Credit Where Credit Is Due
I have little love for the United States Postal Service. It is irritating when they raise First Class stamp prices by a few pennies every other year. They are complicit in the spamming of my mailing address. More fundamentally, they are a postal monopoly held in place through the threat of government force and there are several possible reasons why the USPS monopoly continues today. Then there are the little things, like going to jail for using plastic USPS bins for anything other than mail and not mentioning anything about Lysander Spooner and how he and his American Letter Mail Company competed with the USPS only to be forced out of business by the feds.
But for the moment, I offer praise.
I entered the Balcones Post Office at 11900 Jollyville Road yesterday at lunchtime. With me were two small CD mailers I wanted sent to Canada. As I expected, the place was packed and the lines were long. My waiting number was 83 and the clerks had just called #55. I leisurely began filling out address information, presuming I'd be there for at least half an hour. Every other time I'd been to a Post Office during lunch hours, more of my time would be spent standing in line instead of eating.
So my surprise was pleasant when I noticed the pace of the front desk. In the time it took for me to fill out one mailer, they had warped to the mid-60s. I found waiting number 74 left on a counter and realized if I used it I'd waste the clerk's time at the desk because I wouldn't be done with the second mailer's addresses. I let that opportunity pass. I was barely finished when my number was called. I had been there hardly 10 minutes. Granted, somewhere between seven and ten numbers were passed up when no customers responded. That had a big role to play.
On the other hand, all of the desk clerk stations were manned and I didn't see any of the employees screwing around, chatting with each other right in front of the lines of people like I've seen everywhere else. It was refreshing to see a Post Office work like that.
After I told the clerk I wanted the two items sent to Canada, she grabbed two forms and told me to complete them and return when finished. These customs forms threatening me with nastiness if I lied or did anything unapproved. Reminded of where I was and with whom I was dealing, I still appreciated the much faster than expected service.
But the USPS should still be abolished.