U.S. Post Office

The U.S. Post Office lost $3.8 billion in its latest fiscal year and is forecast to lose $7.8 billion in 2010.  The USPS is even considering ending mail delivery on Saturday (article).  While many people correctly point to the increased usage of email as a cause of the Post Office's decline, not enough attention is given to just how inefficient the Post Office is run.  Nearly all of my personal experiences with the Post Office have not been impressive to say the least.  My experiences range from me feeling like I was in a third world country to once utter disbelief someone could do his job so slowly.

-The Post Office where I used to live always had an extremely long line, with maybe 2-3 people working at the window.  When you managed to get to the window I never saw any indication of them attempting to increase their speed to help more customers.  What was fortunate was that there was one electronic postage machine which I could use to weigh and print postage.  Even then the line was long for this machine and sometimes I think it was slower to use than to go with someone behind the window.
-Another time I requested my mail be held at the Post Office while I was away on vacation.  I went to the Post Office, waited on a long line, and approached the pick-up window.  The man behind the window asked for my address, disappeared for what must have been five minutes, only to return and ask for it again.  I had even tried to give it to him on paper the first time.  By now the line was extremely long and he returned to say he couldn't find it.  I asked him what could be done next, he looked puzzled and gave me the postman's cell phone.  Two days later, my mail, with a note reading "hold for pickup" was delivered.
-A few years ago I went during lunch to the Post Office for an official document.  I was thrilled to see there was only 1 person in front of me.  Sadly, what was mainly comprised of giving me a stamp took at least five minutes.  It was so slow I really could not believe it.

Now, these are hardly not all of my experiences with the post office, they are just a few examples.  Their mail service is generally very reliable, but the experiences I mentioned makes me wonder.  I understand the Post Office is a governmental agency in one form or another, but that does not mean they do not need to provide appropriate levels of customer service.  Some might argue, that some employees are not paid well (not necessarily true if you consider the economy and their benefits), so what do you expect.  However, fast food workers are not paid well, and if they can't stay up to speed I don't imagine they'll be around too long.  Furthermore, what ever happened to customer service and some sense of pride in your job (read my earlier post on customer service).  Economic times are not good - it's unreasonable for the Post Office to be losing billions of dollars a year and not make necessary improvements in how it is run.