STAY AWAY from this facility. I mailed three PRIORITY MAIL packages--two medium and one large--from the "Gift n' Post" facility in Portland, Oregon in June, 2019. The two staff members were friendly and their style casual. I was surprised when they only accepted cash ("no credit card" machine). However, I was enroute out of the city and the "Gift 'n Post" was a "recognized" facility for USPS outgoing mail and I was mailing my three packages (all with family pictures and memorabilia), after all, via Priority Mail. The boxes were well-packed, clearly labeled (both the "sender" and "receiver" address was the same as I was passing through Portland returning to my home in the East). In addition, each package had clearly written and securely placed address information inside. The two medium packages arrived at my home post office; BOTH WERE SEVERELY DAMAGED. THE LARGE PACKAGE NEVER ARRIVED.
I have spent the last two months lost in the bureaucracy of the USPS; I have literally spent hours trying to determine what happened to my Priority Mail packages and where and when whatever happened occurred. All that the "Gift 'n Post" staff would say (I have spoken with both staffers on two occasions) was that the packages left at an unspecified time ("we haven't got a computer and the time stamp on your receipt [for when I dropped off the packages and paid for them] isn't accurate because we didn't set the time correctly"). In addition, there is apparently no written record of my packages actually leaving the "Gift 'n Post" because "we don't have a computer." I did get my tracking numbers but with no time listed for WHEN the packages left the facility (apparently tracking numbers were generated through an automatic process when I paid, along with my receipts) which were crucial pieces of information as it appears that all three of my packages arrived within five minutes of each other (according to the USPS tracking numbers) at the Airport Way facility. However, only two of my packages survived to be shipped (within an hour) out of Portland to eventually arrive in a condition that was so grievous that my local post office affixed a handwritten note indicating both "arrived in this damaged condition."
The major issue with the "Gift 'n Post" is that it is impossible to assess when or where the damage to the two "medium" packages and possibly damage to the third "large" package (likely so severe that it did not make it out of the Airport Way facility) took place. It is possible that the packages may have been damaged during their "wait" time at the "Gift 'n Post," or as they were being loaded onto the "truck" (according to a staff member at the "Gift 'n Post", one of past drivers used to keep a record of what packages were picked up and when but the current one "doesn't") between the "Gift 'n Post" and the Airport Way facility. There is no information. Something very bad happened to all three of my Priority Mail packages that were mailed from the "Gift 'n Post" on 181st Avenue in Portland, Oregon to the extent that two were so damaged that some USPS employees to whom I've shown pictures are amazed the packages "made it" and one simply disappeared.
While it appears no one will or perhaps is "even able" to accept responsibility for these damaged and missing USPS Priority Mail packages, the protocols and lack of record keeping at the "Gift 'n Post" facility on 181st Avenue in Portland, Oregon, is so lax that my experience has prompted me to at least warn others to be very careful and methodical regarding how and when packages which leave the 181st Avenue "Gift 'n Pack" will be handled. My advice: if you have a choice, go elsewhere. read more