It has been around at this address for as long as I can remember. and for most of the time that…read moreI've lived at my present location (and that's a long time now), they've been my mail carriers (there was a period of time when I thought my mail delivery had been switched to the location on Allen Rd., but I don't think that lasted very long). I can't say I've ever had any real problems. Some of the mail carriers over the years have been great, some not so great, but none that were awful (although there was one carrier when I first moved in who had trouble finding a particular address that he had to deliver a package to...it wasn't me...and finding an address in my development can be difficult...but I remember him stomping through the hallway, growling to himself, swearing and muttering like Travis Bickle without the Mohawk, and I thought at the time, "This is the kind of guy they were talking about when they invented the phrase, 'Going postal.'" I never complained about him, but other people might have, as he didn't last long. Thankfully, he didn't shoot anyone that I'm aware of).
Somewhat off-topic side comment: When I got laid off some years ago, I panicked, and was willing to try any job that came along, pretty much. At one point, I applied at the Post Office...not this one...and took a test. I've never been nominated for Mensa membership, but I figured I was reasonably intelligent, and the test would be a breeze. It wasn't. Intelligence really isn't a critical part of the criteria: your "short term" memory skills are paramount and have to be pretty advanced. My short term memory...never very good to start with...has deteriorated with the advancing years and the aftereffects of too much grog and too many "happy pills" and maybe a few other things along the way. Bottom line: I never was hired as a mail carrier. Which, in retrospect, is a good thing-- good for me, and good for those uncounted multitudes depending on yours truly for their mail delivery. Anyway...
Back in the day, I'd come to the Brownlee Pl. location often because I'd get a lot of money orders...in addition to the grog and "happy pills," I was addicted at the time to buying crap on ebay...and Brownlee Pl. is close to the Wells Fargo I patronized. Brownlee Pl. is a narrow side street with not much parking. The P.O. parking lot is small, and almost always full. Inside is a large lobby, and then you pass through glass doors into the area where you can conduct whatever postal business you've come to conduct with the available clerks. Usually 1, maybe 2 during very busy times. One downside to this place is that it opens relatively late in comparison to other area post offices (although as 1 reviewer has noted, the advantage to that is that it stays open later than other area post offices). Often there was a long line, so if you were in a hurry, you were screwed (if I needed to just buy stamps, I went to some other, less crowded location). But, in my experiences, the clerks were usually pretty friendly and helpful once you were able to reach them. Sometimes, a mail carrier would try to deliver a package to my place that I was supposed to sign for, I wouldn't be around, and they'd leave a sticker on my door. Usually I could pick up the package the next morning at the post office without any undue difficulty (1 time I had to go to the Allen Rd. location to pick up a package, but that was an isolated event. Not sure if they were temporarily my mail carriers, but every subsequent time I've had to sign for a package, it has been at the Brownlee Pl. location).
This need to pick up a package hasn't happened in a long while, but it happened the other day. I had ordered a package from overseas, and I was supposed to sign for it. The sticker on my door had fluttered down to my doorstep, but when I came home from work I was able to retrieve it and realized what I was going to have to do. There was a part of me that cursed and said to myself, "I wish they would have just left the f'ing package on the doorstep!" However, there have been "porch pirates" at work in the area occasionally, and I did pay a lot for the package, so I shrugged it off. The mail carrier was just doing his/her job responsibly, and I was just a lazy b*stard.
Next day I drove to the post office early, just before they opened for business. Early, but their tiny parking lot was already full; I was able to secure the last spot. Thankfully, there were only 1 or 2 people in front of me, and I didn't have to wait long (they also have spots/signs marked out on the floor for "social distancing," which is a good thing). The clerk was friendly and when I presented my sticker, she was able to find the package without too much difficulty. I'm almost always braced for the "worst case scenario" to play itself out, but in this instance, I was spared.
All in all, I like this place, and don't have any substantive complaints to make about the job they do, or the way in which they do it.
Recommended.
