It just could be that the way to get improvements at a Brooklyn Post Office that everyone’s unhappy with is to start a campaign of collection complaint that make their way into online, print and television media. So it is with Boerum Hill’s Times Plaza Station, aka the Nightmare Post Office. (A couple of weeks ago, we featured some details of the problems here and here.) There was also a News 12 story on the issue. There are actually signs that things may be improving, including an email on the Boerum Hill Group that says things are better:
went to the post office last week to mail packages. you can tell that they are very aware of the complaints. every teller was working, they’ve cleaned up the forms table and i could hear construction going on in the back. the manager was out front helping people with the self-postage machine and answering questions. two days later, a package was delivered when i was there and handed to me with a smile. its working!!!!
Meanwhile, some neighborhood representatives met with postal official last week (Archie Warner, the Manager of Customer Service Operations from the Brooklyn Postmaster’s Office and Andrea Burrows, the Customer Relations Coordinator). Here’s some detail about that get together, in which the postal officials noted that “frustration was evident” from the community, but that managers in the postmaster’s office weren’t always aware of service problems. They said a search is underway for a better space for the station and also promised to look into problems with package delivery. As for bitter complaint about the service offered by clerks at the post office they said “The Brooklyn Postmaster has personally spoken with each clerk about this issue, and there will be job-related repercussions if no improvements are made, or if improvements turn out to be of a temporary nature.” Also:
An agreement was reached that the entire community will look for the promised changes in the post office, and will promptly report any problems. Such a report should contain the name of the clerk (all clerks are required to wear name tags) and/or the clerk’s ID from the receipt. By the same token, exceptionally good service should also be reported, with the clerk’s ID…It was furthermore understood that if improvements fall short of expectations, or are not maintained indefinitely, this matter will be brought before the press, the politicians, and the Postmaster General in Washington DC.
We know there will be follow up on this one.
5 responses so far ↓
1 greg hoy nyc // Jan 31, 2008 at 10:23 pm
I believe it when it happens: I stood in line for 35 minutes just to pick up a package (the package window was ‘closed’) — two windows were open, one with a ‘trainee’ who was unsure a man who produced his ID to pick up a package was who he said he was. (He took off his hat to ‘confirm’). This was at 2pm on a Tuesday and, somehow, a good 20 or so people snaked in line as two windows became one.
Worst. Post Office. Ever.
2 Heart As Arena // Feb 1, 2008 at 8:23 am
THE worst post office in the city, hands down. Hell, on the planet. My favorite moment at this Majestic Temple of Cl*sterfck was when they installed the tv/video player a couple years ago to help the outraged cue standers pass the time. The first movie I saw them playing on it was a bootleg of some recent box office hit. Nothing like a federal gov’t agency encouraging a federal crime. It was a perfect moment in that completely wrong kind of way.
In some ways this showed progress though. On a certain level they were admitting that there was a line . . . with actual customers in it. God bless them. God help us.
3 Anonymous // Feb 1, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I’ve been getting packages from Sandbox USA (formerly Stamp It, Ship It) on Smith Street for over a year now to avoid anything related to packages and this hellhole of a post office. Just another cost of living in New York, I suppose. Of all the things I spend money on in NYC that most Americans don’t have to, though, this one probably has the most sanity-preserving effects.
4 JackSzwergold // Feb 3, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I grew up in NYC and lived here during the good times and bad times, and all NYC post offices are like this. The Boerum Hill Post Office seems to be getting more bile from locals because they are locals and not much else. I have waited in line there as well, but it’s not as bad as some say. People just hate lines. And there have been times I was there at 8:00am and the place had few people, the lines moved quickly and people in line STILL complained about issues.
I will say though that I hate the fact that the stamp machine is out of service. Some of us don’t like those APC (Automated Postal Center) stamps and prefer the real stamps you can get from the machine. Now my choice is to wait in line for that. Get the machine working again, please.
5 Anonymous // Apr 22, 2008 at 7:45 am
Glad to see that this is getting attention. This is the worst post office I’ve ever seen having lived in the city for many years.