USPS removes clocks from post offices - so you can't tell how long you've waited

[kurth]

March 1, 2007
No Time Like Present to Remove Clocks
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:43 p.m. ET

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- The missing clock didn't stop postal customer Al Cunningham from noticing the amount of time spent waiting for service. ''It's always long here,'' said Cunningham, 49, an insurance adjuster and former postal employee who was standing in line at the Watson Post Office in Fort Worth.

The Watson Post Office is one of the nation's 37,000 post offices in which clocks have been removed from retail areas as part of a ''retail standardization program'' launched last year. The effort is designed to give the public-service areas a more uniform appearance, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in Thursday editions.

''We want people to focus on postal service and not the clock,'' said Stephen Seewoester, Dallas spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service.

At the Fort Worth post office, the hook that once held up the small battery-powered clock now protrudes from a plaster wall. The clock was taken down months ago. A customer-service expert at Texas A&M University was not impressed with the decision to take down the timepieces. ''It's silly,'' said Leonard Berry, holder of the M.B. Zale Chair in Retail and Marketing Leadership. ''I guess they think people don't have watches.''

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Postal-Service-Clocks.html

[KatyaR]

1. A friend and I went to a rather large post office here in OKC at lunch today,

and there was ONE PERSON waiting on customers--at lunchtime.

It's absolutely ridiculous--and they want to raise postage prices AGAIN? :argh:

[ladjf]

8. Woodstock, GA post office: The average wait time is between

10 and 20 minutes. The line frequently outside of the main waiting room.

[paparush]

2. Perfect summary of the Bush Administration nt

[AlCzervik]

3. the worst post office line i ever had to wait in was to get my passport

2 hours and it was awful, i'm sure since the rules have changed that line seems short now.

[Kutjara]

4. Next, they'll black out the windows...

...so we can't tell if it's day or night. Then it'll be just like Vegas (right down to the paying a lot of money for nothing).

[rurallib]

5. Watches, cell-phones, car radios have clocks

More than likely it can be measured by the sun it takes so long.

[AlCzervik]

6. mandatory blindfolds.

:D

[Cha]

7. Right. Don't tell us what time it

is..if we're going to be late for an appointment or not. Soo Clever.

[karlrschneider]

9. Our rural mail carriers are national treasures. At least the regular one,

the substitutes are a little flaky sometimes but Norman is a true prince. He will backtrack miles
if he discovers he missed something that should have been in our box and bring it to the door.
(I don't know exactly how it works, whether he's a "true" postal employee or not...he uses his own
vehicle)

But the people in the office in town seem to do a LOT of 'relaxing'. Almost every time I go in there, one person is at the counter and I can see 2 or 3 others way in the back visiting.

[talkinghead]

10. A useless bloated bureaucracy

The USPS is a government monopoly that has long outlived its usefulness.

[bigluckyfeet]

11. It seems every time the price of stamps go up

Their service gets slower.

[ben_meyers]

12. Can you imagine

If the VA was run like this?