US Post Office

Most horrible service ever. The worker was rude and slow.

Back in September, I gave this place four stars. I am retracting three stars because this place is honestly the worst post office I have been to ever. And as I mentioned before, I love snail mail, so it pains me to give this establishment one star. But it has earned it.
On more than one occasion, I have visited just to buy stamps — something you would think they would have a ready supply of. Thank again. Every time I have gone, they have at most two stamp options, and they are usually terrible ones. (Yes, I buy stamps based on how pretty they are and if they match the theme I have going on the card. Judge me.) Today, they had one option. I turned them down and visited the kiosk at the front to buy the Charlie Brown stamps, which have the little bar code and are a little large but do.
Also, they lost two of my envelopes, plain and simple. Usually I use the kiosk out front, but on this day, it was broken. I go and work with the staff, and they stamp it and what not. Then, they magically place it somewhere that was not in the mail box. Sad day for my packages. Perhaps they will arrive some day. And no, tracking them down wasn’t an option because they were just sent through regular mail.
So, in conclusion, probably go to another nearby place to get your mailing needs accomplished. And this is coming from the Duchess of this fine establishment. :(

Based on an experience about two months ago.
I was there during the mid afternoon on a weekday, which should have been a slow time due to most people being at work, but the line was already filling up. There were two counter employees. One lovely person who clearly excelled at her job, and another who unfortunately has redefined my use of the word ‘molasses’ for all time.
During the time I was in line (position number 7 or 8):
— AwesomePostOfficeLady helped a customer with multiple complex packages being sent to Asia that all needed to be measured/​weighed, AND helped several other customers.
— MolassesPostOfficeLady moved incredibly slowly through a SINGLE customer’s normal/​easy transaction, a stamps purchase and a priority mail box within the US.
— The line queued out the door and onto to the sidewalk, while people looked at each other in confusion, wondering if this was for real, or hopefully just a bad dream.
If you are the type to get easily irritated, and you really need to go to this post office location, then you’d better book an appointment with your therapist for right after.
Not worth it. Find another place.

Most of my experiences here (or any other post office actually) were negative. Most of the employees are extremely slow with very slow movements, chitchat unnecessarily and excessively long with some customers, sometimes they cannot find a package if it got stuck there because I need to sign for it, some of their English is hard to understand, customers have to stand in line and wait to solve a problem even if something went wrong due to post office’s fault, etc. etc.
I honestly try to do everything i can to avoid going to any of the post offices. It’s all very discouraging.

With little/​none information about this USPS, I needed a PO Box since I was about to move to a home with a woman whom I did not trust will respect my privacy and make judgements of what I receive via mail, I thought it would be best to get one.
LOCATION
Located off of the busiest street in Palo Alto, it’s a little journey to get here. Mornings should be fine, but afternoons will definitely rise your blood pressure a bit. Once you get to Cambridge (I usually take California), it’s a few blocks drive straight down almost to the end of the street. Keep your eye out for it (I have, on several occasions below drove by it during my visits. I don’t miss it anymore).
PARKING
There is a parking structure right next to it, so parking is never is never an issue. If you’re like me, however, I like to be quick with my stops, I prefer to park on the streets for quick leave (the whole backing out and putting your car back to drive is just too much work for me). During lunch hour, don’t count the streets for parking. Finding parking around 5p can be a bit daunting. Saturday mornings are usually my choice of day and time.
INTERIOR
The office looks like it needs a repaint. The white walls are starting to look grey, the tile floors is beat up with scruff marks and a little dusting couldn’t hurt. Tidiness is a hit and miss. During the holidays, the place looks as if was hit by a tornado. On other days, it’s neat and organized. If you were to come here early evenings on the weekdays, you might run into disheveled interior. I’m sure they’re short in staff, so give ‘em a little break.
SERVICE
The service was okay. I have yet to have any problems with them. Then again, the majority of the time I usually stop by here to get my mail and go. I did had to speak to someone regarding opening a box. Also once I had to collect a package in person since they didn’t have any lockers available to self collect it. Both times they were pleasant and professional. So, no complaints there.
VERDICT
Over all, it’s not so bad of an office. The down side of it is (and probably the main reason why this place received so many negative reviews) there seem to always be a line here. I’ve been in the line a couple times (and only once did I actually went through the whole line). Waiting in line can put people’s mind into a negative state (like traffic), so by the time you reach your destination you’re impatient, annoyed and bitter, you’re throwing verbal punches and giving them an attitude along with your insignificant package.
I felt sorry for the workers more than anything.
If you want a quick in and out, this post office will not be your favorite.

Horrible service and the counter person couldn’t recognize metered mail. I went there with a bunch of registered metered mail and the counter person couldn’t recognize that it was subject to the metered mail discount — even after I asked her to look it up.
The mail meter company filed a formal complaint with the postmaster.

Contrary to all the horrible reviews by the cry babies on Unilocal,this place has always been a pleasure to deal with. I know all the employees by name and they are always very nice and helpful.
Most of the bad reviews I have read about this place have to do with it being slow. Come on now. Have any of you ever worked at a Post Office or in a high traffic customer service job? I bet not. They work at a normal pace. For some of you Shallow Altans a 5 –10 min wait might ruin your day. Just remember next time you go in that you might be the problem.
Make sure your packages have the correct information and that if you are receiving a package to have the sender fill out the correct info. This will eliminate most of your problems.
Don’t show up to the post office «10min before closing» and expect to sit there and make the employees late going home because YOU have a problem with YOUR package. Have your things together and ready to go. You will make it faster for you and everyone else.

Always a decent wait whenever I come but the staff is very friendly and helpful.
I appreciate they are very patient and helpful if I am sending out a load of Ebay shipments.

I really like this little convenient post office. They are competent and helpful and polite. I’ve had to wait a few times, but they usually add another clerk and keep the line flowing well. The problems I’ve seen usually come from customers, overly upset about things like their favorite stamp styles being sold out. One of my signature parcels was mis-​delivered to the main office — instead of sending me there, they fetched it for me and called me when it arrived there at their Cambridge station. I don’t get this level of service from any retail, let alone from the government. Maybe there are some businesses that run more smoothly, and perhaps improvements could be made, but I’ve been a very happy customer and tax payer for their service.

Will never come here. I came here through traffic 10 mins before closing and they did not want even to listen to me.

Based on the reviews here, I had expected that I would wait for a long time.
It turned out there was no line. Only one person ahead of me, and my shipment was smoothly done in 3 minutes. Maybe it was 9:10 a. m, early in the morning.
It’s not horrible at all!

This place is a pig sty. Unorganized and trash everywhere. You have to ask for labels and any postage items you may need. This is my 2^nd time here and it is still trashy. They really need to clean and organize the items.

The way the staff runs this post office should be a model for all post offices!
Seriously think this is the greatest post office ever. It is small but has everything you need. But most importantly its staff is what makes it great!
Keep up the good work!
P. S. And no I do not work for the post office nor do any my friends or family

While some of the clerks are patient and very helpful, there just seems to be an issue with how inefficiently this post office operates. The lines are often long — even on «slow» days. It seems like they are perpetually short one counter worker.
If you drop off a package early for Priority Mail (e.g. at 9:00 A.M. in order to ensure early pickup), it just doesn’t seem to matter. It will still depart late from this location and not arrive for processing in San Francisco until at least twelve hours later (as if you dropped it off at 3PM). Consequently, the normal 2 – 3 day Priority Mail will often take an extra day for delivery.
As mentioned, most of the workers are patient and helpful. However, there are a few who are difficult to understand and have a difficult time understanding you. One man must have everything repeated to him over and over again — and he still tends to «forget» what you just told him that you would like. You have to remind him to stamp a package with the FRAGILE stamp or that you wanted to buy insurance for the package. He gets a little impatient with you even though he is the one who didn’t understand what you just told him… twice.
The rest of the workers are very kind and take steps to assist you.
If you walk to the left after entering the building, there is an automated postage station. There aren’t many signs advertising it and the postal workers never seem to mention it; however, it is easy to use for sending various types of packages and letters and will save quite a bit of time (versus standing in line).
Unfortunately, your Priority Mail packages still seem to take an extra day to arrive at the destination no matter how you send it (or at what time of the day). I sent a Priority Mail package at 9 A.M. recently and it still took five days to arrive at the destination. Maybe their in-​store processing system is flawed?
This Cambridge Post Office is fine if you don’t mind standing in lines, paying Priority Mail rates for standard delivery time frames or when your time is NOT of the essence. Unfortunately, the lines tend to be long and the hours at this location aren’t ideal (closes at 5:30 PM [or just a little earlier] and closed on Saturdays).
If you need to send a package and you don’t have much time on your hands… or if you need it to arrive to its destination quickly, I suggest walking a couple of blocks to the FedEx store on California Ave. or visit the UPS Store on Middlefield Rd. You may spend a few dollars more, but you’ll spend less time in line and your item will arrive much more promptly.

If you go around 2pm, the lines are pretty short. Only took me about 5 minutes of waiting. Customer service was great. No complaints. My cashier asked if I needed stamps, and I did, so I got me some new ones.
They have everything you need in line while you wait, so I filled out my certified mail ticket while in line. By the time it was my turn, I was ready to do and was out of there in no time. So yay!

Slow

My biggest fear was finding parking after work at 5pm. I thought everyone would be rushing to get to the post office after work. I was wrong! Plenty of street parking just for me!
There were 2 people in front of me, but these people must have had a billion requests or something because it felt like I was standing in line forever! There were 2 people working there too! Let’s speed up the process, customers! We all have lives outside the post office.

I dread having to come here and try to ship as much as possible out of my home or at FedEx and UPS locations. But the occasional international package to my family in Europe needs to go with USPS.
Somehow this location is always extremely busy at all times. I kept thinking that it was just a coincidence and I was cursed with bad post office luck. However, it’s the snail-​like customer service here that forces people to give up their entire lunch hour (or morning coffee time or happy hour).
The employees here have never heard of time management skills or prioritizing. Just yesterday when there was a line of 10 people, one of the two workers decided to clean up his station and do administrative tasks such as counting money in his drawer and bundling it up rather than helping the next customer in line and doing the non-​customer oriented to-​dos at a later time when it’s not so busy — oh wait… they are always busy since they are so slow. It’s a vicious cycle. Next time I’m driving the extra 5 minutes to the Hamilton Ave. location, they are a little quicker and more efficient there.

I had a disturbing and disappointing experience at this post office today. The (female) supervisor refused to assist an extremely frail old lady at the end of a long long line, even though she could barely stand on her own. I ignored the supervisor and slowly walked the lady to the front of line where everyone respectfully let her pass.
What a lack of respect and professionalism.

Seeing the condition of the run-​down counters nicked with years of careless abuse and tape residue makes my aesthetic soul hurt. This post office is tiny– it probably wouldn’t even hold a class of kindergartners on a field trip. I use these analogies because I have a hard time conceptualizing square footage– how much room does a kindergartner take? Half a square foot? How many kinders in a class? 20 – 25?
Moving forward: I have found service here to be lackluster. I had asked to borrow a permanent pen, only to have the clerk insist that there was no such thing and I should return home and write it myself, then bring it to a blue bin to drop off. On several occasions I have been here, there is a line that does not move with a sense of urgency. It seems every person in line has some sort of complicated issue that requires the attention of the one clerk available for a good 5 minutes or more per transaction.
On my last visit, I found it particularly odd that there was one woman who was not dressed in any uniform but appeared to be facilitating the waiting line. She attempted to strike up greetings and casual conversations to the guests in line, and paced back and forth between the two desk areas (which was a 5 foot distance). I think I could safely speak on behalf of the general consensus and say that it would have been more helpful if she jumped in to become a second clerk…