Stop Trashing the Post Office

I have heard several anti-health-care-reform politicians say something to the effect of, “if you like the service you get at the post office, then you’ll love government run health care.”

Well then, sign me up.  I love the post office. 

I speak with some authority here. Being a self published author, I deal with the post office A LOT.  As in almost every day.  On line services too.  And let me tell you, they do an absolutely fabulous job.

Over the past four years, I have mailed out something like a thousand books to people all over the world, and not once has the post office lost any of them (one exception is when I used “Media Mail,” where I admit, two packages got lost… but when you use media Mail, it’s assumed that you don’t really care about what you’re sending.  It’s cheap, and is for for magazines and newspapers and such. Even then, you can insure your package.)  

I recently had to mail a big heavy package to Guam.  I called FedEx and UPS, and they told me they could ship it there in 10 days for about $150.  The post office shipped it via priority Mail for 20 bucks, and it got there in three days. 

Granted, some post offices are more crowded than others.  But for many services, you do not have to go to a post office anymore.  You can buy stamps online, you can print a shipping label online, and if you are shipping priority, they will come to your house and pick it up the next day.  All at no extra charge, I might add.  Need a passport?  They have the forms right there.  Need a money order?  Sure thing.  They also offer all kinds of nifty services and products, like boxes and packing tape.  And if you are shipping priority, the boxes and tape are free. 

If you talk to a postal worker, you will discover that the reason the lines are so long are not the fault of the postal workers, it’s often the fault of people who come to the windows in a state of total disorganization and unpreparedness.  Even so, they get the same patient service as those of us who are ready to go.

I am often amazed at the professionalism of the average postal employee, when, at 10 minutes to closing, someone who can’t speak English appears at their window with a pillow case stuffed full of doorknobs needing to be appropriately processed and labeled and addressed and taped up to be shipped to Norway overnight. 

I admit, the post office is not perfect, but who is? I think it would be ungracious of anyone to complain, given just how much fabulous service they provide, whether rain or snow or sleet.  And by the way, you might ask that anti-post-office senator about their “franking privileges.”  In case you don’t know what that is, it means anyone in the Congress can mail job-related letters through the post office for free.  They also get government-run health care for free.  But they tell us we don’t want it.  Right.  

So anyway, if there is a health care system that could deliver health care services as well and as cheaply as the post office delivers the mail, SIGN ME UP.

© Justin Locke