US Post Office

I work right across the street from this location. This past week I was expecting two packages to be delivered. The first one I had paid for 2 Day Priority Mail delivery. It had arrived on time to the facility early in the morning at Thursday ¹¹⁄₁₂ 2:43AM but instead of delivering the package across the street, they put on a truck and drove it around the city and finally attempted a delivery at 6PM after my building was closed. Tracking then was updating indicating «Business Closed» and delivery will be attempted again the next business day which was Friday so no big deal, right? No attempt was made. On Saturday morning, 11/​14, I paid them a visit to see if I can pick it up but they said it’s on the truck and will make another attempt at delivery which was pointless because most businesses are closed Saturdays including my building. Sure enough I check tracking see another «Business Closed» update. Monday morning 11/​16, I go to the post office again to see if I can pick up the package. Again, I’m told it’s on the truck and «will be delivered today.» Monday comes and goes and again no delivery attempt. Tuesday 11/​17, another visit and same response from them, and yet again no delivery attempt. Finally, Wednesday afternoon 11/​18, I receive the package, almost an entire week from when it was expected. Again, the package was across the street the whole time. For some reason, it makes sense for them drive the package all over the city first rather than bring it across the street.
The second package was First Class, it arrived at 3:41AM this past Monday 11/​16, I had inquired about it also when I paid them a visit on Monday morning for the first package above. They said it would also be delivered. Today, Friday, 11/​20, I paid them another visit and they said they can’t find it. It wasn’t scanned recently so they have no idea where it is. The first guy I spoke to told me to file a claim, upon returning to the office to do it online, it said I wasn’t eligible to file a claim since it was sent First Class service. I went back to the post office again and then was told they will look into it and would call me back in a few hours. After waiting 5 hours, I called the location back, spoke to another guy and he said it’ll take a few days because they have to question a couple of people. So today, Saturday 11/​21, I check tracking and discover they did find the package but sent it back to the sender.
I am really not surprised that the USPS is losing millions every year.

I normally don’t write reviews, but I felt like I had to for this place. This post office is the worst post office I have ever been to in my entire life!
My sister tried sending me a package and after a week, I assumed it was stolen because I never got a package slip (I know I am complaining about the mailman here as the previous Unilocaler complained, but he is based out of this office). Needless to say, it was sent back. My sister tried sending it again and this time I got a package slip. I was excited to go pick it up. I got to the inquiry window and she said she couldn’t find it, come back tomorrow. I came back and of course they had no idea where it was. For a week i called everyday asking about my package but they couldn’t tell me where it was. Their only excuse was, «the mailman is old and this happens all the time with his mail.» If that is true… why is he still working!?! This place is so disorganized it has no idea where the packages went. I’m so frustrated that I told my sister not to send the package again and from now on I’ll be using UPS and FedEx for all my packages. Ridiculous.

Come at the right time (around 2−3pm) and there is no line for one of the three Automated Postal Centers and a fast-​moving one for a live post officer. Keep in mind this is not my regular post office and my regular post office is really, really terrible. I’ve never had to try to retrieve a package here, and everyone I’ve encountered has been friendly and helpful. There seem to be a lot of complaints about getting packages from here, but if you just need to go mail something, it’s the best. I mean, THREE APCs! You never need to even talk to an attendant! Unless something goes wrong with the machine, which happened once and took forever. If you work in the area and need to mail a package I recommend going there at the times I suggested above.

This place is like the seventh circle of hell.
The staff are rude, mean and lacking in even basic social skills.
If they lose your package after you receive a slip telling you they have it? UH-​OH. Don’t expect any help! Consider it lost, have a little cry and pray that they never hold a package for you again.

I really wish that the USPS wasn’t suffering as much as it was, but this store is the prime example of the fact that they’re doing it to themselves. This place is messy and very poorly lit (just buy some daylight florescent bulbs and everyone will be in a better mood). I had a question about how to complete registered mail and the employee guarding the line snapped at me and shook her head like I was an idiot. I’m asking a question, for crying out loud! It is your job to help me send my mail! I am trying to give your business my money! This same employee also kept selecting random people in the (very long, very slow moving) line and telling them they could complete their mail service at one of the kiosks.
Maybe these people were in line because they want to make their transaction with another human, though I’m not sure why anyone would want to work with any of the unsmiling, unhappy people working there. I’m sad for the future of snail mail.

Be prepared to wait, if you even get your package at all.

WORST.SERVICE.EVER. They are rude unhelpful, wouldn’t even let me borrow an inch of tape — do yourself a favor and find a UPS to drop your USPS items off to b/​c anywhere is better than here. Dropped off a package 8 days ago and still has not gotten to it’s destination and when I asked when it would get there there response was «we can’t promise a time» so basically it could show up in 3 years and they would still be in the right in their minds. HORRIBLE

I don’t know whether it is the threat of imminent closing from an inflated deficit or the inkling that mistreated customers can be as homicidal as postal workers but in the past few months, I’ve noticed that the service from the counter workers here has gotten friendly and more slightly (this is the post office… we are not talking about Olympian speeds) efficient. Except for the package pick up booth, where I am convinced the workers hide out to watch internet movies, the other workers here now greet you with a smile. Did Ms. Manners descend on USPS Varick Street? Whatever the reason, I can now visit this branch without all the dread of before.

After being rushed and talked down to by the post office clerk, a middle aged man who spoke with a slight Eastern European accent, I calmly told him I didn’t appreciate the tone he was taking with me. He then accused me of being spoiled (a silly thing to say to someone you’ve never met before) and refused to finish the transaction we had started. As I walked away from his counter to finish up with the nice and helpful African American woman at the next check-​out, he insinuated that I might benefit from talking to a psychiatrist. If I were a little old lady, which I am not, I would have shouted «I never!» and slugged him upside the head with my handbag. He was so unprofessional and abrasive I left this post office feeling physically ill. The last thing I needed was an earful from this nitwit behind the counter, but that’s what I got. All he needed to do was shut his big trap and make sure my packages got where they were going. Obviously, he’s ill qualified for his position.

Just about every complainer here fits my profile of moron postal customers: First, the idiots who complain about delivery don’t understand the simple difference between a post office and mailmen. Mailmen do NOT operate out of this office, so quit your infantile moaning and blaming the office! Second, grow up to your OWN responsibilities, okay? I mean the responsibility to know what the f you’re doing when you stand on that line! Ninety percent of the hold up, the long waits, are caused by YOU, the uninformed, the clueless who need constant coddling to perform simple postal tasks. like addressing a package, having the proper materials for mailing – How about YOU speeding things up, jerks?! And Third – these are people working there, not the bleeping machines you want them to be. Only an idiot would complain that he had to stand on line for (POOR BABY!)“a long time” to buy a book of stamps, because only an idiot would choose to stand on line and thus cause the rest of us to wait for them, when they could simply buy the book in the machines in the lobby. I too would give One Star to this office BECAUSE OF THE LAME AND SPOILED BRATS WHO USE THE FACILITY. It’s not always as efficient as I would like it, but then what is? Stop your snot-​nosed whining, kiddies.

They’ve done it again!!! ZERO idea where my package is. It’s been «delivered» after a «notice was left». Notice my back side. The delivery address is an OFFICE. There are PEOPLE here ALL DAAAAYYYY. (I’m talking in stupid just in case this post office is reading my review.)
The BEST part? After I saw online that a notice was left, I went to the post office, tracking number in hand, and the horrible supervisor (tall black woman with glasses), refused to help me figure out where my package was. When I asked to have it held at the location, she point blank said no!
If this location were to ever shut down, I would be standing across the street with party favors and cake, celebrating as the useless employees walked out.
I’m not a nasty reviewer. Check out my other (few) negative reviews. THIS is how bad and incompetent this post office is.

My father works for the USPS and, since I was young, has kept me riveted with tales of the idiocy and incompetence that makes up both the workforce and the leadership of the massive organization. Ineptitude is the one common trait that all employees (my dad excluded, obviously) share.
So, it is with this understanding that I go into any mail-​related situation, and with that, I have low expectations and a lot of patience.
This post office is not the worst I have been to. I know it’s bad, but I have been treated more poorly, I have waited longer and I have been more enraged elsewhere. Thus the 2 stars.
This is my «local» office, so when I get any packages, this is where I have to bring my pink slip to obtain it. I have almost never had a problem getting my package. Sure, I’ve had to wait in a bit of a line once or twice, but usually there’s no issue. I don’t like that, to buy stamps with cash, you have to wait in the teller line. It takes forever, waiting on people who are shipping half a dozen packages to Europe with improper postage, just to by an $ 8.88 book of stamps.
Also, I must complain about the very first time I received a little pink package pick-​up slip from my mail carrier: I had just moved into my apartment in the Village and had previously had a doorman for all of my deliveries, so this was a new system to me. The pink slip said, in bold print, that I was to go to the Canal Street post office to retrieve my package. Being that it was summer at the time and a warm day, I walked the mile-​and-​a-​half from Houston to Canal Street and into that location. I waited in line for nearly an hour at the one window they had open (much worse than the Varick location, I assure you) only to be told in shouted, broken English, that I was at the wrong place. All the while, my package had been sitting in the Varick post office. Why the pink slip was incorrect, I’ll never know. It was just very frustrating. Luckily, it was a package from my mom and she loaded it with a giant bag of cheese balls. That made everything better.

BRUTAL. Has to be one of the slowest and most poorly run post office stations I’ve seen. An attendant named Stewart, while nice and amicable, was particularly, horrifically slow and seemed somewhat out of it, in my opinion. This is sadly a very poor operation and shockingly glacial in their pacing.

There are at least 5 windows here to service customers, yet there’s always at least a 10 minute line every time I come here. Why? Usually because they only open 2 of the 5 windows and half the people that step up to the counter haven’t even started to put their package together.
And why are postal workers unusually unhappy all the time? Do all postal workers hate their jobs? Why is that? Can I not even get a smile on Friday?