KENNETH HART: Stamping out machines 020710

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February 4, 2010

Anonymous The Daily Independent Thu Feb 04, 2010, 11:35 PM EST

Made a trip to the post office recently?

If you have, you may have noticed that the lines at the window seem a lot longer than what they used to be.

I know this has been true with every recent visit I’ve made to the Ashland Post Office. I can’t vouch for the others in our area, but I do know that some of my friends who live in other towns in the region have voiced similar complaints on Facebook regarding their local post offices.

Based on simple observation, I’m fairly certain I know what’s causing this problem — or, at least what a major contributor to it is.

It’s my belief that it all goes back to the removal of stamp machines from the post office box lobbies some months ago.

Of all the short-sighted, customer-unfriendly moves I have ever heard of, this one ranks at or near the top — or the bottom, depending on how you look at it.

Of course the lines and wait times at the window are going to be longer if that’s the only place people can purchase stamps. And, I have noticed on my recent post office visits that a good number of the people ahead of me line have been there to do just that.

Not only that, but by yanking the stamp machines, the post office has made it impossible for patrons to buy stamps at the post office — the first place most folks go to buy them, for obvious reasons — at times other than during regular window hours.

Need a stamp to mail that electric bill, but don’t get off work until late in the evening? Good luck.

Before I go any further, I want to stress that my comments are no way directed at the folks who work at the post office. They have never provided with me with anything but courteous, efficient service, and they have gone the extra mile to assist me on more than one occasion.

And you know, I can’t imagine too many things more frightening than having a bunch of postal workers mad at you.

Seriously, though, I genuinely feel sorry for the folks who work the windows because of the increased workload the lack of stamp machines has created for them.

I don’t recall hearing an official explanation as to why the postal service decided to do away with the machines. I do remember someone mentioning that it had something to do with the fact that it couldn’t find people who could work on the machines when they broke down.

Perhaps I’m being overly simplistic, but maybe they could have and should have looked a little harder.

Or, better yet, maybe the postal service could have hired some folks who did not nothing but travel around and fix broken vending machines. Seems to me like that would have been a much more sensible solution than junking the machines altogether.

It also would seem to me that with the competition it has these days, the last thing the post office would want to do is give folks reason to use alternative delivery methods.

Oh, well. I guess I can add stamp machines to my personal list of things that have gone extinct that I really miss.

I’ll remember them fondly the next time I’m standing in line at the post office behind a dozen or so folks, most of whom who are there only to pick up stamps.

And, I’m sure the next postal rate increase will trigger a similar twinge of nostalgia.

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