post office hassle

[pasopaul]

Does anyone else get the bewildered faces when mailing your oil samples at the post office. A postal worker told me he was afraid he'd get suspended if he mailed something that was illegal, then told me to put the sample in a box and ship it. So much for being upfront. I guess a little training wouldn't hurt the postal service.

 

[Steve S]

My post office is great, ask to see the post master.

 

[simple_gifts]

Based on my friends experience working as a carrier, the stream of ridiculous management oversite is endless.

1) No eating in the bathroom. (uhh, ok)
2) No running the engine while trying to deice the windshield (uh, this is New England)
3) Packages are not "mail" At Christmas it should take no longer than any other day of the year to finish a route.

 

[Whimsey]

I just put the correct postage, $1.52, on the Blackstone round mailer and drop it in the "package" box at the Post Office. So far I've had no problems. At first I took it to the "window" and it totally freaked out the clerks

. I guess they thought I was Al Queda. After all I'm 6'1" light skinned with light brown hair and overall Germanic looking. I must look like your typical Mid Eastern terrorist according to the Post Office

.

Whimsey

 

[oldman]

For my first sample I told the lady that yes it had liquid in the sample but it was okay, just used oil. When I took my third sample she looked at the package and said we went through this before so I am not going to ask.

 

[medic]

quote:

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Originally posted by Whimsey:
After all I'm 6'1" light skinned with light brown hair and overall Germanic looking. I must look like your typical Mid Eastern terrorist according to the Post Office

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Oh no!, you must be part of a white supremist group!

Anyway, I always go to the counter. I immediatly tell them "liquid, not flammable, not hazardous". This uaually does the job. Once I had a lady who was inquisitive. She kept asking questions - is it water? nope. Is it urine? nope. Finally she asked, what is it? I told her, "an oil sample". She was happy, and sent it without another question.

I always carry the letter from blackstone's site just in case I have a clerk who is unsure, or sure oil is flammible.

I have found it is best to say "oil sample" and not use the word "used". For some reason, they get upset when hearing "used oil sample".

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by Whimsey:
I just put the correct postage, $1.52, on the Blackstone round mailer and drop it in the "package" box at the Post Office.

Whimsey

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Works for me too. I don't understand why someone would subject themselves to standing in a Post Office line and dealing with a postal clerk if they don't have to (actually, my small town postal clerks are pretty nice). I usually splurge and put $1.85 on since all I normally have is 37 cent stamps. Maybe I need to get a small book of smaller denomination stamps for special occasions.

It's also a good idea to fill the container completly full so it won't slosh if someone shakes the package.

 

[michaelc80]

I've always just put it in the mailbox and put the flag up. The mail carrier takes it with no questions asked...

 

[Cutehumor]

I mailed two oil samples at two different post offices last week. I dropped them at their blue mailbox outside. It wasn't returned to me at all. I've done this with the last four samples without problem. dealing with clerks, I got a huge hassle. someone told me to put the black container in a small box but that just costs more money. so I slap four stamps on the black container and drop it off. But I'm probably on a homeland security list cuz of these oil samples I mail every couple of months.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by Cutehumor:
I mailed two oil samples at two different post offices last week. I dropped them at their blue mailbox outside. It wasn't returned to me at all. I've done this with the last four samples without problem.

---

That works for me.

Postal clerks are just like dogs and cops. When they smell fear they go on the attack

The course on Life 101 was supposed to teach us about avoiding petty bureaucrats that we don't need to deal with.

If you want to to something that has to be approved by a bureaucracy, go into the bureaucratic system at a point that you deal with the fewest number of people with veto power as possible.

In the case of the post office, drop it in a box. It takes more effort for a person downstream in the sorting room to reject your package so there is less chance it will happen.

When you are face to face with a postal clerk having a bad hair day, it's real easy for them to send you on a fools mission.