As with most things in life, nothing's perfect.
I was drawn by the overall high (and plentiful) ratings on Yelp, so I walked farther than other closer options. I was impressed by the cleanliness of the store and the friendliness of the owner. I genuinely enjoyed our conversation--and I even thought, "If he's single, maybe I could set him up with a friend!"
Maybe I got caught up in how nice everything was, but I forgot to really ask about what I was being charged. Looking at my receipt, I saw that I paid about $20 to ship a 4 lb 1.9 oz package USPS Priority Mail and $26 for two books of Forever Stamps. The stamps are what made me do a double take--they had been marked up $3 each. So, I also looked up how much my package would have cost if I had gone to the post office--about $9 less for 2-day Priority Mail. So, it turns out there's pretty high mark-up in this store.
I think I would have been fine with that if things had been spelled out that you're paying for the convenience--and exactly how much extra you're paying for the convenience. Maybe this is something most NYers expect; I'm relatively new to the city. I do expect markup in bodegas, so maybe I should've made the connection. But the way things are set up, it rubs me as a little sneaky.
I went back to return my stamps, since I hadn't used any and they were exactly as purchased. I could tell the owner was peeved about it. The way I saw it, he already got the mark-up from my package (stupidity tax) and the return of stamps was more of a "let's just try to make this even." He said it would be a "more complicated customer service thing" and asked me to wait about 10 minutes while he helped "paying" customers. I pointed out that I, too, was a "paying" customer, but I stepped to the side and waited patiently because I understood that it was pretty busy. When I returned to the counter he was much nicer and gave me the $26 back for the stamps.
Overall, I'm on the fence if I would return because I think I'd rather be annoyed by the long lines at the post office than be charged so much more for shipping/stamps/etc. But you do get very good service--you just have to understand that you're paying more for it. read more