I walk into a post office in the middle of nowhere in Houston. A gentlemen is standing at the self service machine busily pushing buttons looking like he was dong a fox trot with his wife. There is one other person standing in line behind him. I look into the counter service area and count 6 customers waiting to be served and one postal employee. What do I do? I need a book of post card stamps. Maybe the machine doesn’t even have them. So I get on line, figuring that if the guy at the stamp machine pulls out, and the next in line does her business quickly, I can sneak over to it and give it a try. It probably has the stamps I need. So right now, I stand in line behind a woman with 6 envelopes and little paper forms stuck to each one. The others ahead of me don’t seem to have anything major to do, but you never know. Still not sure of what I should do, I sneak a look at the self-service machine where Johnny-on-the-spot looks like he’s into a second round, but now there are two other people on line that weren’t there before.
I’m stuck. In the meantime, another clerk shows up and does she open up and say, “next?” No, she doesn’t. She stands at the counter sealing letters with tape ignoring the line that is continuing to form behind me. One guy apparently got a counterfeit money order but he will have to wait his turn, which he does patiently.
The lady with the six envelopes does her thing which takes a bit of time then the next one does something or other then a guy picks up a registered or certified letter which for some reason takes the recently arrived clerk (yes she finally opened her counter for business) a long time to cut the return receipt off the mail, getting the customer to sign in about 3 places and when this transaction is over, asks “ is there anything else?” The guy thinks a while then says he wants a roll of first class stamps which requires the clerk to walk back from her counter and come up with the little jewel that costs $44.00. Then he has to pay for it which he does but he has to sign in two other places one of which is a machine on which he is also required to print his name. If you have ever signed one of these machines, you know it is difficult to do, is usually illegible and takes time.
Okay. So he is finished and soon it is my turn,. I ask for the package of stamps and she again goes back to look around and can’t immediately find them. She finds a new package of them, needs to remove the plastic wrapping from it which she does by poking the packaging with a pencil (why doesn’t the USPS provide its clerks with real tools to do their job with) and finally sells me the sheet which she puts into a big glassine envelope. I pay cash, take my purchases, and leave. I simultaneously glance at my watch and at the self-service machine. There is still a line at the machine and I notice it took me ten minutes to buy a book of stamps.
If the post office is so busy, how come they can’t make any money?
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Busy from inefficiency, obviously doesn't translate to busy and making money. Your story, though Houston based, is not specific to any geographic location, as most post offices are run the same way. Thus, they are avoided, as are their services. So they are busy with those who have no choice but to use them.
If they made the post office into a place you wanted to go, not a place you dreaded, they would probably be more financial solvent, and we'd all keep Saturday delivery which is the current big idea on the table to save billions. (there is a post office in these parts that is enjoyable, the workers are helpful and friendly, and the general atmosphere jovial)
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