US Post Office

Why are the employees here such angry Nazis? I stood in line, I had a prepaid package that I just needed to drop off, and I left feeling berated. Sigh. This is the price I pay for not spending 4x as much at FedEx up the street.

I needed to send a box to REI and asked for a price to ship it. I was quoted $ 26. I said I wanted to check with FedEx up the street. The clerk said it would be higher there and said I’d be back. I checked with FedEx and the price was $ 18 and that included really excellent customer service without attitude. I so dread going into this post office.

Another business that I truly wish didn’t have to be given a star at all…
In light of the fact that I really have having to give business of any kind bad reviews, but will do when when they are earned (as this one is), I’ll keep it short and to the point:
1. To say that the staff is rude would be quite possibly the largest understatement in the history of the world. If you enter with the knowledge that they will be doing you a large and personal favor by waiting on you, you may escape, many dollars lighter, without wanting to personally take out a hit on the person who assisted you.
2. DO NOT get a PO Box here. For several reasons…(see #1 above) and the biggest reason: You can only access your mailbox between the following hours:
Monday — Friday
9 am — 5 pm
Seriously? Those hours make bankers look like workaholics. NO ONE is available during those hours. Inconvenient only begins to cover that issue.
Survival tips to keep in mind:
— Avoid eye contact. Keep your head down and appear subservient.
— Do not question. No matter what, the postal clerk is always right.
— Only enter this location is you have no other alternative. Personally, I recommend the Post Office further up on Wisconsin at Friendship Heights if you need at PO specifically. Otherwise, just up the street on the same side is a FedEx where they will be more than happy, and courteous, when they address your shipping needs.

I needed to ship a package priority mail so it would get to my sister before Saturday. I went around 3pm on a weekday and it was pretty empty. There is FREE parking in the back of the post office. No need to pay for street parking.
The ladies were very helpful and patient. There were 3 other people shipping items and they spend almost a average of 3 – 4 minutes for their transaction. She told me what the best deal was for shipping package. The package has shipped off and hopefully it will get there on time!

Boo. Mean, spiteful staff. I walked in with a kitten in my coat– a poor, defenseless kitten that we had rescued weeks earlier. I stand in line for 20 minutes to send my Christmas packages. I finally get up to the desk: staff lady sees cat head sticking out of my coat and tells me she now cannot help me. («Next!») Really? OK, I say– now I know, I’m reeelly reeely sorry, please help me and I’ll never do it again. She refuses, saying its against regulations and that she could get fired. Again, really?– someone’s going to fire you just before Christmas because you helped a man with a kitten in his coat? I ask if there is a sign I missed. (No.) There is a sign saying no weapons, no explosives, no flammables, and no threatening postal employees. Nothing about cats, or any other animal.
So OK. I walk out, with all my stupid packages, and with my cat. I walk all the way home. I put said cat down. I walk all the way back. I wait in line again. I give the Post Office their spiteful money. Then I check on FedEx Ground rates and resolve never to give them another penny if I can help it.

I’ll start off with the gripes about this post office. I really really wish it had an automatic postage center. I am part of this book mailing club, and I go to the post office all the time and need the same amount of postage every time. When I used to work on M Street in Dupont, all the post offices around me had APCs. It would really make things more convenient instead of waiting in line for 20 minutes when all I need is a stamp for $ 2.23!
Also, there’s always this guy there in the morning getting a money order and every one of this trips takes like 20 minutes. I always have to make sure I go well after 9am because his ass is always at the counter.
OK, so one of the ladies isn’t all that nice, but I love Towanda. Since, like I said, I go to the post office alot, she’s gotten to recognize me so she’ll always smile at me and ask how I’m doing. One time, I mailed a big package to my friend who’s in the Peace Corps in Africa. I told Towanda all about it, and then about 2 weeks later when I came in to mail a book, she asked me about my Peace Corps friend. I thought it was so great that she remembered.
So, get to know your postmasters! They’re much nicer when you do. And be nice to them too!

I know that working in the post office isn’t the greatest job in the world, but there’s no reason to be so downright mean and rude to everyone that walks in here. After all, you do get every single holiday off along with Sundays, and you close pretty freaking early too. Is life really all that bad?

This place gets a 1 star for lying to me a little over a year ago about my wedding invitations — they told me I couldn’t get them hand-​stamped, that it basically isn’t done anymore. If I’d only gone to the one closer to M Street (according to some helpful peeps at Paper Source) I would have gotten some help. This place gets some stars since they are usually cordial and decent and one woman there actually started to remember me after I’d been in there a few times to mail books to my BookMooch peeps. It’s still better than the post office on 14^th and T, where they look for any excuse to *not* mail your package for you, and get to say it behind plexiglass.

Oh man. This is totally the fault of me being new to Washington, DC but I had an errand to run at the Georgetown Mall and figured this post office couldn’t be that far away. I mean, it was on Wisconsin too, right? WRONG!!! SOOO FAR!!! It was at least a mile away and of course the day I went was the hottest day of the summer. So just so everyone knows, this post office is way up by the Georgetown campus and NOT convenient if you are walking around M Street.