I see that Gowanus Lounge beat me to the punch but I had to wait to get in touch with the woman who wrote this note on Park Slope Parents before posting it.
She had some rather negative things to say about her experiences at the Atlantic Avenue P.O. I wrote to her this morning and she was happy to share her less-than-happy thoughts with readers of OTBKB.
I’ve read
on
the
PSP list
about
problems
that
residents
have
with
the
Van
Brunt
Post
Office
on
9th
Street
and
the
7th
Avenue. What
about
the
post
office
on
Atlantic
Avenue
and
3rd,
for
those in the
North
Slope,
Clinton
Hill,
Fort
Greene
areas,
etc..?
Is
there anyone
who
has
a
contact
there
in
management
or
who
would
like
to
help
deal
with
that
branch?I
have
never
had
a
package
or
letter
that
needed
to
be
signed
for
delivered
by
them!
I
can
be
at
home,
or
the
nanny
can
be
at
home,
but
they
will
not
ring
the
bell
so
that
you
can
sign
for
and
accept
your
package.
They
just
put
a
"redeliver"
slip
on
the
box
and
leave.
Then
when
you
sign
the
redeliver
slip,
they
never
pick
it
back
up
and
never
deliver
your
item!
I
was
in
an
hour
and
a
half
line
once
again
over
the
holidays,
taking
off
work
to
sign
for
something
that
my
nanny
could
have
signed
for
at
the
time
that
they
first
came.I
complained
to
a
female
manager,
and
four
or
five
people
around
me
in
line
were
there
for
the
very
same
reason,
and
they
were
all
home
at
the
time
the
postal
person
first
came!
The
manager
took
our
information,
but
nothing
has
changed.
I’m
now
waiting
on
an
item
for
over
two
weeks
that
was
not
delivered,
but
after
ten
days
they
finally
took
the
slip
but
didn’t
deliver
anything,
and
now
I
cannot
even
claim
the
item
because
I
have
no
slip!
And
I
don’t
want
to
take
a
half
of
a
day
off
work
to
deal
with
it.
I just moved from Manhattan, Upper west side, to Park Slope. First of all, I can’t believe my post office is way down on Atlantic and not just down the street on 7th. Second, I have had problems with contacting both, and when I finally just went down to the office on 7th, hey gave me inaccurate information about the package I was looking for…which by the way was never delivered -NOR did they leave me a slip.
Everything on the Upper west side went smoothly relative to mail. I love Park Slope (better than UWS by the way), but I’m surprised about how inept the post office are here.
There have been countless posts on Brooklyn-based blogs about problems with various post offices. Suffice it to say, the service we receive in Brooklyn is inferior to that given in the suburbs and, perhaps, in other areas of the city. If you begin with that assumption, you will encounter less frustration than if you expect brilliant service. A few helpful hints:
–have important packages delivered to your place of business or by a non-USPS method (FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc.).
–identify a helpful person at your branch p.o. by name (believe it or not, they exist, even at the Van Brunt branch, where I’ve identified two extremely helpful individuals)
–attempt to get the phone number of your branch p.o. (the phone number on your redelivery slip is an automated 1-800 number that sends a message to the branch p.o. for redelivery). Once you have that number, use it judiciously to request redelivery when you know you’ll be home to accept delivery
–say hi to your carrier on his or her route. Introduce yourself by name and address.
Have something pleasant to say every time you see him or her.
Tip your carrier holiday time.
It’s not an easy job. You know, neither rain nor snow, etc…They can make your life bearable or miserable.