New York – In response to constituent complaints about the state of affairs at area post offices, Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) conducted a month-long survey of 10 Brooklyn post offices. The sample included Bay Ridge; Blythbourne; Cadman Plaza; Dyker Heights; Kensington; Kings Highway; Midwood; Parkville; Sunset Park; and Van Brunt post offices. The Bay Ridge, Blythbourne, Dyker Heights and Midwood Post Offices are all situated within Hikind’s district.
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Surveyors were asked to note wait times, the length of lines, ease of service, the general demeanor of postal staff, and other conditions. To ensure accuracy of the data collected, each site was reviewed four times on various days and at different hours.
After dozens of research hours, Hikind’s staff observed the following:
· At the Dyker Heights location, evaluators, along with many senior citizens, were made to wait up to 45 minutes on a 20-person line just to get to a service window. The same was true at the Kings Highway site.
· Though the Dyker Heights station opens at 9:00 AM, the first and only window did not open until approximately 15 minutes later. By this point, a considerable line had already formed. A similar incident occurred at the Van Brunt Post Office, where the postal staff was also rude to customers.
· The Kings Highway branch was noted for being the most chaotic of the post offices surveyed. Workers were curt and did not adequately address consumer needs.
· At the Midwood Post Office, a worker yelled at several customers for not knowing how to complete forms or apply for passports.
· Visits to the Blythbourne site revealed that although the mailbox was full, workers made no attempt to empty it. Instead, customers were forced to wait on line to hand their prepared items to a clerk for mailing, resulting in even more wasted time.
· Despite the fact that Cadman Plaza has a designated line for senior citizens, there was no remarkable difference between the general and senior lines in terms of ease or speed of service.
· Wait times at most of the other locations, including at the Parkville and Bay Ridge Post Offices, averaged between 25 and 30 minutes.
· Typically, all of the post offices surveyed tended to be busier and less organized during the morning hours than just before closing.
“It is unconscionable that customers, especially the elderly, are being forced to spend an inordinate amount of time to obtain something as simple as a roll of stamps or a money order,” Hikind said. “The United States Postal Service continuously hikes their rates, but the public is getting nothing in return.”
The findings were not all negative, however. The Sunset Park Post Office proved to be the one bright spot of the survey, with an average wait time of one minute, short lines, and a courteous staff. Bay Ridge Post Office ranked number one in customer service. Despite poor ratings in most other areas, surprisingly, managers at the Blythbourne, Kensington, Kings Highway, and Midwood stations either opened additional windows to ease crowding, or helped to facilitate transactions for consumers during particularly hectic times.
“It’s time for the USPS to return to a consumer-oriented culture,” remarked Hikind.
The Assemblyman has written to Postmaster General John Potter, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, and Congressman Stephen F. Lynch, Chairman of the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia Subcommittee requesting their intervention in this issue.
Williamsburg post office is no better. There is a little USPS post office at 326 Roebling Street, between S. 8th and S. 9th street. For the same services the wait time is down to 1-10 minutes. Try it you’ll like it.
They didn’t sample the Williamsburg post office witch is worst than all of the above
Kings Highway post office is a DISASTER. The line is 20+ people long for most of the day. I hope this report will get someone to improve the service!
This is the nature of the beast and at best can be treated but not cured. Government services are NOT private enterprise and cannot be so, as much as one tries. They want to nationalize healthcare; forget about waiting time for doctors, there will be a monstrous waiting time before a clerk opens you letter. Look how long it takes now to get a simple passport. They tell us it’s because of nine eleven; ah nechtiga toog; it’s because now, one other person needs to attend your passport and they work at a snails pace, when they work at all.
As bad as these post offices are; they don’t compare to Williamsburg’s two post offices where you can say the whole Tehilim before your turn arrives.
went to post office right accross my office for a personal mailing spend my whole lunch break waiting in line. its about time to do something
For all you Heimische Democrats who voted for Obama: this is the future of medicine under ObamaCare in Brooklyn.
thank you dov,,,and although, now is the mailing season rush, it’s like this all year round, and most people are opting for other carriers who are prompt, and courteous, and realize you are the customer.
Try getting a passport on 51st + 12th ave. the passport window opens at 10 and closes at 1 with an hour lunch somewhere in the middle. they treat you like garbage. They me and my wife come back several times once because my wifes official DMV non drivers license was not enough ! When you get there an hour before closing and there are three people ahead of you they tell you to come back another time cause you’re too late.
I left there in discust went to Churh Ave. and Mcdonald and was in and out in a few minutes!
Crown Heights, 11213, not only do you wait forever in line, but when you get to the front, they can NEVER find the package that the mail man was too darn lazy to deliver in the first place, and I have had 3 occasions in the last MONTH where the packages were returned to the sender, instead of being given to the recipient. The only consolation about the above story is that I honestly thought 11213 was unique, but apparently NOT!
The post office on Coney Island Ave and I is the worst. And one frum person who works there is a self hating jewish person and is always yelling at customers. Twice I have witnessed where he told another jewish person that the nazis should have killed him because he did not fill out forms properly. I called 311 to report the incident and a supervisor from the post office called but not the head of Brooklyn but from the actual same post office! Nothing was done and the guy still is grumpy and has the same attitude towards customers.
Dov is trying to alleviate problems but NOTHING will change because this is goverment and just wait till healthcare comes along and the post office won’t even be on our complaint radar screen!
That is why people use Ups, Fed ex & Dhl . You see it’s a cycle. First no one uses Usps since the service is lousy. Then they lose money because no one uses them then they raise the rates. How about starting from scratch. First bring in people that know how to work I mean with this economy shouldn’t there be alot of people to choose from? Then as the nation (this is a national issue) regains their trust they use postal services more often and they stop loosing money. When you get atitude from a postal worker who is getting paid from your taxes and he tells you what to do something is wrong! I’m glad Dov Hikind has gotten involved but where is the Mayor in all this . Does he also use the post office? I mean he says he uses the trains .I guess to mail tickets the post office does pick ups.
its true about sunset park post office its a breeze
This is a farce. If you think the lines are bad in Brooklyn go to any Post Office in Manhattan, it’s ten times worse.
That’s what happens when government conducts business.
Imagine the government running Starbucks, you’d have to wait an hour on line till a clerk takes your order, if you wanted to add cream you’d have to fill out an additional form and wait on another line just to be able to make your choice. Then go home and you’ll be getting your coffee within 6 to 10 weeks.
Enjoy your coffee and hope to see you when government takes over health-care.
The post office is not funded by tax dollars, and is not a real federal agency.
The post office loses money becuase of their inefficencies.
The post office in theory should make money. The average home I know gets about 4 pieces of mail a day – which means they collect about $1.20 per stop. On a 3 family house, they’re making almost 4 dollars for the stop.
Fedex and UPS will deliver a 1lb package for 3.95 and for that price need to drive a truck, park, and wait.
So if ups can do it, the usps that has lower costs should be able to.
I go to the midwood post office C. I and Ave. I! You can get there at 9:00 and leaver at 11:00 if you are lucky!! They took away the machines that dispense stamps so you have double the amount of people waiting in line! The forms that you need : If you want to send somethiong RR certified, they give you the card, but not the form Green and white to fill out so you have to wait in line just to get the form and then to have to fight with somebody because they will say you pushed in!! The workers are rude!! If you call the post office, nobody answers the phone, if they do, they hang up!!They need to be taught manners, something they were never taught at home abd the next time somebody is rude a name should be taken and given not to the supervisor but a letter written to the postmaster general in washington dc. They should be given the DOOR!! I hope VIN posts this.
This is not new. An average wait of 45 minutes has been the norm for at least 25 years. I’ll be shocked if things change.
And when I go out of town to small town post offices like Hillsdale, NY or Great Barrington, MA there are usually two or three people working at the counter and no line! When I can I save my mail chores for when I’m there. (New Yorkers – read this and weep.)
I use a post office in NJ (near my office). There are times that there is a long line with only one person working (lunch??) But, the difference is after the 10-15 minutes on line they treat you so nice. They apologize for the long wait and help you fill out any forms. Even offer to tape up your envelope and mention a cheaper rate that you can take advantage of. I also experienced this type of service in Staten Island. 5-15 minute wait times but treated with respect and care. Like a real customer.
I think that in Brooklyn/NYC the attitude of the Postal service needs a lot of improvement. They should see the people waiting in line as the people who put ‘ bread on their table’.
Did you know you can do almost anything you need to do at a Post Office on line instead? Saves lots of time! You can even print your own stamps and pay for it on a credit card. Then all you need to do is throw it in the box – no lines. Problem is, very few people want to read instructions to learn how to do this. Once you learn however, you’ll never need to waste time again. (Nor will you need to deal with rude clearks.) It is a little like using an ATM at a bank to do something other than to withdraw money from.
and you all want national health care? good luck to you all if this is what you get from the post office wait till you have to wait on line to see your docter and then they will say sorry you never got the aproval!
USPS has no competirion and is government runned federal company.
personal experiences:
I’m waiting ages for somebody to install a lock for the mailman at my residence while I’m being promissed that its going to be taken care help is still not on the way.
mail from many other people in my neighborhood is being dropped in my mailbox (who knows how many of mines are being discarded by my neighbors.
drop off boxes all over are overloaded on a daily basis
williamsburg office – 11211 spended hours waiting in line for passport service together with many families and small children
Metropolitan – 11206, waisted time over & over, in line for package pickup, but my envelope containing my sons passport was lost for a few weeks.
Myrtle ave. – 11205, terrible service and one person (i think his name is Washington) treated me & all jewsh costomers so bad, I don’t wish any human being to get that jind of a treatment that I experienced with that guy.
Blythbourne – 11219, very long lines waiting for clerk (while observing people at the passport window getting ugly treatment), workers screeming & laughing at costomers, ignoring people’s requests, no superviser or costomer service during the day, person in charge of mailboxes can’t be reached.
Cadman Plaza, latest mail pickup in the area, quite decent & roomy location, but very busy & long lines (i personaly had a tremendous favor from a women at passport service, waited overtime while I went to park in that commercial/official area, and helped me and gave excelent service, but they should still undergo some improvement)
lately I use only the private mailing service stores for everyting from buying stamps to certified shipping
P.S. we don’t want our healthcare to be like the postal service, the private companies are the best option
they must have observed Kensington on a good day, It is also a horrible post office. A few years ago they had a town meeting about this branch because it is so terrible.
You should see what USPS Service is like in Pennsylvania.
If you walk into a country USPS outlet and there is more than ONE person in the line, the Postmaster will ASK someone from the back to come ‘out front’ to ‘assist a waiting cutomer’.
Customers in those locations are always treated with respect, with a smile and are offered help with forms, packages and advice on how to best mail their packages etc…most economical and so forth…
Now, You come in to any city post office and its a completely different story. You have to wait for hours….You are treated with a sour face, as if you just showed up for a charitable donation. You have to endure hassle with a pushy crowd. You have to run out to re-feed your meter, or you will get a ticket. Life is amazingly difficult for a Brooklyn mailer. Personally, when I need to mail something important, i rather spend $12.00 on Fedex than go through this nonsense. i dread having to renew my children;s passports – it’s worse than a trip to the dentist. You have to be prepared to come back at least 3 times, each time, the hours for Passports have changed, and I endure such gruesome attitude that it makes me want to vomit.
‘Pots Office
Some people do not know until they are about to travel that their passport is expired or about to expire. So this puts them into the category of “urgent need of a passport”. To prove this, you have to submit a confirmed itinerary along with the rest of your documents. In the case of expedite processing, USPS is not always reliable.
The following link goes to the US Department of State. http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/fees/fees_3259.html They are issuing apologies and refund offers to people who used the USPS for expedite processing but ended up missing their trip due to mail delay. To work around this, you can hire a passport courier service that is registered with the US Department of State Passport Agency.
Passport courier services deliver thier clients’ applications in person to the Passport Agency and are given pick-up receipts for a specific date. When that date arrives the passport is released to the passport courier service. The service you hired immediately uses FedEx Overnight to ship your passport to you so you do not end up missing your trip. Processing times vary by price. They can be as fast as 1 business day or as long as 12-15 business days. http://www.Direct-PassportVisas.com