US Post Office

This review is for the passport services at this location. I have applied at many other locations in the area, and this place was good. They were polite and efficient.
Unfortunately, most post offices require an appointment to apply for a passport. It’s impossible to get thru to a post office to make the appointment (a whole day wasted!), and once you get through — they are usually booked up for weeks or even months (in the summer). So what options do you have if you need to travel at a short notice?
Thanks to Unilocal,I was able to identify a few post offices in the area (south bay) that accept «walk in» applications. There might be others, but I found Willow Glen, Palo Alto and Milpitas. Called Willow Glen (and looked up their Unilocal review), and it seemed like people line up as early as 3 am. That sounded awful! The reviews for Palo Alto were not great, and some complained that walk ins were accepted on some days, but not always. I called their office, and after waiting on hold for 45 minutes, they said they would take walk ins after June 14^th. It might be worth going, but I did not want to take any chances. Based on the reviews, I decided to go to Milpitas.
It wound up being a more pleasant and efficient process than I had expected. I got there at 7 am. You were able to wait inside the waiting area of the post office, and did not have to line up outside like at the DMV. There were about 10 people in the line before me at 7 am, so not a crush of people, and I was pretty certain I would be getting a number. The line was peaceful and orderly — people brought folding chairs, laptops and other things to keep busy. The 2 hours passed by pretty smoothly. No bathroom, but there is a Starbucks a couple of blocks away, and I was able to run out (in the car) for a few minutes, folks in line were nice and saved my spot. A lot of people showed up around 8 am.
Post office opened at 9 am and they started signing people up. I was assigned #12. Everyone in line got a ticket including a couple of lucky people that came at 9 am. All numbers were handed out by 9:15. They process 35 applications per day, if a family shows up with 4 people it counts as 4 spots.
They take about 10 — 15 mins to process each passport, so I was told to come back around between 10 and 10:30. I came in at 10:30 and they were still processing #9. I waited for about 30 mins more. However, once my number was called, they were very smooth, polite and efficient. I had all my paperwork in order and they processed it very quickly.
Make sure you have all your documents in order. They accept checks or cashiers checks but not credit or cash, so take your check book along!
In any case, total waiting time was about 2.5 hours — but it was pleasant — and it was comfortable to line up in the waiting area of the post office. Take a chair, book and snacks! Lining up at 7 am was a lot better than going at 5 — or 3 am!
I thought it was a reasonably good experience for a last minute passport.

The services from the USPS in Milpitas is not getting better. Recently in a month (June of 2016) I lost packages in two separate incidents. Tracking showed it had been delivered to me but NOT. I never received them and called USPS at 408−262−0860 and get the answers on, that he (Postmaster I presume) would check if the packages were either with carrier or in other PO Box. and promised I would get a notification by phone. But never get a call until I called again for another incident!
Well, I am trying to understand that they are just like us who could make mistakes, but I think it is unbearable.
When we meet these people at USPS in person, I believe that they are not necessarily rude nor bad, but I don’t get what I supposed to get– some of my mails for my business and some of packages I bought from online retailers. I hope they don’t steal my thing-​eeek I don’t even want to think of that!
I want make a move so that they might do better, by reporting these incidents to Federal authorities who could help us to make it right!
I just don’t want nag rather make formal complain that they could fix some at least.
Anyone knows how to or number to contact the Fed Authorities in charge, please let me know.

This is the post office I usually frequent because it’s the closest to home, but every time I go here I seem to arrive when the employees are having a bad day or something. Gee-​whiz!
Something is «always» wrong with my packages. Whether it’s not enough tape, too much tape, my handwriting is toooo much for them, I shouldn’t put yes that my package has liquids (when it does), I’m using the wrong box size, if I’m sure I want to send something to THAT address (yes I have family on the east coast), I shouldn’t write the address on my package (then why is there a From and To on it…), etc.
I never run into these issues when I stop by other post office locations!
They also don’t provide tape, so bring your own and make sure it’s the RIGHT kind. Haha.
I also haven’t used their passport services, but from my observations it looks like a shit show. People arrived around 5 – 6 AM and we’re still waits for their turn. Yikes. IMO you would get faster service at the County Office.

I go to this post office at least once a week. It is an old office in a very busy location. It’s hard to drive in and it is hard to drive out because of the small parking lot. However it is in the centre of Milpitas and everyone in the city relies on it. I know there is always room for improvement, but I know the employees inside already tried to process as many customers and as fast as possible.

idk about the other reviews but they were super helpful to me. it was my first time shipping a package and I had no clue what I was doing. the person who helped me (I forgot her name) taught me how to package properly and a few tricks to keep my shipment safe.

The branch manager should be fired. People who needs passport service have to get there by 5am 4 hours before they open to get a number. They serve only 40 per day. While waiting only one assign to passport service while 4 to 5 other postman woman Chitchat running around. While only one support passport service, she take break without backfill. This is unacceptable and I demand who manage this branch to be fired.

Bring your own tape otherwise they charge you $ 3.95 for the price of tape as they «don’t help you seal» the package. I unsealed a corner of my package as I forgot my packing slip and asked for tape to reseal it and they said it would cost me $ 3.95. To stir shit up up, the staff who was helping the other customer next to me said something unrelated in regards to my situation. Only heard him say ‚” I told you … Blah blah blah” Couldnt hear what he said cos’ my ear automatically filtered them. I asked for stapler to staple up the corner and they said they don’t provide stapler either. Since when has USPS become UPS, who charges $ 2 to tape ur box up? Well I have double sided tape in my car HAH! Why didn’t I back out and walk back to my car to tape my package at first place? Cos’ I m so tired of how these ppl dgaf about their work attitude! I was like in yo face suckaaaa when I returned to the post office within a minute. Of course I didn’t say that but I felt the taste of victory when I saw her surprised face upon my return.

Well here it is, my review I’ve been wondering if I should write. If you notice this post office has one of the worst ratings of an establishment it could possible have, let me tell you why.
*Ahem*
FIRST off, they have THE WORST attitudes I have ever encountered in my life at a customer service based FEDERAL government company. As well as any other company I’ve ever encountered!
Second, because our regular mail lady was out (who we have never had a problem with in the 7 years we’ve had her) her fill in was scared of our cat (A FREAKIN CAT) this cat mind you, has never once threatened or hurt anyone and runs away from people even myself because she only lets my mom touch her, filed a complaint that the cat chased HIM… So now they FORCED us to get a PO Box and pay $ 96 to get this stupid PO Box that we’ve never needed before because some idiot was scared of our cat for some unknown reason!
AND THIRD!!! Now that we have this STUUUPIIIDDD PO Box I NEVER get my packages ever! NEVER!!! They have rerouted my packages all over the world EXCEPT the PO Box I paid for!!! Returned to sender even when I triple checked the PO Box address just to make sure it wasn’t me making a mistake!!! I even asked one of the workers if they had my package at the facility and if he could check cause it said it was delivered, he lied to my face and said no! I asked to speak to the manager and she went to the back came back 4 minutes later and low and behold my frikin package was in her hands!!! She said «oh he must have missed it» are you frikin serious?! How many other damn packages have they missed?
This post office is a joke, everyone should be fired and new people should be trained properly in there to actually work for the very nice pay checks I know they get! Cause I know the people who work there now don’t appreciate the fact they even have a job!
Disgusted doesn’t even come close to feelings I have for this place. They’re all poor excuses for government workers. For workers period…

Worst customer service ever!
20+ people in Line.
Associated in the back talking, only one lady at the counter, super slow.
Wait time 1 hour +
DISAPPOINTED!!!

This review is for NEW PASSPORT application (REGULAR, non Expedited).
Passport application is advertised as Mon — Fri 9:15 am to 2:15 PM. Do NOT think about coming here in between this time because ALL numbers are given out even before 9:00 AM. You must come in early in order to get a number otherwise the post office will not process your application.
I came here today at 830 am. The parking lot was already filled with cars! When I went into the lobby area, there was already a long line of people waiting. At about 9 AM, a lady came out and started asking everyone to fill in their names and number of applicants on a sheet. USPS only accept 40 applicants per day. When it was my turn I was number 38! I was really cutting in close.
ADVISE: If you want to be sure to get a number for the day, I suggest to come in before 8 AM.
The USPS lady advised me to come back around 12:45 PM to 1:00 PM since I was number 38. I was actually expecting to come in at 2 PM but she said please come in at 1:00 PM. So I came at 1:00 PM and guess what? They were still processing number 30. I had waited 1 hour till 2:00 PM before it was finally my turn.
BTW, if you came in late and they skipped to the next number, don’t worry as they will come back to your number later again.
When it was my turn, the whole process took less than 2 mins because I have EVERYTHING ready. So people if you are reading this, please make sure you have ALL the paperwork you need fill out correctly in BLACK INK. Not blue ink but BLACK INK! Here are the documents you will need.
— ORIGINAL CERTIFICATION
— ORIGINAL DRIVER LICENSE + PHOTOCOPY OF FRONT & BACK DRIVE LICENSE ON 8.5×11 and the image needs to be on one side of the 8.5×11 only.
— ONE Passport Photo.
— PERSONAL CHECK. I applied for US PASSPORT BOOK. So I wrote a $ 110 check to «U.S. Department of State.»
— $ 25 Processing fee — this fee is separate from the $ 110. This is to be paid to USPS. I paid this via my American Express Credit Card.
You can check the status of the passport application directly by logging into
with your name and personal info. For regular processing, it takes a max 6 weeks to receive the passport. For express, it is about 3 weeks.
***UPDATE ⁵⁄₂₇: I wanted to inform that I actually received my passport in a very fast amount of time eventhough I chose regular service. From the day of application to receiving the passport in the mail, it was 2.5 weeks total eventhough it says it may take 3 — 6 weeks. ***
I really wish they can start taking appointments instead! I know the post office at Santa Clara does but I didn’t get a chance to see how well that works since this Milpitas post office is closer to where I live.
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Some other general info:
1. This post office only has 1 dedicated clerk to work on PASSPORT application that is why it takes a long time. Priority is given to customers that are processing MAIL first. When there is no customer in line for mail, they will double up with 2 employees working on the passport but this 2^nd employee will juggle between processing mail and passport depending on how long the line is for processing regular mail.

Passport review
Got in line around 7:15. Once they finally open the doors a little bit before 9am. This Filipino lady was explaining to us that we have to sign in therefore, we will get a number to be called on. She was only accepting 40 applicants. We got number ¹⁷⁄₄₀ and she told us to come back around 10am, but once we came back they were in number 8. Our number was called around 11:40am. And we finished around 11:49am. It was pretty quick because we had our paper work and documents ready to go.
What you need
–Expired undamaged US passport or birth certificate that they will send out and mail it back to you.
–valid government issue ID (CADL)
–a check, money order, cashiers check written to the US DEPARTMENT OF STATE. For passport book only $ 110. For other fees inquiry go to
-$ 25 for for the post office processing fee. Debit, cash, and checks are accepted.
–a photo copy of your CADL front and back 8×11 paper only.
–A digital photo that you can take at any photo place like Walgreens, cvs, etc.
By the way parking is pretty tight and there are no public restrooms that you can use.

I frequently go to this post office to ship and pick up my packages.
However, the thing I detest about this post office is that everyone seems to hate their job! If you don’t like your job, then quit!
Most of the workers come off as rude and apathetic.
They also don’t TAPE YOUR PACKAGES FOR YOU! I asked them to tape my package since I didn’t do a great job of it, and the lady nonchalantly pointed me to go buy THEIR duct tape.. Like what the hell? There’s duct tape sitting right next to you and you’re making me go pay ¾ dollars for a new roll? Screw that.
I avoid going to this post office because of the terrible service.

If I could give them zero stars, I would.
The supervisor had such an attitude and was extremely rude. I’ve worked in customer service for over a decade, so I understand how to handle customers and I also try not to allow myself to get frustrated with the people trying to help me… but WOW. No help at all. I was trying to track down my package and they basically said «it’s no longer at our facility, you are on your own.» No alternative solution, no one else for me to contact and attitude the whole time. So awful! I am not sure how someone is able to keep their job with the way they treat their customers.

No customer service. Had a package addressed correctly but they stated the package was undeliverable because it was missing a unit number-​I was having the package shipped to an office where there is no number. When I explained I work in the office where the package was being reliever the «supervisor» made a sarcastic comment stating the post office can send all of the mail for our property to the office for us to distribute. Instead of shipping the package to where it was originally addressed they sent it back to the sender. I even got attitude and sarcasm from the supervisor when talking on the phone! For one-​we do get mail without unit numbers ALL THE TIME! We have days where mail isn’t picked up at all. Customer service is definitely lacking at this location, and it appears it starts from top down. No wonder people are choosing other delivery options!

I went through all those reviews and initially got worried. but it turns out to be okay and fairly reasonable. I understand all those frustrations, but the problem is really resource issue by the State. office hour for the passport process is between 9am ~ 2:15pm and not everyone is allowed or qualified for doing the passport related tasks. they are restricted by those rules and regulations. And I got this feeling that they are trying their best to serve people. all staffs were very nice and tried to be very cheerful.
I was there by 6:20am with my chair and a laptop, and was 5^th person in the line. they gave me a number at 8:40am, and that is when I called my wife to bring my newborn. the actual process took about 5 mins only. they were very nice and professional.
as long as you know the process and be prepared, it shouldn’t be as bad as what others say about in reviews.

Woke up around 5am and got here at 6:20… I was the second in line! Thank god I brought a chair and my laptop if not I would have tired legs right about now. They let us in around 9:10 but didn’t start the process until 9:30! (15 minutes late!!!) I got out around 10am and I’m so glad I came early because there’s only ONE person doing passports and it drove me crazy waiting in line!!!
If you bring cash bring exactly 111.25+ 25 = $ 136.25 !!! If not bring a credit card or a checkbook. Also they can take your passport pictures here for you for $ 15 but I recommend Walgreens it’s $ 11.
The process goes by fast! I didn’t get mine expedited though so it’s going to take 6 weeks to come in. I recommend coming in early!!!

I went here for submitting passport renew application. So this review is only for passport renew process.
— Reach before time. They start accepting applications by 9:15, so try to be there by 8:20 AM.
Believe me, you won’t be sorry.
— There is only one lady taking application at a given time. So it takes time.
— Please bring all the needed documents before you com here. People in line will be very grateful.

The passport process was slow and painful. I came at 7:15AM this morning thinking I should be the first in line but I was dead wrong. The guy in front of me came prepared w/​a foldable chair and got there at 6AM, making him the first in line.
The parking lot is small therefore gets hella congested.
Staff worked at a slow pace.
Apply for a passport:
— complete the form but do not sign
— bring a copy of your DL ($ 2 if they do it for you)
— bring a passport photo
— bring your birth certificate
— bring w checkbook (cash, check, or money order)
— they charge a processing fee ($ 45-​$ 46 total)
I had to expedite mine because I need to be in Singapore in a few weeks for a business trip. I already started bookmarking places but the most important issue is: they do not have a 24 Hour Fitness :(
They did not give me a receipt for the passport fees. I wrote a check and for some fucking reason, she said she cannot issue me a receipt. I submitted my expenses today and I certainly hope it does not get rejected due to lack of proof.
That was so not fun.
Come early or else be prepared to wait and be frustrated.

If you are thinking about getting a passport here, come with at least 2 – 3 hours availability. Even if there is no queue in regular line, other counters won’t process applications even if they are idle. Look into the required documents picture I posted. Lastly, be prepared to hear lot of screaming from babies and heavily patient. Passports are processed from 9.15 am — 2:15 pm, Monday — Friday. Trying coming at 8.30 am to be ahead in line.

I came here since i’ve moved to Milpitas, and honestly if i wasn’t in a hurry i’ll just drive to the one on hostetter. The first time i came was to pick up a package that was sent to the office since i wasn’t home. (I live in an apartment) On the note, i can’t remember but it wasn’t clear like it wrote «office/​lobby». I checked with my apartment office first, and they said they didn’t have it. So, i went here to ask them about it. The person that helped me was a male without even checking first said no we don’t have it. He said to check with my apartment office, and i told him I already did because the note was unclear. He was like no, we don’t. He than went to the back and came out with my box.
Like that’s self explanatory why would you not check before you tell someone something like that? Like they don’t give a sh! t, lol.
My second thing is that this office unlike the one on hostetter doesn’t provide tape or at least not for regular shipping?. They will not ship your shipment if it isn’t sealed. I can understand that, but they should really put up signs saying shipping tape not provided. (forced to buy unwanted tape for only inches– Thanks to the man standing in line who had some LIFESAVER! for 4inches lmao!!!)
Anyways,
the ladies that helped me were kind of rude/​cold to me, but i’m sure they aren’t like that ²⁴⁄₇. I just dislike the unprofessional side. No customer service, like would it also kill you to smile too? I guess there are too many clueless people that annoys the heck out of the employees here/​hate their jobs prob for repeating the same things to different customers.
BUT, that’s your job.
I’ve never had a bad experience at hostetter yet, and their staff is helpful & always smiling.
I’ve also been to the one in sunnyvale, and that lady was super nice & helpful.
At least i know how this place operates. I’ll be more aware since every branch might be different a little. But on 3 occasions these experiences were all misses for me. These aren’t like deal breakers, but just on the inconvenience side & into the irritation mode.
*tiny parking lot alert

Great service but it gets busy during peak times. Good amount of supplies and gift cards.
BTW, I’m the Duke here now :)