Kensington Post Office Vs. Farley P.O.: A Fun Comparison!
The 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.”…
The 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]
Today at the 9th St. P.O. in the Slope, the line was out the door, and only one woman was working. The others? Yucking it up and “arranging” boxes. When the automated postal center and it’s attached box became too full to accept any more packages, the employees who were having their coffee klatch claimed to be too busy to come empty it. Good times.
I have witnessed a miracle this holiday season! The Adelphi Post Office at 950 Fulton Street in Clinton Hill has undergone a marvelous transformation since I moved to Prospect Heights in 1994. Until this December it was characterized by long waits, surliness and ineptitude. On two occasions this holiday season I was in and out in five minutes. Many thanks to the managers and staff at the Adelphi Post Office for making the season merry and bright.
In a perverse way, I’m glad it’s as bad in “better” neighborhoods than mine. I can’t tell you how many long lines I’ve been in at the Atlantic Ave/Brevoort Station in Bed Stuy where people groused that service would be better in white neighborhoods. I guess it’s not, and we’re all equally cursed here in Brooklyn. Sadly, it does seem to be better in almost all of the post offices in Manhattan, with the notable exception of the one on Canal St at Church. When I worked down there it was abysmal, as well. The one on 18th St in Chelsea is a joy.
Post offices! How quaint. Can we have a review of telegraph offices or typewriter repair shops next?
Ditto for Clinton Hill. It really must be something about how all of the Bklyn POs are managed from the top, because they clearly are so much better in other places.
I think the US postal service in many Brooklyn neighborhoods is abysmal. It is really terrible in Brooklyn Heights.
Don’t know about the Kensington PO, but I can’t believe it’s as bad as the Windsor Terrace PO on PPW. AWFUL! Rude, lazy manager who doesn’t do jack, they can have a line out the door and one clerk and he’s sitting there picking his nose.
I have not been to the Kensington PO but I can attest that the Farley Building is magnificent. McKim Meade and White, The last gasp of the City Beautiful movement.
The current plans for the new Moynihan train station will not displace the public post office. It will take up the vast interior spaces that were formally the mail handling and sorting spaces. Those functions have been moved to a new facility about ten blocks south.
Just FYI, the mail was unloaded from trains that run on tracks beneath the station. the same tracks that run to Pennsylvania Station across the Avenue. This is what will enable the conversion of the building into a passenger RR Station.
Will Moynihan displace USPS from Farley?
***Bid half off peak comps***