I Hate the Post Office

Sending a package to Boulder for BZ's birthday. Ducknik spends a lot of time, wraps everything in an old Express Mail box from the Post Office. But I realize at the last moment that there is no way in hell that the Post Office will allow me to ship this package any way but Express Mail if it's in an Express Mail box.

Sure enough. I get to the Post Office where two men are working -- the Irish guy and the Chinese guy. The Irish guy has been there since we've lived here, I've never seen the Chinese guy before. The Irish guy always works with you. But I get the Chinese guy.

He's going by the book.

"$45.80 Express Mail," he says.

"Man, that's steep. Do you have a less expensive way?"

"Two day Express Mail. Cost $45.80."

"But that's the same as the first one."

"Yes. One day, two day."

"But can't you just cross out the Express Mail stickers and send it regular Priority Mail?"

He looks at the Irish guy. The Irish guy shakes his head very slightly.

"No. So you want or not?"

"You guys really don't like helping out the customer any more, do you?"

The Post Office is empty. I wonder why.

"You want?"

"Yes, I want. I want to get out of here."

So I take my box and go across the street to the UPS store, where they open my package, take a UPS box and pack our stuff into it, seal it up nicely and send it out, all in ten minutes, for half the price.

The Post Office is going to be a Starbucks before long. It's easy to see why.