Update: George Flood, Spokesperson for USPS Northeast, writes:
We share the interest in the level of postal services in Upper Montclair and appreciate Baristanet bringing this Post Office Box customer’s dissatisfaction to our attention. Certainly, this report is not the level of service we wish to provide. Every effort will be made to address his/her comments about the Upper Montclair Post Office Branch.
In response, postal officials from the USPS Northern New Jersey District have initiated a thorough review of the operations and level of customer service being provided to the residents and businesses in Upper Montclair. Officials are currently examining: customer complaint data, customer satisfaction survey information, retail transaction reports, Post Office Box reports, and mystery shopper data for Upper Montclair, New Jersey.
Tis the season…for visiting the post office, and sometimes dealing with long lines and other small annoyances. But businesses and individuals who receive postal mail through post office boxes and must physically visit the post office every day all year are in it for the long haul. At least one local business owner has been out of luck lately at the Upper Montclair Post Office, where we’re told:
“For three days now the Upper Montclair Post Office has not put any mail into the PO Boxes. They say they are “too busy” and have not gotten to it. The edict is that there is not allowed to be more than 5 people on line so they can’t distribute the (box) mail. This is crazy! In addition, that office rarely opens at its stated time 8:30 am. It is not unusual to wait until 9am for them to actually open. The reason, the person who is supposed to open comes late. They will sometimes open the outside door but not the counter. A call to the main branch stated they were unaware of this until this morning and three days of backed up mail would take time to distribute. How is a business supposed to run without mail! Where is the supervision?
The station, on Valley Road, has posted hours of 8:30 to 4:30 on weekdays, and all box mail is supposed to be in boxes ready for retrieval by 11:00 a.m.
Baristanet made repeated phone calls to the Upper Montclair branch main phone number, all resulting in what sounds like a fax machine picking up. We spoke with the postmaster at the Main Montclair Branch, who oversees the Upper Montclair location; he said all box mail there is indeed being scanned and put in boxes by 11. He then referred us to a USPS corporate communications person, who promised to get back to us, though it may take several hours. We’ll update when we get more feedback.
Meanwhile, has anyone had similar problems?
Photo: Flickr via Creative Commons
Which will happen first, the problem will be solved, or someone will write something here defending the post office, saying you sound like a bunch of right-wing Tea Party whackos, bashing noble government union members?
Is the is union issue or just that management refuses to assign more workers during the holiday season? If you think it’s bad now, wait until next week.
I can’t wait for the federal government to bring the same competence to our medical care!
We’ve come to a sorry pass indeed if in fact the USPS actually maintains that it cannot perform one duty because it’s too busy doing another. And I can only imagine the economic effect the collapse of the USPS would then have on Hallmark and thus on the economies of both Missouri and Kansas. (Who, for example, would pay for those schlocky “holiday” movies run on the Hallmark Channel?)
There used to be a sign in the Styertowne Clifton PO requesting that customers waiting in line not use their cellphones there or even speak loudly because it “might disturb” postal workers. All while reggaeton blared loudly from the back room where, I always assumed, the “real” postal labors took place.
The people who work in the Upper Montclair office on Valley Road are downright mean. I have a friend who was there one day and needed some help, and they gave her such a hard time that she came out crying. I went back later in the day and had an argument with the two workers at the desk. As I was leaving, a woman pulled me aside and said that she thought the workers there were very impolite and impatient. I no longer go there. I would much rather go to the Watchung Plaza office and have the very polite & professional Alan help with my postal needs.
I send one of my footmen to pick up the post. Problem solved.
You think the upper montclair post office is bad? Try going to the LOWER montclair post office! I’m lucky if my mail is delivered three times a week.