kensington-post-office-12-09.jpgThe Times has a piece that contrasts experiences at the Kensington Post Office and Manhattan’s James A. Farley Post Office, and it’s amusing in a sad sort of way. Kensington’s post office, which was immortalized in a You Tube vid, is described as “instantly depressing.” Customers call it “a disaster” and a “very hostile environment.” By comparison, the writer talks about how the clerks at Farley are super helpful and the structure’s “huge, lavish” architecture make it a delightful environment. A couple years ago, Bill de Blasio was spearheading a drive for a new post office for Kensington, but it doesn’t appear that anything came of it—and it seems especially unlikely these days, given the planned closures of other post offices.
Bad Post Office. Good Post Office. [NY Times]
Brooklyn Post Offices: Endless Bummer? [Brownstoner]


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  1. The Kensington PO has a deservedly wretched reputation. I’ve been drawn into arguments there, defending other customers. The staff refuse to deal with translators, other customers who step in to clarify those whose first language isn’t English. The signage is deliberately confusing. I can go on and on.

  2. I used to run my business in Windsor Terrace and that Kensington post office is super ignorant…starting with the idiot manager. They assume no one will complain, so they speak to you any way they feel. They then refused to pick up my packages. They act like a gang.
    I called Washington D.C. on them to complain, found the number on the USPS website. I suggest other people to do the same. An easy fix. They called and apologized and came to pick up my packages from then on.

  3. No, you folks from other neighborhoods have no idea – it’s not just the never ending lines, the perennially grouchy workers – it’s them not ringing your bell OR leaving notices so you have to go the god-awful station and wait for over an hour. It’s the double-whammy of awful delivery and awful station that makes Kensington a wonder unto itself.

    Ppark: we go to PPW to send packages and think those workers are lovely by comparison! It’s THAT bad!

    Anyway, glad to see my local PO getting the press it deserves! Happy holidays 🙂

  4. I can’t believe you think that PO on 7th Ave isn’t bad, denton – I have seen those nasty clerks there reduce grown people to tears. Seriously, there was a woman in there last year who just broke down after her package was refused for the third time by one of those people — couldn’t she have just told her everything that was wrong with it at the outset? I think she just kept making up new objections while the woman was “correcting” the previous “mistakes.”

  5. So that’s what happened to all the stamp machines — I noticed they were gone from 7th Ave in Park Slope as well. I had a thought as I waited in line at the 9th St station the other day (this after they’d refused to accept my packages on 7th Ave saying they were “too big” after I’d waited 20 mins. in line) — does the fear and dread most people experience at the thought of visiting their local post office impact the outcomes of those visits? The old expectations creating results idea. If I looked forward to going to the PO, would the service seem as bad or just plain irrational? Sadly, I think so.

  6. Dave, I think all postal employees are union and all do not suck. Brooklyn is completely separate from the Manhattan operation and has been awful for decades.

    My favorite thing is that stamp machines are gone from many post offices (including Clinton Hill) because they were too expensive. So now you have to wait on line for stamps.

    Only the USPS could figure out how to LOSE MONEY on a vending machine!!!

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