U.S. Post Office

More than once, I haven’t received a package — even one that’s tracked — and the fault has always been with this place, our local post office. They usually can’t locate it at all, or else our carrier never scanned at the final step, when it was supposedly delivered to us. The postmaster tries to be helpful, but he basically just ends up apologizing, every time. It’s disappointing to count on the USPS priority mail «tracking», expect it to work, and then have it end in failure.

Stopped here on a weekend after we had received a moderate snow. It is a little post office in a small town and therefore not usually busy. Imagine my surprise when I pulled up and the parking lot was full! All 12 spots (except handicapped) were taken. I circled around with 2 other cars hoping for a space to open. Didn’t happen. Drove to the side of the post office and almost parked in the back of the building but the sign said postal workers only. OK, last resort — I parked along the side of the road and had a longer walk than normal.
When I got in, the lady behind the counter was pleasent and smiling (hence 2 stars vs 1). As I looked around, I only saw 2 other patrons. Huh? So I inquired: «Why are all 12 parking spots full when there are only 3 of us customers in here? She explained: «those spots are taken by the carriers — we had to keep the road clear so it could be plowed.»
Oh…silly me; I guess it is OK to inconvenience paying patrons rather than expect the employees to park further away?!

While the postal delivery team does a fine job, the male front desk worker is useless. Several times I’ve dealt with this gentleman and each time he’s become less and less helpful. He’s rude, lackluster in performance, and impatient. It’s not just me he treats this way because I’ve watched him treat others just as poorly. The last time, (and I mean LAST time! I will gladly pay a few dollars more at the UPS store to receive better, more helpful service) he told me they didn’t have anything large enough to fit a wrapped shirt box into; I went to UPS and they used a very large envelope. If you feel the need to support the USPS, go to the Edwardsville Post Office.