I am TEED OFF at the Northgate Post Office in particular and the USPS in general!!

This post office is the slowest location in the area, and maybe anywhere. There is always a line, which is true of the larger post offices in Bryan and College Station, but the lines there move along. This place...not so much.

Today I just needed a book of stamps. That is all. But since there are no stamp vending machines in the post office, I had to wait in the line! It took a long time.

When I asked the postal clerk to point me to the stamp machine for my next visit so I could avoid the line, she said "They took them all out, nationwide. They said they were not cost effective."

My reply was, "Is my time in line cost effective? They do realize that this is the year 2010, right?".

She sighed and said yes, the postal system knows what year it is, but they pulled all of the stamp vending machines out, and I would need to go to a grocery store or somewhere else to buy stamps if I didn't want to wait in line.

One of you economics geniuses, please tell me how the USPS can screw up postage vending to the point that it makes no money.

Maybe Kroger and HEB should follow their lead and remove the self-checkout stations as well.

Memo to the Postmaster General: you are ON NOTICE!!!

It is completely understandable why Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld created a character who continually represented the USPS as unmotivated and inept.

Wells Fargo sells stamps at their ATMs in the drive-thrus. Not sure if that helps..

Unless they took them out since last Wednesday, the postal employee you spoke with was INCORRECT!! Bryan Main Post Office on WJB has stamp machines. Can't use cash, though. Debit or Credit.

[This message has been edited by agrab86 (edited 5/12/2010 2:45p).]

An incorrect postal employee?


Nooooo!!!

I would rather have a root canal without pain killers than go in THAT post office.

However, I believe that you can buy stamps online that you can print out.....speaking of 2010.

I'm just sayin'.....

[This message has been edited by Yuccadoo (edited 5/12/2010 3:53p).]

actually it's not specifically a stamp machine @ the WJB location - it's an APS (Automated Postal Station) but you *Can* get a book of stamps there. And it DOES require credit/debit card use.

My apologies 63. I should have known that a machine from which I can purchase stamps is called an APS.

Last time I was at the main College Station post office it still had a stamp machine (regular one, not just that automated machine that takes credit cards).

Gubment Emplawyees.

you can also order stamps on-line and they will deliver them to your house. MUCH better than having to stand in line.

I gave up on the post office and go to Pak-Mail! Local people, not likely to shoot and maim others and not likely to have employees stop in mid-sentence to you, and go on break.

Rock, As an added bonus, the owner's wife, Chaille, is a real cutie, and busted her ass for local businesses, at the Chamber, for years.
CMac

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My apologies 63. I should have known that a machine from which I can purchase stamps is called an APS.

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I think they were trying to point out that it's not just a stamp vending machine but a shipping scale that weighs your package and then labels it, etc...

Just one of the perks is that it lets you buy books of stamps...

Kinda replaces the postal worker at the counter, just sayin'....

It was still condescending, Nick.

Back to the OP, I can't wait until the government runs healthcare.

It costs the post office something to operate a stamp machine.

It costs the post office nothing for you to stand in line and wait your turn.

You can buy your stamps from the post office, grocery store, bank ATM, etc. and the government gets the same amount of income from it, so what's their incentive to provide a stamp machine that they have to maintain?

main College Station post office only has the APS now also. The other stamp vending machine is still inside, but inoperable and there's a note on it that says it is to be removed.

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It was still condescending, Nick.

Back to the OP, I can't wait until the government runs healthcare.
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No insult/condescending was intended. And Nick was right - I just didn't want folks to think the machine ONLY dispensed stamps. Personally I LOVE the APS - I can go & mail packages 24/7 AND get stamps - without having to take time out of the day to go to the post office. But that's just me.

63, I used the little winky face on that post to mean that I felt no harm/foul from your clarification nor intended harm/foul back to you.

It's nice to have posters take up for the both of us, though.

HEB has stamps at every checkout line.
And I like the self checkouts I can do them very quickly! Though thats a different thread.

Who uses the mail these days anyways.