Stupid Post Office - The Sequel

[dekeuk]

Apparently every postal location in my part of the city is sold out of 2 cent stamps.

 

That includes my local government post office, the post office stamp vending machine (out of order), the privately owned mini post office, the UPS store, the stamp vending machine in my apartment building (they removed it), the 7-11 store, etc.

 

How could USPS be so caught off guard? They raise the price of letter mail by 2 cents and they are "shocked, shocked I tell you" that people want to buy 2 cent stamps. What a surprise.

 

Did they not see this surge in demand coming

 

M-o-r-o-n-s !!!

 

If the USPS was a private company it would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.

[unmovedmover]

Buy $0.04 stamps and cut them in half

[valiantman]

Tape two pennies onto the front.

[dekeuk]

Buy $0.04 stamps and cut them in half

 

The lowest denomination for sale at the privately owned mini post office was 60 cents. Nice service.

[paperheart]

Buy $0.04 stamps and cut them in half

 

[Point Five]

When I was at the post office yesterday, there was actually a woman (not a USPS employee) selling 1-cent stamps out of her bag to random folks who needed them (the stamp machines were out of them entirely and the line to get to the clerk windows was about 40 people long). You can't make this stuff up!

[Underdog]

We got plenty of 2 centers at my office.

This happens every time there is a rate increase and never ceases to amaze me. No way should any office run out of 2 centers.

 

I'll also add that I love the customers who come in and buy a thousand of them and then bring back 800 and want to turn them back in. We don't take stamps back here for any reason.

 

Hell, who needs two centers here? I'll send some out tomorrow to whomever needs them (as long as I can afford it!).

[sterlingcomics]

[Underdog]

Except to sterlingcomics. That look has me worried!

[Pirate]

We got plenty of 2 centers at my office.

This happens every time there is a rate increase and never ceases to amaze me. No way should any office run out of 2 centers.

 

I'll also add that I love the customers who come in and buy a thousand of them and then bring back 800 and want to turn them back in. We don't take stamps back here for any reason.

 

Hell, who needs two centers here? I'll send some out tomorrow to whomever needs them (as long as I can afford it!).

 

$.42 Postage to get the $.02 stamps to you though

[Underdog]

Actually its 41, but thats just details!

If it's just a few people needing them, it'll be on me.

[Smokinghawk]

...and can anyone explain why the USPs never knows which Customs form they'll ask for on any given day? I try to have them filled out in advance, and it never fails that when I have the white multi-page form completed they reject it and want the green one (and vice-versa). Even if I'm mailing the identical item in the identical packaging to the same person I've sold something to before, the USPS will demand the OPPOSITE customs form from one trip to the next. So instead of saving time, I'm in front of everyone rewriting a new form.

 

Of course, this happens while two employees run the counter for 25 people in line.

[ComicSupply]

Smoking, I use this as a rule of thumb.

 

4 pounds and less=green

4 pounds and more = white.

 

I have been wrong, some APO's can take a green or a white, some not. I dont think this has changed since the 14th.

[Comicdey]

What's the best way to mail a package from the US to canada these days...

 

our US priority box is $22....do they still let you ship things airmail or use their old global priority boxes?

[Darthdiesel]

Just went to the post office today. I usually use stamps.com and usps.com's click-and-ship online service. I shipped two packages out via priority mail; less than two pounds each package; boxes were not the ones provided by USPS (red and blue standard pacakaging) - what I'm getting at was that the dimensions were not standard, not quite oversized though, but not the regular you're used to seeing

 

So, based on my scale at home and prepaid postage printed out:

 

One package to NJ = $4.60 1 lb 11 oz

 

One package to FL = $6.20 1 lb 12 oz

 

I got to the Centreville PO and this one has an automated Postal Center (APC) in the lobby with the huge receptacle for packages attached to it. For kicks, I went through the motions of trying to generate postage there for both packages. I made my entries on the touch screen. The weights were the same as I got at home and the postage was the same as well. usually when I drop off packages, I also chat up my favorite clerks that recognize me. I had them double check at the counter if the postage labels and amounts/weights were right. They even broke out the tape measure for both packages and came up with the same postage cost

 

Maybe this was simple because it was domestic shipping, but I don't foresee ever having a problem at my post office or the one by where I work with shipping issues. All about maintaining an open dialogue. If you have a certain prejudice against people based on where they work or who they work for, it'll tend to taint ( )any transaction you have with them down the road.