US Post Office

long (albeit usual) arse lines. i heard you can get passports here, so i guess that is cool. i go here now, since i live nearby… as it’s really accessible (25^th, just north of mission). great parking lot.

There isn’t much to say about this post office, other than its one of the main branches in the city and most certainly among the oldest. Lines can pile up quick here and the service is slower than the traffic along Highway 22. I try to avoid this post office at all costs (especially during the dreaded holiday season) but sometimes a visit is just necessary.
The parking situation is a little weird here. There are quite a few spaces but since the lot is narrow and the street is parallel, it makes it very difficult to «cruise for spaces» without having to go back on the street to turn back around for parking again. Thankfully most of the time people are in and out and spaces do eventually become available.
The building is big but the actual area for mailing letters /​sending packages is not. Majority of the area is PO boxes with a few self-​mailing machines but the room where most folks would get assistance is deceivingly small. This means its hell when there are lines here and that is pretty often, most of the time during lunch or right before 5PM.
Most of the postal workers are slow and lack any type of efficiency pace to keep most people in line satisfied. Thankfully it’s Salem and nowhere else. I think in Portland someone would’ve thrown a shoe or worse, their own package toward the counter. There are maybe 5 – 6 spaces for people to approach the counter, but one would be lucky if more than 2 were occupied. The line buildup is due to this for the most part and as a result affects the already whacked out parking situation.
They need some serious renovations and bad. Otherwise for packages, its DHL, UPS, and Fedex from here on out.