Express Photo & Mail

Sent a standard sized letter to Canada on a 3 – 5 day service, cost upwards of $ 35 which seemed outrageous but, ok. Practically begged the guy to email me tracking information since he claimed it wasn’t available at that moment and he assured me he would later that evening. Next morning came with no tracking # in my inbox so I called to ask for the info, was told someone would call me right back. Called back again at 5pm and was finally, begrudgingly given a tracking number. The letter did eventually make it to its intended destination 4 days later so there’s that but would not go back again unless there was no other option.

Micheal got my daughters passport renewed in record time. And made Xmas happen for us.

Convenience is everything, so although getting something notarized seemed to take a while, the fee and the completion of the task were reasonable. LOVE that I can drop packages at this site and have items delivered here for a small fee to pick up. Got acceptable passport photos here too.

Just go there for copies or a passport, they don’t seem equipped or inclined to do anything else. FYI.

After assuring me she understood my destination business name and address for the my outgoing package, the clerk lady totally misspelled it so my package is now on its way to a non existent company. Fortunately, the street address is almost correct, so I expect it to get to where it’s going. I don’t meticulously prepare items for mailing to have someone in a mail store totally screw up the destination label. There’s no option to address the box yourself, so the least they could do is get it right. Totally exasperating.
Long wait time; understaffed.
A guy got a passport photo taken while I was there. He was wearing a white T shirt. His photo could get rejected because of that. Isn’t it the photographer’s responsibility to inform the customer when the photo won’t be right?

Gosh, I’ve used the services here for years and never had anything but outstanding service. I cherish this local business.

Dropped a package. Took them 4 days to give it to Fedex. wtf?

what’s up with all the 1-​star reviews? it’s the only one-​stop stop in the Haight that takes care of passport photos, notary, postal services, copying, faxing, scanning, etc. and it’s a small space, so do expect a wait in the afternoon. regardless, you’ll be waiting for a lot less time than at the USPS on Clayton.
the guy in the front is really helpful. i remember when i first moved to the neighborhood 4 years ago and needed to make copies of some important documents. i was short $ 1.00, but he said «it’s okay. these papers are important» and let me walk out with my papers. a few months later, i came back and paid him back.

Waited for 15 mins while the owner was on the phone and 3 more people walked in. I guess it gave me time to read all the one star reviews on similar matters and how their passport photos got rejected.
Will go elsewhere.

I’ve been using Express Photo & Mail for years for a mailbox service, shipping packages, and the occasional passport photo or document to notarize. I’ve known Michael and his wife for years. I can’t believe all the 1 star reviews.
They’ve always done exactly what they promised, when they promised. The packages have always been delivered when they were supposed to. They even got a rush passport renewal done in less than a week (yes, it was expensive — but I know that someone had to make multiple special trips to the right post office to get it done, and it was done in time for my trip).
The folks at Express have never been rude to me, though they’re sometimes a bit abrupt. There’s often a lot of things going on in the shop. When they’re not busy they’re usually friendly. There’s no excuse for the rudeness that some people reported — I’m just saying I’ve never seen them be rude to anyone when I was there.
Folks giving out one star reviews need to remember that Express Photo & Mail is a business. They have to make enough to pay the rent, pay for electricity, pay for supplies, and pay themselves. If they charge an extra $ 0.33 for an $ 0.89 stamp its because they have to go down to the post office and get the stamps, keep them in a box until someone wants to buy one, and then take the time to sell one to you. Express doesn’t get a discount from the post office on stamps.
The same goes for folks wanting to «borrow» tape. Express has to pay for the tape (though I agree that they really should *give* you free tape if you’re buying the box from them and paying them to ship it).
Express used to be open 7 days a week. Every day of the week that I’d go in Michael was behind the desk, and often his wife was there as well. They’re now closed on Sundays, but he’s still there almost every time I go in the other 6 days of the week. I don’t get a sense that they’re getting rich of the business, but who knows — I could be wrong.
There’s a US Post Office about three blocks down the street. They’ve re-​taped my box for free when I did it wrong. I’ve never brought an un-​taped box to them to see if the Post Office will tape it up entirely for free, but who knows? Maybe they will. It probably depends on the mood the person is in.
Compared to the post office, Express has shorter lines, they’re a bit friendlier, and they have more shipping options available. But Express doesn’t offer shipping through the US Post Office (I suspect they can’t), and if that’s the cheapest way to ship something they likely won’t tell you.
Folks shipping domestically should know the US Post Office has Priority Mail Flat Rate shipping (1 to 3 days) for envelopes and boxes, and they give you the box (in fact, you have to use their box for the flat rate service). If that’s what you need, its a good deal. Priority Mail Flat Rate rates are $ 5.60 for a 12−½″ x 9−½″ inch envelope, $ 5.80 for a (very) small box (8−5/8″ x 5−3/8″ x 1−5/8″), $ 12.35 for one of two «medium» boxes (11″ x 8−½″ x 5−½″ or 13−5/8″ x 11−7/8″ x 3−3/8″), or $ 16.85 for one of two large boxes (12″ x 12″ x 5−½″ or 23−11/16″ x 11−¾″ x 3″). Rates are slightly cheaper if you print the label at home on your computer, but you still have to stand in line to drop the box off.
I’ve shipped some packages to Japan with Express and the price has been shockingly high. I’ve gone back to check the FedEx website, and the prices on the web site seem to match. I’ve shipped stuff to Japan at the US Post Office down the street, and the prices are also shockingly high (like $ 54 to send a small box to Japan). International shipping is just plain expensive, folks. Its very, very expensive if you want it there the next day.

The costumer service here is non existant, the guy sits behind the counter and expects you to know everything. Than when you make a mistake they charge you for it.
I will not use this place to print my resume again.

What’s with the rude attitude maaan?
So I came in here yesterday to drop off a UPS package and I guess I just missed the pickup time. The man behind counter was nice to me, so I left feeling fine.
I don’t do a lot of shipping and don’t really know how the pick up times work. So I called today, to ask and confirm when my package would be delivered. Assuming maybe there would be a morning pick up?
Whoever answered the phone was so mean and rude to me!
The person immediately cut me off and started yelling at me about how I don’t know how UPS works. Which, yeah, I don’t how the shipping times work… that’s why I had politely called to ask! Please understand that when I called I wasn’t being rude, I asked nicely and all of sudden the dude just starts yelling at me. WTF??? Really? I’m so confused by this behavior. If I’d known asking a question would offend the employees of this store, I would have never gone there. Should’ve trusted the other Unilocal reviews.
Never going back.

I went here to ship a package back to Zappos… which doesn’t charge return postage. When I entered the store the person behind the counter was on the phone. I stood there at least 3 – 4 minutes before he acknowledged my presence. He did not end his call but just said something to the effect that I was just dropping off a package and then returned to his phone conversation. Well, that was over a month ago and to date Zappos still hasn’t received the package. I can only speculate as to what happened to the package. I’ve never had a problem when returning packages to Zappos through other mail services. I’m out $ 55. I’ll never use their services again.

They tried to charge me to borrow tape. She literally said, «You can buy some tape or pay me $ 2 to tape this box.»
Save your time (and your $ 2) by going to The Postal Chase in Cole Valley. They’re super nice and they’ll let you borrow tape!

I saw the 2.5 stars average and thought it didn’t reflect my experience with the place. i use it mainly as a package reception service since my apt bldg has no way for ups and fedex to leave a pkg if i’m not home. The rate is a modest $ 3 per pkg. I get a call each time, and they have even stayed open a few minutes late knowing i was coming in for a package pick up.
Yep. Nice folks. Nice prices. Professionals all the way.

The bad reviews are true. I just went here this past weekend to mail a couple of small items to friends and family in Texas. One of the items was boxed and the other still needed to be boxed. He quoted me about $ 12 per box for five-​day UPS service, plus another $ 4 for a small box. I questioned the price, saying that I thought the USPS priority mail service was less than that for the medium size flat rate (much larger than I needed), which comes with a free box, but he replied that they had changed the price on January 27^th (he quoted this exact date, like he knew all about it) to $ 15. Against my better judgement, I went ahead and shipped, although he wouldn’t provide me with tracking information then and said they’d be emailed to me.
Surprisingly, I did get tracking information a couple of days later, saying that the packages would arrive on Friday (the packages were dropped off on Sat). I decided to look up the USPS price and time and found that the medium flat rate box is only $ 10.85 if you print out your own label at home. The guy flat out lied to me, even making up a date to sound like he knew what he was talking about. Oh, and the USPS Priority box would have gotten to TX in two days.
Never again.

Made the mistake of mailing my rent through this place. Ten days later the letter is no where to be found. When I called to question about the letter they were very rude… All he could keep repeating is «we have no guarantees and no tracking»

Michael at Express Photo & Mail saved my vacation. On the day before I was due to leave for the UK and Spain, I realized my passport had expired. I did a quick search on Google for express passport services and found Express Photo and Mail. Michael said if I could get my passport to him by 7pm he would have it back to me the next day between 4:30pm and 5pm. Since my flight was leaving at 5pm, this wasn’t early enough to make my flight but I knew I would not get it any faster anywhere else. I tried to rebook my flight for the next day but the cost to do so had escalated to an additional $ 2,200!!! I’d already spent $ 900 on the original ticket and rescheduling was not going to work for my budget.
I brought Michael/​Express Photo my passport that afternoon and asked for a quicker turnaround, if at all possible. Although he could not guarantee how fast the government would turn it around, he promised to do what he could to get it earlier — if only an hour or so would help.
The next day he called me before noon to say there was a chance he could get my passport by 3pm. He recommended that I should meet him at the passport agency to save time. I am not sure how he pulled it off, but at 3pm, his store manager was at the appointed location, with my new passport in hand.
After picking it up, I drove to the airport, had two friends meet me to take my car and I checked in for my flight at 3:20pm. Saved.
I am back from a wonderful three weeks abroad and wanted to share my extremely positive experience. I cannot thank Michael enough for his help. I really had no other affordable option available to me. I am very VERY grateful to him.

I was nervous about going to this place after reading some of their reviews, but they were close and I didn’t feel like walking far holding a big package. I’d say this place does exactly what they’re supposed to do. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I didn’t have a bad experience here either.
I brought a box with a pre-​paid UPS label, but the box wasn’t taped. The woman there taped it, and mentioned that they would normally charge for this but that she’ll let it go this time, as if she were really doing me a favor.

When I moved to San Francisco and was dealing with rental applications, job applications, internet access, rent checks and more…
Express held my hand and walked me through everything
When I wasn’t hunting down wireless cafes, I would camp out at Express’ computer and hurriedly respond to craigslist ads and print out random applications.
Though not cheap, about a dollar per fax, per print-​out and I believe they even charge for internet access, Express was always efficient and friendly. It didn’t hurt that they were close too.
In my «panicking, the end of the world is quicking approaching, can’t you feel it?, come on, I need this NOW!» times — Express was nothing, but patient.
And everything ALWAYS turned out OK.
If I was back in college — Express would be the worried, not impressed, but kind folks that would hold back my hair and grab me a water, while my head rested heavily on the side of a toilet bowl; a half finished sangria filled nalgene bottle on the floor. (I’ve grown up alot since then!)
Gross, I know, but the point is that Express is that reliable and they’ve definitely been there with me through the not so pretty moments.