United States Postal Service

Reviews 3

OR

Orton Howdy

This place is awful, and its been awful for years. The lines are ridiculous and there are never enough employees at the service counters. Whats hilarious is that if three service employees are working, one will just walk away from their station and go on break without finding a replacement, making long lines even worse. Other people have talked about how slow these people are and I swear Ive seen 80 year olds move with more speed and purpose. I used to have a PO Box here but after a few years cancelled it. I deeply suspect that one reason why I got so much mail for other people in my box is that the employees here dont read English very well, and I say that because they cant speak it worth a damn and cant listen in it very well either. Yes, we are nation of immigrants and we should welcome them. But do we always have to give them the jobs of working with the public when their English is subpar and their accents are thick as molasses? Honestly, are there no unemployed born in America Americans who qualify for these jobs? Maybe its a cultural thing in those areas of the world where so many of these employees seem to be from but in my experience Customer Service is an alien concept here. Employees are brusque, dismissive and downright snotty, not to mention spectacularly unhelpful. I once watched an immigrant at the counter snottily lecture, in heavily accented English, an aging veteran about what and what was not Media Mail (She was wrong.). No respect for the people who sacrificed and made this a country they would want to come to. And I really dont want to hear how we should muzzle criticism because working at the Post Office is a hard, thankless job. BS. Tarring a roof on a hot day is a hard job. Sadly, if you want to ship internationally you have to go here because the smaller Post Offices, like the one tucked away in Bartells or over in Totem Lake, only do domestic mail. I have an Internet business and ship a fair number of packages overseas so...stand in line and be treated like crap it is. Having said all that, I also use Fed-Ex and UPS and I see plenty of incompetence and rudeness there, too. I could tell you horror stories of what Ive seen from Fed-Ex and UPS, including drivers kicking boxes marked "Fragile" or standing on boxes in the back of their trucks to reach a package overhead as the box under their feet slowly crushes. I, for one am vehemently opposed to privatizing the Post Office. You can bet your bottom dollar that those people who tell you that your postage will go down and efficiency go up if we only privatize are flat out lying, and they know it. Show me one example of anything that was privatized anywhere and went down in price and up in efficiency. Thats a Devils bargain. I love the American postal system. Despite problems with this particular place, overall I think the American Post Office is one of the best in the world and want to see it saved from right wing attacks on it. Just take a look at Eastern Europe or Italy if you want to see examples of crappy and corrupt postal systems. But honestly, this place plays right into all the stereotypes about rude, incompetent and indifferent Government employees.

JA

Jasmin Martinez

This post office was well-stocked in all of their shipping materials and labels for customer purchase and use. Although the line was to the door when I got there [maybe 8 people in front of me, 2 checking out], the line moved very quickly. I got there around 2:20 on a Monday, so I think a line to the door is typical at that time. Dont come here in a rush-- leave yourself a few minutes to find parking and maybe 15-20 minutes waiting! I had called ahead to make sure they had the Harry Potter stamp booklets, which they did, so the attendant Kim happily sold me a couple and also grabbed me some coupons for my change of address. Though she didnt have any at her station, she spoke with the attendant next to her to get some for me, even though she had already given me a change of address form. It was really nice of her to look elsewhere instead of just give up after not having any right on hand! They were playing some super retro jazz, which was fun to tap along to while waiting. The only reason I didnt give this place 5 stars was because there was a point where all three attendants who had been manning the counter were in the backroom and it was kind of funny, but also kind of sad since there were so many of us! But they were all helping customers, so its understandable. Insider tip: Beware of the inner doors! To get to the attendant lanes, you have to pull really hard on the right door to get in, then it shuts behind you very quickly and sort of shoves you through! Then when people leave, the left door swings dangerously! Difficult to avoid getting hit by the door when the line is TO the door. Be careful! I think if people come here expecting it to busy and understand that USPS has very strict rules their employees have to adhere to for safety and consistency, the ratings wouldnt be so low. Also, changing addresses is just temporarily forwarding your mail. You need to contact companies you have bills with directly as soon as you have your new address or just pay your bill on the phone in between moves! I dont think the post office is to blame. Same with lost packages, it is very difficult to track it down when they dont know if it got lifted by some nosy neighbor! These are mail carriers, not all-knowing robots. Give them some human compassion!

CA

Casey Grant

Completely unreliable! I have lived in Kirkland since December 1, 2016, and todays date is March 7, 2017. In those three months, the post office has failed to deliver my niece and nephews Christmas gifts on time, which were mailed the first week of December and finally arrived in Indiana on February 16th! I have had 4 incidents of mail arriving late to my home, which was proven by invoice dates posting 1-2 weeks before they arrived in my mailbox, which leaves me and my husband with 24-48 hours to pay those invoices on time. And finally now, I have yet another package that was not delivered to me, and my tracking number states that it was delivered to the post office on the 27th of February and hasnt been sent out yet. I have called the post office now 9 times! 9!!! No one is answering the phones, and no voicemail is being prompted. Those 9 calls are also excluding the call and email to USPS customer support line, and the emails exchanged between the company shipping my purchase. It appears that every time I use the post office, I must plan to dedicate several lunch breaks to navigating the USPS customer service line, OR, taking a day off from work to go to the post office in person. (Which seems to be the direction this current situation is heading in). Also, in the past (Around Christmas) when I was able to contact an employee of the Kirkland (4th street location) I was given an elaborate story about the driver being robbed while on their route, which was then debunked by the actual driver who stated that my package was never stolen, merely sitting at the main office. I currently use fedex for all of my shipping needs, as they have been phenomenal and completely worth the cost. The United States Postal Service..... ugh, were stuck with them, but my husband and I use other mail options whenever possible.

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