Most likely, I’m one of the few who has not read The Corrections. One day, one day.
In the meantime, I’m reading a book of Franzen’s essays. He writes about the post office in Chicago during the time when mountains of mail were being found in the homes of postal employees, under bridges, in cars, etc.
How many of you have had trouble with the post office lately?
Since I send out so much mail for 32 Poems — my life is glamorous — the employees know me. So far, the five-year relationship I’ve had with most of the people there has resulted in little more than a coloring book and four crayons for O (when O wanted to draw with the screen-signing plastic pen).
Recently, the post office shut down my post office box. This bill is paid only one time per year, so it’s not as easy to remember as a monthly bill. That’s why the post office promises to give 20 days notice. However, I received only 10 days notice according to the rubber date stamp they placed on my bill. Since I was out of town during those 10 days in August, the post office shut down the 32 Poems PO box and returned every single piece of mail to its sender.
No one apologized. One woman even started to argue with me that it was not really 20 days until I showed her the printed document — printed by the post office! — that clearly indicates the 20 days notice.
I had to write contributors and ask them to re-send publication agreements. It was a time-consuming mess for all involved, except the post office.
What did the post office do?
They charged me a $14 fee to re-open my PO box.
I’ve tried to have this fee refunded and the manager won’t return my calls.
More recently, we were told the wrong price to mail out a 32 Poems. We’ve now spent at least $100 on wasted postage to mail the subscriptions. I doubt we’ll be refunded. This is enough that I want to record all of my conversations with people there and get them to sign documents saying how much it costs to send an item.
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I am in a protracted battle with my post office about why I never get my weekly NY Times Book Reviews…which until this summer, I had received every single Tuesday, on the dot. Now…I’ll probably let my subscription lapse b/c I can’t deal with the post office people anymore.
Gah! That’s awful. I always get the “PO BOX OR CALLER FEE DUE” notice in my PO box within the first couple days of the month (when it’s due by the last day of the month). And then one of the clerks confessed to me that they probably wouldn’t actually shut down the box for a couple of days past the due date, if it came to that. So I generally have a full month’s notice, which is nice.
Actually, my post office seems to be really good with customer service. Even when there’s a long line of impatient customers, all the clerks at the window seem to be cheerful and helpful. It’s the strangest thing.
I should write them a letter to compliment them… maybe once the holiday season kicks in and I can cite a specific recent example.
I had no problem with the post office until I moved to TX.
Since then, stuff has been late or missing. I don’t know if this is the reason, but the post office here does some contracting to non-post office workers for mail delivery.
All I know is that my post office never delivers my issue of 32 Poems. I know the new issue has gone out, but still it hasn’t arrived. Remember that happened last time too? sigh.
A new issue of 32 Poems went out?
For more years than I really want to remember, I have been visiting the DC’s Northwest Branch of the USPS on Connecticut Avenue. During that time I have had the Word Words PO Box shut down and my key bent in the lock numerous times because of catalogues and books shoved into the box.
I have stood countless hours over the years waiting in line only to find out that I have to pay postage on something I didn’t want: how about the poet who sends a manuscript addressed to himself with The Word Works used as the return address and no postage? Meaning the USPS sends the book to Word Works to collect the postage!
Then there is the mail that is sent to a poet who lives nearby that comes back marked that the mail is undeliverable as addressed. So I call the poet and sure enough it is addressed correctly so I go back and line up and tell the USPS clerk this is correct and have to convince this clerk that the obligation to pay the postage is now theirs.
The question is why don’t I move the box to another station? Well, I am not entirely sure that I would get better service at another location or that it is worth losing people who still like to mail us things like checks.
Has anyone ever complained and really gotten any satisfaction from doing that? My experience is that the USPS uses private contractors to take complaints and they don’t really know the USPS regs and argue with you about what you are reporting.
Yes, I think it is time to go to electronic books and leave the trees standing but old habits die hard. I still like to get letters and handle a book made of fine paper.
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