I just had an immature moment at the post office

I'm having one of those days (filled with minor irritations) we all have on occasion, so I was in a mood already.

At the post office, I accidentally post a letter to a friend with a .41 cent stamp instead of a .42 cent stamp. After I already threw it in the box, I realized my error and asked the postal worker politely if it would still be delivered. Silly me, I thought just maybe over the holidays the USPS would have a little wiggle room for a .01 cent error.

NOT!

The snitty postal worker said: Your letter will be sent with postage due and if it is not paid, it will be returned to you.

Me: For one penny???

Snitty postal worker: Yes! (the 2 people in line behind me laugh and shake their heads).

Me: As I ponder the Wall Street bailout disclaim out loud clearly irritated --- What is it with this country?! Please, send that penny to Iraq (with obvious sarcasm).

I walk out with the snitty postal worker glaring at me.

My bad.

And so went my immature moment.

peace~ :hi:

and they are running quite in the red

Yes, it will cost them far more to process and send back so you can repost it, but the USPS was stating the truth

At one time they were allowed to work on a deficit, but not for over a generation.

So don't take it on the USPS workers... by the by, they are union and they have a very hard job to perform, in an environment where at times we have had rumors of massive layoffs

Yes, would be the first time in USPS history, again thank reagan for that

In reality, it was minor comical relief for the folks in line behind me. I was walking out the door, so no scene. I figure the worker assumed in return I was kinda a prick.

I probably was.

I share this simply out of irony that we can send mega billions into the pockets of the good ol boys on Wall Street and into the morass called Iraq, and yet have no latitude to resolve for a .01 error. You'd think there would be a little jar of one penny stamps to slap on.

Of course, that would be the humanitarian thing to do, but not realistic.

Like every store around here (even the local Walmart) the PO keeps a dish ful of pennies that they use to make up sub-nickel disparities in purchases. I suspect most people are like me, they end up over time leaving more pennies than they use.

And if it were me, I would have taken your letter and hand canceled the stamp.

In other words, I would have made sure that your letter would have been mailed to its destination and no one would have known the difference about a 1 cent difference.

Give us a break. We work for assholes in management who shouldn't be in the positions they are in that give us attitudes.

that the workers at the other end won't notice the 'error.'

Could be wrong. THANKS for your work.

Just a little human flexibility in an otherwise bureaucratic wasteland. I know, she was just doing her job and I own my mistake.

Thanks for putting up with the bullshit!!! You have tough job and I don't think most folks understand the way it works, including why we had to go from .41 to .42.

cheers :)

A good postman!

is as hazardous as that penny short, eh?

my dad was a postman, and walked the extra miles for many a patron. You are right, Postman, and your attitude is commendable.
:thumbsup:

dp

In six years, and two carriers ... nothing but the best, including substitutes.

(I'd be appalled if it were attributed to historical events.)

Immature is the least of adjectives to describe it.

I wonder --- how would of ya responded if I did something really, really, REALLY dumb? :sarcasm:

:hi:

"It's all about integrity, respect, honesty, decency, open mindedness, fairness, and genuine desire to wish good upon all. That is why I'm a liberal."

cough.
dp

Lay off the booze

A nickel's deficit may have demanded a kabuki.

awhile back my ring came off the post box and the letter carrier used his key to open the box so i could get it back

seems like it would work the same way if i accidentally mailed a letter without any/sufficient postage

unfortunately the post office is not like the convenience store with its "leave a penny, give a penny" jar but you could have asked nicely? maybe?

if the letter is going to a friend, email them and tell them the letter is coming, although the odds that they are going to want to stay home just to pay a penny (or make a trip to the post office to pay a penny) are pretty nil -- also warn them so they won't make a special trip just to get a durn christmas card, can you imagine how bitter you would feel if you stood in line to pick up a letter from the post office and it didn't even have a check in it? (i mean, maybe it does, but i'm just sayin)

if the letter is to pay a bill, you're just fucked, as it will take weeks in my experience to wander back to you, you will have to send a second letter w. the correct postage to get the check there in time

and they've always been delivered anyway. The postal worker probably was just stating official policy.

hits Mr. Snitty. He might be praised for being pennywise and driving customers away from a privatization point of view but he might very well get a hefty reprimand.

The last days before Christmas we asked the boss whether we should forward cards without any postage to give them a chance of arriving. We sent them all ahead. The worst thing that happened that had us searching for scraps and pieces to put together(while we were swamped by work) was that people had mass bought these real cheap(Dollar Store?) cards whose envelopes were practically tissue paper. We still have hundreds that were lost, unmatchable and undeliverable. In my experience there are very few Grinch style workers(or people generally). For a penny you can probably gamble the entire mail stream will ignore it or pony up the diff as letter carriers often do. Strangely, the ones who play the game all the time, in my 25 year experience, are the lawyers many of whom when not cheating on postage seem to be trying to delay their own mail, I suspect for legal purposes of their own.

Letters to Santa never need postage although there have been some lapses in the volunteers getting them all answered properly this year locally. Oh and there are likely a lot of plant workers grateful Mr. Snitty is working at the window rather than on their team.

on him to throw on a letter if someone accidentally shorted the postage by a cent. He didn't see much sense in waiting around for someone to round up change for postage due, or returning it to the sender.