US Post Office

We live in Shoreline. We have lived in our current residence for over two years. When we moved we immediately signed up through their website to have our mail forwarded to our new address. We also did it for the second year. However, 60% of our mail is returned to the sender or lost. I was accepted to a masters program and needed to return time sensitive documents to them. The mail sent from the University was returned. Luckily the school contacted me before it was to late to enrol. We have family in Orange County, California and if our mail from them is not sent back it takes up to 6 – 7 weeks to arrive. We have contacted the USPS and they have not been helpful at all. Deliveries that have been paid to be signed upon delivery are left at out door without requiring a signature from us. We have tripled check with all our contacts that the address they have for us is correct. Yet, the problem persist.

For the 15 years before 2015 this place had some real whizzes working there, capable of hearing 3 conversations at once and never missing a beat. Now some are cold sticklers for petty regulations, some are very much slower and less willing to help. Two of the tellers are great, so for now, stay to right side of the counter, not the left. It takes a special kind of person to handle counter work. Apparently the USPS doesn’t have an adequate system for selecting and rewarding the ideal ones. Turn over there has been high.

When I first rolled up from the west facing entrance, I was confused because there were a ton of mail trucks around. I asked one of the Postal workers if this was actually a customer site and she very nicely told me to head around the corner, sure enough! There it was. Well, I went in, it was nothing special, but for 4:15 pm on a Friday, the clerks were so fast and efficient! I am very pleased with my 6 minute start to finish trip here. I had the misfortune of visiting a FedEx in Ballard yesterday. They attempted to price gauge me on a book I was sending out. On a quick comparison of price, $ 10 at FedEx v. $ 2.10 at USPS is a no-​brainer.
Man, I haven’t even shipped anything from USPS in years. I’m always in a hurry and stop off at FedEx because I thought they were better value. Not so the case. If you need to ship off some things, pls do bring them here and try! This is a wonderful service and I’m glad I became stopped in.

This location deserves zero stars, and these women are the worst. They will yell at you even if they are wrong. Come in to ask for a legal size flat rate envelope, they will scream at you for asking for something that doesn’t exist. Excuse me, they do exist, but I guess we just won’t find them at this location. If they come out from their mail room, and you call out «excuse me» nicely and walk quickly to them, they will scurry back through the door and pull the door closed in your face.
The one on 145^th is quite a bit further from me, but if I’m not in a rush, I am willing to make the drive to avoid these unpleasant women.

I would give this place half a star if I could.
Here was my experience. Waited in line, there were ten+ people behind me and one woman at the counter (you could hear the rest of the staff chatting away in the back). Its finally my turn and I have to fill out an additional form so I step aside. Another woman (finally!) comes out of the back and the original clerk behind the counter motions me to her. But as soon as I walk up to her, she says she has to go to the bathroom… and never comes back!
Just thinking about this place makes me mad. There is usually a long line and only one person working the counter and you can tell that some of the women that work there have zero customer service skills. If you go here make sure you set aside at least 45 minutes.

By the standard of USPS, this place isn’t bad. The line isn’t usually too long and the customer service folks aren’t usually too surly. Closed on Saturdays, unfortunately.

So this time, I had to send an overnight mail to Illinois. I signed the release form so that it would be put in the PO Box to which the letter was sent. Guess what? It didn’t happen, which means my overnight, which was sent on a Thursday, did not get to the recipient until Monday. By my count, that’s three overnights and $ 18 wasted.

I have this little post office in my heart. They are close to home and a bus line. Plus, they always have those free ‘flat rate boxes’ that no other post office ever seems to have!
Located next to 24hr Fitness, I used to stop by the PO first to buy stamps, mail stuff, and walk over to work out for a bit. Then I quit the gym, but that’s another story.
They have at least 3 counters to help customers, and often another person will show up when they see a line forming. THANK YOU. I would estimate my wait here is no more than 10mins. When it’s hot, they have fans and cool air blasting throughout. The employees are super nice too.
Unfortunately they are not open on Saturdays. Even though I live within 7mins walking, if I have a package to pick up, they send it to another location that’s almost 3mis away (that location is open on Saturday so that’s probably why).