I was back at the post office today for like the millionth time this fortnight. I hate the post office. Have I told you that before? I don’t think I have, but I do, it’s true. If there were a way I could pay a little extra to have someone fill out, pick up and send my parcels for me, that would be awesome. I’d avoid the place forever.
Why? I hear you asking.
Because it’s gross. Haha. Today someone literally sneezed on me. Sneezed. ON. Me. They turned away from the person in front of them and covered me in tiny particles of grossness that I feel like even if I bathe eight times tonight won’t come off. This is how Contagion starts. Ick. So if millions of people come down with a super bug you’ll know where to look. Start here folks, start here.
PLUS the last time I was there a young lady who should have been old enough to know better was telling off someone else’s kid in line. Yup. Someone else’s kid. Then she moved to the counter and told off the lady behind the counter. All I could think was that lady is WAY too young to be a grumpy old man. The post office, it takes all types…
And I don’t just hate getting sneezed on or the odd people, I hate going there. In Gympie, parking is basically impossible around the top end of the street where the post office lives so sometimes you have to do two or three laps before you can even get a park remotely close. Some days I just park half way down the street and loiter on up there because I’ve got a snowball’s chance in hell of getting any closer. Ridiculous. It’s frustrating and I don’t like it.
Do you know what my problem is? I love parcels. I get lots of them. You’d think the post shop folks and I would be besties… Nope. Well, not all of them love me, let’s just say THAT. Maybe they can sense my attitude towards the place but sheesh (I don’t get it, everyone likes me. Haha.). Actually, now I think about it, I’m not sure this post is going to help that situation at all… Awkward. Let’s pretend it never happened.
The last thing a blogger chick-a-dee needs is enemies at the post office!
Hi! I’m Melissa Walker Horn. Around here, they call me Suger. I’m the Chief Blogger and doer of all the things here at Suger Coat It. Blogging since 1901; I love a casual ootd, taking photos, and writing about things that irk or inspire me. I love wine and cheese, long days at the beach and spending time with my family. I make stuff for the internet over at Chalkboard Digital. You know, living the sweet life.
My local is also in a news agency. And I now have a PO Box there. They are lovely and know me by name as well as my daughters so there is no trouble getting parcels picked up and providing ID.
Sigh. Like the good old days. 😉
I agree with Kathryn, they try to do/sell too much. My local post office NEVER has enough staff on, the queue is always out the door. I avoid it if at all possible.
I agree. I tripped over a display the other day trying to get into line. SO much stuff. It’s a classic company that forgot their key business thing, right? They deliver mail, that’s their job, they forgot that.
My main beef with going to the post office is that it’s not a post office any more – they try to do too much and it screws over the people who just want to post shit. You can bet that every single person in line in front of me wants to pay their bills AND get insurance AND buy presents AND a thousand other things. I avoid the post office unless it’s totally necessary.
Yeah true. A simple post only row could be super useful.
I love my Post Office. They see me walking past and get my parcels ready.
But my major issue with the post office is that my closest post office is not my “local post office”. If I’m not home to accept delivery, they take it to the next suburb that I have to drive to rather than the one 7 minutes walk away and next to my son’a school.
I love that. Mine USED to be a like that. I miss the good old days. And I’m feeling you on this one, we have a postal depot here and sometimes you have to go pick that item up there… But they hardly ever tell you that. Like they forget to tick the box, so you go from home to the po and they say nope go out to the other one… Annoying.
What are we going to do if Auspost cuts back on deliveries to 3 times a week? The whole organisation is just going downhill in my opinion. Some days I don’t get mail at all, and sometimes I think they’ve stolen my mag subscription but then it shows up a week late.
I’ve never yet met a friendly Auspost worker either – trust me, I share a building with their Brisbane office! We uniformed employees eye each other with distrust in the elevator.
I’m going to hope like heck someone or something crops up in their place. Like HOPE HOPE.
These days most of what I send is stuff I’ve sold on eBay and I use their prepaid bag service. You can either print the labels via eBay and it gets added to your invoice to pay once a month or you can use Australia Post’s online Click + Send to pay upfront using a credit card or PayPal. I now use this for everything I have to send within Australia; for non-eBay stuff I use the Click + Send option. Once you’ve printed the label and put it in the little plastic window on the bag, put in your item and sealed it up, you just drop the whole thing in a red post box. Easy!
Getting stuff is different of course. If it’s something I’m excited about or am not concerned about being left ‘securely’ while I’m not home (which usually means being stuck inside my front screen door, which is on a weird angle and can’t be seen from the street) it goes to my PO box. Our PO is part of a newsagency, we’ve been using the same one for about 15 years, and the owners who took over about 3 years ago are former driving students of my husband’s so treat us like family 🙂 Any other PO however… yeah, nah.
OMG yes to all this. Click and send sounds good. Maybe I should look into that a little more. And I love a good po as family. That’s the best.
I share your love hate relationship with post offices but like you, love my parcels!
SSG xxx
Me too lady, meeeeee too!
Our PO is shut between 12.30 and 1.30 for lunch. I can’t believe how many times I am coming home and think: I’ll get the mail (we don’t have road side delivery so we have to go to the post office) but it’s 12.31, doors locked. It is tiny so if there is more than 2 people in there personal space is just not an option. They do put a bowl of water out the front for dogs though!
Oh that IS a small town. The one I grew up in was the same. Naaaw, makes me sort of nostalgic for the post office. 😉
Hopefully the Australia post 24/7 parcel lockers are coming to you soon! I think they are the best thing that they have come up with – the ability to pick up your parcels whenever is a great idea.
Hubby says we have a parcel locker! I knew nothing about it. Though recently I have been getting the parcels sent to my home when I can. The post delivery man around here is THE BEST! I wish everything went through that man, he’s worth his weight in gold.
Here in NZ we have a courier service called Pass the Parcel- they pick up from your house AND they are cheaper then sending a tracked item through NZ post! I love them. Hate the post office, neither that are close to me have easy parking, always take forever even if there is only two people in line and they always seem so depressed with their jobs.
Pass the parcel is wonderful. I use this service too! I wonder if Australia has something similar, so easy to use and great rates
Oooo I’ll have to look into it, I haven’t heard of anything like that. Couriers here are expensive and more for speciality type stuff… Jealous!
Oh my GOSH I hate the post office with a passion too. It all stems from when I was a correspondence Uni student who had to post some of my assignments off. I’d trot into the PO to buy an express post envelope only to be told I can’t EFTPOS under $10. So I’d ask for a book of stamps to go with them and get grilled about if I NEED the stamps or not and end up just about going postal myself!!
Oh sheesh. That’s SO stupid. And why couldn’t you just buy the stamps anyway? That’s weird. Haha.
I hate my local post office, one lady in particular. It’s like she enjoys NOT helping people. It’s like you work in a post office, you are not curing cancer, you are not that special!! End rant!
I had a run in with one lady too. Always regretted being so snappy to her but geeez, I was sick of the rubbish.
With 3 young boys, I dread taking them to the post office, it is such a pain but they do have great pressies for kids birthdays.
They have lots of great stuff that I’m ALWAYS tempted to buy. Haha. The Darrell Lea stuff especially. 😉
My local post office is a hell on earth, it even has it’s own google review page https://plus.google.com/app/basic/104494212010387294362/about?hl=en
Oooooh deeeearie me! That is bad.
I just read the entire page. Gold. I am so sorry for you for having to put up with that service!
I love that I have the choice of three Post Offices near my place 🙂
Jealous!
Yep, I need to keep my cool at the PO too…… I used to love the one at Penshurst, cos they KNEW me 🙂 in and out like a DREAM
I used to know people at the post office too! I loved it then. I never see them there anymore, I think they moved on, so now it’s just not the same. 🙁