US Post Office

Slow slow slow. Feels like I am being held hostage on a line of 4 people when picking up a package. 30 minute wait? No problem! Chipotle can only crunch out 1000 people in that time.

The ironic thing about this review is that two stars is «Meh. I’ve experienced better.», and I really HAVEN’T experienced better, because most USPS locations are awful. But I digress.
In the last month, it feels like I’ve had to pick up packages here at least four times (despite that I don’t actually order things for delivery that often), and my experiences range from mediocre to really bad. It feels like the place is always crowded with long lines no matter what time you come (whether it’s a Wednesday at 2pm, when you would guess that most would be at work, or right before closing on a Friday) — though this shouldn’t be a surprise given that everyone who works here moves at a snail’s pace. At best, I wait in line for 10 minutes, it takes them another 5 – 10 to find the package, and then I’m on my merry way. At worst, I’m told that they can’t find the package and that I’ll need to call the person who delivers mail on my route (??) to figure out where it is. Uh, pretty sure that’s your job. To their credit, most of the employees I’ve interacted with have been okay enough (not friendly, but also not terrible).
My main gripe comes from the fact that half the time when I receive a notice saying that «no secure location» was available in which to leave the package, I was actually home all day and could have directly received it had they even bothered to buzz my apartment. The best of all of these was when the package was very small (hardly bigger than the a letter-​sized envelope). I checked the package tracking at around noon that day and it said that delivery had been attempted but no secure location was available, and that a notice had been left. I had been home all morning and there had been no ring up to my apartment to deliver the package, so I checked my door and went down to the lobby of my building to check for the notice, which was nowhere to be found. When I finally found the notice (which my roommate brought to me later that night), she said it had been
INSIDE
THE LOCKED
MAILBOX
No secure location available, my ass.

I was waiting for a small package (something that can easily fit into the mailbox) so I did not think delivering it would be an issue.
I checked the tracking the day it was supposed to come, and it said «mail is un-​deliverable». I called this Post Office and the manager there said she did not know where my package was and she would give me a call back the next day to update me.
The next day I called in the afternoon and spoke to the same woman. She told me she would call me back AGAIN. I suggested if it would be easier if I could come in and pick it up myself. She said she didn’t know where it was and «we have three floors of mail here so I don’t know what you expect me to do, I have no idea where your package is».
I called the next day and someone else told me my package was delivered back to the sender.
The woman manager that works here was no help at all and on top of that very rude.

The guy who helped me was very nice. I made a mistake and chose the wrong kind of package and he didn’t make me pay for it, even though I had ruined it with tape. He sent me to another desk to grab the right kind of package. After 5 minutes of waiting, the same guy came behind that desk and handed me the right package himself so I didn’t have to wait any longer. Nothing wrong to say about that place, I will go back there next time.

These are the slowest post office weekend people I have ever encountered. Plus, it isn’t air conditioned so waiting in the summer is miserable.

This review is for Mr. Warden.
I was having a pretty brutal experience dealing with the USPS – this includes their poorly designed website, their 100% automated phone system, and the incompetency of their employees at other Post Offices in NYC.
Then I spoke to Mr. Warden (the Manager of Gracie PO) by phone, and he could not have been more helpful. He dropped what he was doing to help me track down a package, providing me with an answer to a question when all other USPS outlets failed to even make an attempt.

Machine replaced the people but they do have a floater that is supposed to help you. Though the floaters are not always as happy to help.

They totally ruined my day. Worst service I’ve ever seen. They couldn’t care less. Ugh.

Considering the other wildly inefficient post offices in New York City, this is a fairly reliable location. They are open until 4PM on Saturdays and sort-​of late on the weekdays (6PM) and the staff is mostly friendly. If you are some how in the game for reading Unilocal reviews of post offices I will give you this very important tip – do not bother speaking to these folks over the phone. I am not sure who it is, but an associate who receives calls will make you feel like a murderer for wanting to schedule a re-​delivery of a package. Just the idea of having to do anything really irked this person, so much so that she just told me I should come in and get the package. If this is not possible for you, use the online re-​delivery website that’s located on the slip they leave you when you miss their first coming (clearly the coming of Christ in the opinion of said receptionist)…

If you live in this area well, I apologize because your mail system sucks. My post man never even attempts to deliver my packages. My buzzer never goes off but a day or two later a «sorry we missed you» slip mysteriously appears in my box. And although the post office is «open» until 7pm, be warned, if you’re not there by AT LEAST 5:59pm you’re not getting your mail but you are getting attitude. Oh and if something was shipped «parcel post» you may as well know that FDR post office will tell you to call Gracies and Gracies will tell you to call FDR. Just assume it’s been returned to sender because you’re probably right. If you need to send a package set aside a good 30 minutes because you’ll be passed between different windows and told you’re missing something at each one. Oh and your destination address doesn’t exist. And tape is extra. And we don’t have any pens…

There’s no time for the unprepared here. Come with an ID if you’re looking to be helped. If they have time, they may answer your phone call. Otherwise, stand in line and admire dysfunction.

This location is close to where I live. No one likes going to the post office… long lines moving slowly, never enough working pens, and you can only use their tape if you use one of their priority mail boxes. However, this location is not bad. The postal workers here have always been polite and professional here, sometimes even making small talk. I like that there isn’t glass separating the workers from the customers, makes it feel less prison like. I have used the machines here as well to mail stuff and buy postage and it was fine. They just increased the price of their standard priority mail envelope. Almost six bucks now. May be cheaper to buy your own envelope unless you have something heavy.

Mr. Coneys rocks and should get 5 Stars. He is AMAZING! Some of the rest of the employees are decent enough. Our local mail carrier Sylvia has only been with our building a short time and is phenomenal. We love her. This comes after a carrier we had for many years who should have just thrown our mail in the street and let us get our own. Worth it to wait in line as I do, to make sure Mr. Coneys is your mail clerk.
There is one mean female worker who makes it her life’s work to make sure your life is miserable.

I gave them a call at 12:00 on a Wednesday afternoon to ask about the status of a package and was scolded by the person on the other end of the line and asked «Why didn’t you call earlier?!» She then said that the carrier already has the package and that there is nothing she can do at all to let me know what the tracking status of the package is.
I’m smart enough to know that she was just being lazy and I was annoyed that there was no semblance of customer service for someone who was calling within business hours with a simple question. The attitude of this particular person was pretty crappy and unapologetic.

As post offices go, you could do so much worse. They have staff in the lobby to expedite things (why can’t YOU do this, Ridgewood?) & the lady who helped me at the Automated Postal Center was very nice. She actually told me that the problem I’ve been having with the machines lately isn’t just me; apparently they changed something in how they do the postage that has been messing it up everywhere for everyone.
Still shocked I got in and out at a fairly speedy rate on a Saturday afternoon. Had I been at my local, I’d have been there at least 30 minutes.

While living on the UES for a year we had several issues with this post office. Frequently we were told things were delivered that never showed up only to find out after many hours of phone calls and visits to the post office that the packages were left at other buildings, given to the wrong carrier, or simply left somewhere in the back room — even though they were marked as delivered!
People were generally friendly enough, but depending on who answered the phone or was working at the counter I got completely different answers, with the only consistency being that it was always someone else’s job and I would given a different name, number and time to call or visit to try again.
We have since moved and even after only a couple weeks, our USPS experience has been a total 180 — so even though we all know the postal service is having a rough time lately I do have to say, this one is on the Gracie Post Office. I would highly recommend getting a UPS My Choice account if your on the UES and avoiding USPS all together!

Avoid this post office unless you have no other options.
Listen, you know that the post office is never gonna be a good time, but it seems like the employees of this particular location go out of their way to make the experience painful. The empress are incredibly slow; I’ve spent 15 minutes waiting on line just to pick up a package.
I can handle that, though. What I can’t handle is employees sitting from the other side of the floor that I can’t pick up my package when I’ve arrived literally seconds too late. Or employees loudly making it known that they view the customers as a nuisance.

This one is open late! Yay! So if you need to mail your mail before six, head to this location. One of the ladies will find a way to chew you out for your package not being labeled properly and will make you go to the back of the line rather than wait while you re-​write the address that takes, oh, 15 seconds.
The post office itself is convenient (though severely understaffed) and well laid out and clean. Other than that, its a typical post office, and we should appreciate them as they are a dying breed.

I like this place sometimes, I don’t like it as much some other time. It depends on the day. It’s all because of the people who work there and they have different attitude every day.
One thing I absolutely hate about dealing with them is picking up packages. The line is always long and the have no clue where the packages are. Mailman always neglect to leave a slip in our inbox and guys here were too lazy to go to the back room to check. There have been times, I came without a slip and they were reluctant to check in the backroom, always giving me attitude and says «if it’s not there, go online or call 1800 to find out», and they always walk back with my package. I TOLD YOU SO!!!

Ugh.
I sort of feel bad for the U.S. Postal Service, but good grief.
In my experience, the best postal employees I have dealt with are mediocre.
That’s the top, and it goes down from there.
I’m sure there are wonderful USPS employees, but I’m sorry, I have not met one yet.
My review is two stars instead of one, because
1) sometimes you do get an «A-​OK» experience, and
2) the people at the UPS store are not much better.