The Last Straw

...otherwise known as Why I HATE The USPS!!

Did I mention I hate the post office?! I had to go yesterday so I could mail a few packages and get some stamps to send my Christmas, uh, Valentine's Day cards. I have been putting off this trip for a while because going to the PO with two kids and an armload of boxes is a pain in the buns. I could have gone on a Saturday, but that never materialized. Anyway, I loaded Katie into the sling, got James out and put all five of my boxes into a large bag. I managed to get everyone in, along with the packages. Of course, the line was long. When I finally got up to the counter, I told the lady that I wanted standard parcel post, nothing fancy, no priority mail, nada. Just send the boxes. In my experience, you pay for priority mail, and it still doesn't get there on time, or ever. After telling her my preferences, she asked me with each box, 'would you like to send this Priority?' Uh, NO! The second time she asked me I decided to tell her my feelings about priority mail. I told her it never gets there any sooner and that it was a scam. I don't care if its only 85 measly cents, if it ain't gonna get there any quicker then I'm not going to bother. She kind of just looked at me. The other guy at the counter laughed. Then she told me 'Well, some places just never get there any quicker either way.' So, that just proved my theory that USPS stands for United States Postal SCAM! They take your money, knowing full well that your package probably won't get there in 2-3 days. Then, she asked me if anything was fragile. I told her one box was, but that I had tried to pack it well. She looked at me like you would look at a kindergarten kid and said 'Do you know what happens when you send a package Parcel Post? We throw it in the bin back there and we might drop a big heavy box on top of it and it might break.' Well then, isn't that nice? But seriously, do you really think that they are going to be any nicer to your Priority box? I think not. It will just get smashed by a big heavy Priority box. I told her I just wanted to send it Standard!!! Right before I paid, I noticed that she had charged me for Priority anyway. I asked her and she said 'Well I didn't push that button.' Hmmm. So she had to go back and fish my box out of the bin and peel off the stickers and fix it. After all that, I still walked out of there $44 poorer, and how annoying is that?! McWiggins, I am with you...I can't stand the postal service!! And keep you eye on your mailbox: you should be receiving a package sometime before Spring of '09!