. However, I don't think it's the real thing anymore?
ReplyDeletewhat a beautiful window.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, customer service review from Far Side....I would like to let you loose on a few of the clerks at the local hardware, and grocery stores...bet you could put them to rights.
ReplyDeleteJen
We have the nicest mail lady! I look forward to getting packages so I can say hello and chat a couple minutes. I haven't been to a post office for years. I order stamps online and have a small scale to weigh letters. Times have changed. :)
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