Brooklyn Post Offices: Endless Bummer?
Is every single post office in Brooklyn a nightmare? Seems like it. There’s consistent bitching (that we hear, anyway) about three in particular. Here’s the latest on the most-loathed po’s: Kensington: Councilmember Bill De Blasio continues to work toward building a new post office for the neighborhood, which gained Internet fame via a You Tube…
Is every single post office in Brooklyn a nightmare? Seems like it. There’s consistent bitching (that we hear, anyway) about three in particular. Here’s the latest on the most-loathed po’s:
Kensington: Councilmember Bill De Blasio continues to work toward building a new post office for the neighborhood, which gained Internet fame via a You Tube vid last year. “We have been working closely with the Brooklyn Postmaster, Community Board 12 and the community,” says De Blasio. “There are still complaints regarding postal service in 11218 but I have also heard some positive feedback.We would love to see a new post office in the neighborhood or a commercial postal unit in one of the local retail stores. This community is growing at a rapid pace and business owners and residents at the very least deserve a functioning postal facility.”
Park Slope, 9th Street: The Brooklynian folks have a thread devoted to this place’s suckitude. Comments range from this observation, “The line to pick up a package that you missed because they can’t ring the correct bell is miles long. Usually 50 people waiting in the pick up line every weekend. Then it takes an average of 5-15 minutes for them to locate the package at the post office. How hard is it to have two people or more working the pick up line on Saturday’s.” to this one, “What do you expect from people who smoke too much crack (as i learned when i went to a party held by people who worked for the Brooklyn Post Office)?”
Boerum Hill, Atlantic near 4th Ave.: This is another neighborhood where there’s noise about replacing the post office. GL reported the latest complaints about the facility yesterday, with one person saying they “had a horrendous, Third World experience at the Times Plaza” and another writing, “I have never had a package or letter that needed to be signed for delivered by them!”
So. Are there any halfway decent post offices in this borough?
A Drive to Replace the Post Office [Brownstoner]
Return to the Times Plaza Post Office: Not Fixed [Gowanus Lounge]
9th St Post Office [Brooklynian]
My story with 9th street was the passport application for my baby-daughter. All three of use (baby, mother, father) arrived at the post office around 9:30am – the time they start taking passport applications. We went to the window asked gave a lady our forms – we never saw her again – except on the outside when she was getting her breakfast. We inquired what was going on. After 15min the ‘manager’ posted a sign that today passport application can handling starting at 10:30am. We asked why? No explanation whatsoever!!
I dread ever packages notice I find coming home!
I went to get my passport renewed to the Park Slope P.O. last Saturday.
They had 1 employee helping about 10 people ahead of me. After about 30 minutes she had finished helping 2 of the 10 people. I walked out and did it by mail, much less of a headache.
The Post office is such a drain on the national budget. They are a money losing entity that serves no real purpose anymore. Let private industry take over already. Why do we keep feeding money into this dilapidated and antiquated system?
The main post office is a nightmare, too. They decided to stop delivering my mail for no apparent reason, returning everything to senders as undeliverable (conveniently immediately after I had a baby). When I complained (several times) I eventually talked to some Post Office official outside of NYC who claimed they were shocked and would make sure my case was reviewed “above the level of your post office.” Well the person who called me was from the main post office and told me there was nothing they could do about it. Thanks! I already figured that! I have also had insured packages stolen because they were left on my stoop. The post office never paid the claim because the Brooklyn PO investigates itself and just circulates the claims forever. The manager even admitted that postal workers did leave things all over stoops and doorways and so on, against orders, but “there was nothing he could do.” So there. I use UPS, too. That said, my regular first class mail carrier is awesome.
They need to be able to fire useless employees. They really can’t. Thats the main problem.
The idea that adding another building is going to solve the issue is laughable. Its not the building that is the problem – its the people who work inside it!! There are many hardworking personable postal workers, can’t they bring a few to these post offices?
This is what happens when you get a fat, lazy, unionized workforce. A few weeks ago, I went to a P.O. in Chelsea, Manhattan, where the post offices are supposedly well-run. After waiting in line for 30 minutes, I was yelled at by some 250-pound female P.O. employee who looked like she was undergoing opioid withdrawal.
I promptly exited the building and walked 1/2 block to a UPS store, where I was served immediately and treated with courtesy and respect. Sure, it cost more, but it was worth every penny.
DiBlasio et al are powerless to stop the incompetence that is endemic to the post office. The best way to deal with this problem is to take your business elsewhere.
Add the Red Hook Post Office at 615 Clinton to this list, it is miserable – always long, slow lines. Not too bad for picking up packages though.
Tip for PSers picking up packages on Saturday – don’t go on Saturday! Or get your packages delivered to your office, assuming that you can’t pick them up during the week because you are at work.
Hooray! Let’s complain!
The line at the Times Plaza Post Office last Tuesday at around 1:00 p.m. was horrible. I walked right out.