On the one hand, this post office has easy parking and has many of the shipping supplies (for purchase) you might need to send a package. On the other hand, the employee working there--Sirin (sp?) was INCREDIBLY unhelpful.
When we walked in, the place was empty. We said hello, and she said nothing. I had two shopping bags of books and photo albums that needed to be mailed. I assumed I had to buy a box or two and asked, and she pointed to a big wall of boxes. She watched as my mom and I struggled to figure out which box to use, and watched me put in my books and photo albums inside and seal everything up.
While we were working, a few people came in to mail things. I noticed that she had a snippy tone with some of them and wasn't helpful at all. Two people left in frustration when their packages couldn't be sent for whatever reason.
I brought my box and envelope up to the counter. She weighed them, added in the cost for the box, envelope and packing tape, and told me my total was $73. I was shocked and asked if it could go book rate. She said no, because photo albums didn't count as books, and she saw me put a photo album into each package. (She could have called over while she was watching and suggested we package the books into one box together, but she didn't.)
It was then that I noticed the stack of Priority Mail boxes to the left of the counter. I asked her if priority mailboxes went at a flat rate no matter what was inside. She said yes, but she didn't think my stuff would fit inside. I wasn't sure what to do, but since I figured it could save me $30, it was worth a try. So I unpacked everything and re-packed it very easily into the 2 priority boxes, and my total came out to $37. Basically half of what I would've paid the other way. So because she didn't bother to offer any assistance, I had to pay the $10 for the packing supplies (that I ultimately didn't need) and the whole thing cost me $47...and a lot of time (when I was trying to get on my way to the airport)...and the people waiting in line behind me weren't thrilled either. But she didn't seem to care.
At the end, I was clearly annoyed, but very respectfully suggested that in the future it would be helpful if she would provide some guidance. She was very intent on defending herself so I'm not sure she heard me.
In the future when I'm here and need to mail anything, I will definitely go out of my way to avoid this post office. The people who work at the Northbrook post office are a million times nicer and more helpful. read more