The Porter Square post office reminds me why the USPS is doomed. Last week, I went to mail a package. There were sixteen -- yes, 16 -- people ahead of me on line and there was one -- yes, 1 -- postal worker who shouted -- yes, shouted -- his questions "fragile, liquid, hazardous, potentially perishable" and yelled at customers for swiping their credit cards too soon. USPS, with customer service like this, your days are numbered. read more

Sometimes you can't avoid the post office, but if possible I'd recommend a different one. They're almost always grumpy, and unfortunately I have witnessed some very unprofessional behavior from the employees. I don't think customers should have to witness so much yelling amongst staff that the 30 people in line start shifting their eyes around uncomfortably. But that has happened. Along with many other unfortunate things. read more

Usually have to wait in line 30 minutes at a minimum. Place is an absolute mess. No pride in their workspace. Air conditioner is broken, so don't come on a hot day. Unless you're looking for a sauna. read more

I hate this post office. I'm standing in line as I write this, actually, because I have plenty of time to do so. Even if there are two tellers and two people in line, it takes upwards of 10 minutes. The tellers are consistently rude and outright ignore the people they're waiting on. Those who are in line wait eagerly to be barked at to step up. I once was in line 10+ minutes waiting for a teller not helping anyone or doing anything to call me up. Believe me, I tried to go up to him but he just kept telling me to wait. Unfortunately, its my neighborhood p.o. Just go to the robot post office in Harvard. read more

I never thought I would log on just to rave about the post office but here I am. Every time I go in here (usually later in the day) the staff is very nice and extremely helpful. Today they totally saved my butt! It's more convenient for me to go to the post office near my job, but I've stopped, because I'd rather go here. read more

USPS in Porter Sq is one of the least responsible post office that I have known in the US in terms of the delivery service. I had a parcel suppose to be delivered yesterday. I was home whole day waiting for it, but the only thing I received was a slip, a small piece of paper saying that they failed deliver, but will RE deliver again. Today I was waiting for it at home whole day again. Not only waiting, I even wrote a note and post it on that slip that post man left to me yesterday, in my mail box, by saying Please buzz, or leave the parcel at door. I got nothing today, and they even took the slip from yesterday away. "Congratulations!!" to myself. Now I had my express mail charge paid, and got nothing, no parcel, neither tracking number...... Porter square post office, the worst service EVER,!! YOU SUCKS!! read more

Sheila, Rob and Nancy are dedicated employees who care about the mail. Simple as that.

I worked next door to this branch for about 8 years, and I have to say I miss it. It is not the biggest, cleanest, or most up to date post office, but it gets the job done. The folks who work there are especially nice and friendly, and always willing to try to save you some money when they could. It's not their fault that they are really understaffed at times, and there is a long line of crabby customers waiting and getting huffier by the minute. I do not envy their job, and they put up with a lot of crap in a day. read more

The people here are not rude, they just aren't forced to do the fake niceties that other minimum wage workers often are. Once I needed help with certified mail (I had no idea what it was)--the woman explained all the different options to me and told me how to fill out the forms. I go here to get money orders pretty often. They're understaffed, but get the job done. Bottom line: if you want someone to smile at you a company-mandated number of times and call you sir/ma'am, go ahead and pay $15 for a money order at a bank, or a similarly ridiculous amount to deliver your package. If you just want your money order, go here and pay $1.15. read more

Incompetent staff who cannot even understand English. Then they become rude because you try to explain to re-explain to them the stuff they didn't understand. read more

STEER CLEAR!! I know that it's hard to believe that a post office can be horrible enough to warrant just 1 star, but trust me, it's justified! This is my local post office, so I have been there several times-- I have NEVER had a positive experience. Everything that other reviewers say about miserable wait times and rude service is absolutely true. I have never waited less than 20 minutes (no matter what time I'm there) and have waited as long as one hour. Although I understand that post offices can get busy, it's really absurd. To make the wait worse, the office is always sweltering, no matter what the season. The staff experience is equally as bad. The portly man with the beard is particularly horrible and he is often the only person behind the desk. He is overtly rude and seems to enjoy power trips. Just what everyone needs after a long hot wait. This man manages to seriously anger or irritate someone every time I'm there. To preserve your sanity, I strongly recommend avoiding this post office! read more

Sheila at this location is one of the rudest, most snide service employees I've ever had he displeasure of meeting. My mother and I were extremely kind, polite and apologetic to her when she informed us we'd attached a shipping label incorrectly- then she made fun of my mother to her face. I wanted to slap her. read more

Rude staff. Terrible service. I can stand waiting in line for 20 minutes but what I don't accept is waiting in line then -- just as its my turn -- have one of the staff disappear without a word. That happens all the time here. They're understaffed esp at lunchtime -- you know, when everybody MAILS THINGS. I've shown up here during business hours and found the doors locked. A staff person refused to unlock the doors.. I saw one man tell the clerk that the person behind him had stolen some supplies from the displays. The clerk's response? "Mind your own business!" I don't wish ill will on anybody but if the post office is cutting places, I hope this one goes. They need a reality check. read more

Go early in the morning, there is the nicest most helpful woman there most mornings at 7.30am, she is usually alone and still expedient, cheerful, knowledgeable, helpful, sorry don't know her name. You'll be out in 5 mins, even with others in front of you. read more

I hate to write this, because as someone in the customer service industry, I know how impossible and frustrating these jobs can be. But I was so appalled at the way I saw these postal employees treat customers that I wanted to warn others. Once in a while, you will get lucky and pop in to mail your parcel with no line, no hassle, and no trouble. But the vast majority of the time, there is a 25-40 minute line. This is no fault of the employees, but it is the fault of the postal service - there is rarely more than one person working the window, and on the occasion that there are two, one will often disappear for long stretches of time anyway. read more

This is a really unpleasant post office. I can't imagine that the staff are very happy working there, as it is squalid, cramped, and always understaffed. But they are so rude and abrupt with customers. It seems that every post office in Cambridge has a different idea about the right way to do things, and they each get huffy if you don't do it their way. The worst is the angry but robotic way they shout the question about hazardous, fragile, etc. items. Treating customers like human beings would improve things a lot, including the way that the public treats them in return. read more

The service is always slow at this branch, always understaffed and seems they have never considered to change that.

The bar is low for the USPS. You would be hard-pressed to find a branch of the USPS that is worse than this one. From lost packages to incompetent clerks-in-training, you should stay away from here at all costs. read more

They are extremely slow. Even in the off-peak hours. I have watched people leave after 15+ minutes of waiting in line. Don't go here.

I agree with the people who complained about rudeness here. All it takes is one person one time but behaving in a way that is so over the top that it leaves a very bad impression of the place overall. On top of that most of the people I've seen working there seem far more slow moving with each customer then in Central Square. read more

Take heed of the one star reviews for this post office because unfortunately I've just had a similar awful experience at this location. As many reviewers here point out, the employees working at this post office are rude and have a very bad attitude. Today (Dec. 21, 2018), I went to this post office to mail a package. The woman in line in front of me attempted to mail a package to an address in another country. There was some problem with the address that she wrote on the package. The employee (a middle-aged guy with long gray hair and a beard) told her the package might not get to its destination because the address that she wrote on the package was apparently incomplete. After telling her this, the employee then commented loudly, "This address on your package is not a NORMAL address that we have in the good ole USA!" Why the snarky and racist comment? All this employee had to do was let the woman know there might be a problem sending the package to its destination abroad. However, the employee decided to make an additional comment that was offensive and racist (the woman was Hispanic and brown skinned). The woman took his offensive comment in stride and politely and quietly paid for the postage and walked out the door. I stepped up to mail my package feeling angry about this employee's rudeness and wanting to punch him in the face if he said anything offensive to me (because I, too, am Hispanic and brown skinned). Although the employee was rude and cranky, he didn't say anything offensive to me. However, since I was bothered by his rudeness, I only offered monosyllabic answers to his questions (which he barked at me as if we were in the military). After I paid for the postage and received the receipt, I walked away and heard him say tauntingly "Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy New Year!" What a total jerk! read more

I just Love going to this post office in potter square, Cambridge. People there are really friendly and helpful.

The staff here is awful, at least 95% of them. So far the worst usps location in the cambridge/somerville area. I'll never come here again. I would give 0 stars if I could. You should find a better staff working at the other locations nearby. read more

I am a solo attorney, have a good friend in Afghanistan with the army, and I live in the Porter area. Combine those three elements and I am often at the Porter Sq post office, sometimes 3x or 4x a week. Someone else reviewed this post office, and said they didn't "go there for the scene." Well, it IS worth going just for that. If you do, and do so on a regular basis, you will begin to understand how inept people are at simple tasks, like peeling off the back of stamp, packaging things themselves (no, the post office employees will not box and wrap your Christmas bundt cake for you), writing their return address in the correct place, etc. It's really astonishing the level of entitlement people seem to think is owed to them by postal employees, while at the same time foster really acute contempt towards them. In all my time at the Porter Sq post office I have never seen the employees be rude to anyone. They do get "short" when someone has not sealed their packages, and there is a line of 15 people waiting. I would, too. I *will* say that this place seems to be under-staffed, and there are some really dumb postal procedures in place (asking everyone, ever time, if they want more stamps, if there is anything liquid, fragile, perishable, etc.), but that is not the fault of the people who work there. They are just doing their job. I would take pause before you give this post office low rating for bad service. A good part of the problem might be the idiots in front of you in line. Hopefully you are not one of them. read more

yep, i have to agree with the other reviewers, if this was a regular business that had to appeal to customers it would have been out of business long ago. long lines, idiots working behind the counter (they may be nice people, but that and four quarters makes a dollar), can't wait for the us postal service to finally close so we can have privatized mail delivery - look how well it worked for health insurance. oh, wait... read more