posted on April 20, 2001 12:57:31 PM new
This post may be a little lengthy, please hang in there!
I was a USPS window clerk for 15 years so I cringe a little bit every time I read another message about a window clerk problem. Understand I am not defending the USPS. I know first hand that it is an extremely poorly run business that wouldn't last two years if it had to operate in the real world.
I also realize that not all window clerks are cut out for the job. I was a clerk trainer for many years and certainly saw my share of trainees who should not even had a job with the USPS let alone be dealing with customers at the window.
Most people probably see window clerking as a pretty simple job...after all you just weigh packages or sell some stamps, right? Unfortunately, in most offices that is rarely the case. Along with being at the window, I was expected to do dozens of jobs from ordering toilet paper for the office to closing out the office's finances every night! Because of all the non-window related duties, I had to frequently remind myself that the customer at the window was not just an imposition keeping me away from whatever else I had to get done that afternoon. Management (at least in my office) also saw customers as hindrances to getting other tasks accomplished. I actually had to turn away a nearly $1000.00 sale because the supervisor said he was to busy to spend two minutes getting the stamps I needed out of the vault!
This brings me to today's visit to my local PO. I'm very lucky in that out of the six window clerks at my office, all but one are very competant and friendly. The sixth has no business being at the window - I know because I trained him and recommended that he not be given a window clerk position. He's rude and stupid, but guess what, he's got seniority.
The clerks at my office are regularly complimented by customers, but today I learned that three of the clerks received "Letters Of Warning" from the Postmaster, which is the first step in a disciplinary action. Why? Because the Mystery Shopper gave the office a bad score on his or her most recent visit.
The USPS has a multi-million dollar contract with a company that sends Mystery Shoppers into offices and rates the clerks on everything from whether or not they have their name tag on to whether or not they asked each of the mandatory questions (eg. Would you like to pay by Debit or Credit card?)
I don't feel Mystery Shoppers are a bad thing, I just feel that the criteria being used in this case is ridiculous. Some of the questions are fine and helpful..."Do you want insurance on this?"...but some are silly and make the clerk look like an idiot. As an ebayer, I am in practically every day, yet the clerk is supposed to ask me every single visit whether or not I want to charge it even if my purchase is only one stamp. How is this helping the customer?
My point is...yes, I have one...is that these three window clerks are great, but because the Mystery Shopper was not asked whether or not they wanted to purchase a phone card or whatever, the office received a low score. Since the shopper does not designate which clerk waited on them (the union will not allow that), all three clerks that worked that day received a letter of warning. They have also been notified that if the office's score does not improve significantly by the end of the year, that will be considered grounds for dismissal. In other words, they are telling these three clerks, if one of the other clerks screws up next time the Mystery Shopper is in, they will take the blame. I don't believe the union will allow it to go as far as dismissal, but can you understand how this style of management can lead to extremely unhappy employees who actually have no motive to do a good job. These three clerks have always done an excellent job with customers, have no customer complaints on file at all, and yet their jobs are being threatened. Of course, the clerk who is rude and combative, was not at the window that particular day, so he's off the hook.
I apologize for the length, but when the clerk showed me his letter of warning today, I was so upset, I felt like I had to stick up for the good window clerks out there!
posted on April 20, 2001 01:17:41 PM new
I have actually worked as a mystery shopper (not for usps... although I would have loved that gig!) and I am surprised that they don't give the persons name that they shopped. That isn't "normal" by mystery shopping standards. I shopped many stores over several years and if I couldn't get the persons name I had to at least have a VERY through description.
posted on April 20, 2001 01:18:52 PM new
That is terrible! It sounds as if the system could use a lot of improvement. I didn't realize postal clerks were instructed to ask mandatory questions (though I've wondered why one clerk at my local PO is so insistent about asking whether I'd like to use a debit or credit card even when I'm holding out cash).
I remember having to "upsell" drinks and popcorn while working at movie theaters, and also being instructed to ask everyone who walked by the concessions stand whether I could get anything for them, even when it was obvious they weren't going to stop and buy food. It's ridiculous when companies can't allow their employees to use their best judgement instead of following a hard and fast set of rules. Most competent employees will tire of that quickly.
So I guess part of those increased postage rates are going toward this "Mystery Shopping" business, huh?
posted on April 20, 2001 02:12:35 PM new
Grounds for dismissal for not asking the customers the proper questions.
This is so maddening!! But the jerk at our Post Office that we call the "Rooster" because he thinks he's all that and a bag of chips, that throws peoples boxes back at them refusing to wait on them, tries to climb over the counter to fight with another customer, and browbeats the other window clerks into tears gets anything he wants! Grrrrrr
posted on April 20, 2001 02:30:11 PM new
Send a thank you letter to the postal union. Thats why there is so much deadwood. You are right, if they had to stand alone they would not last long.
They should be able to fire the duds. This goes for the top end also.
posted on April 20, 2001 02:47:03 PM new
Well that explains something for me... I was at the PO yesterday and the guy in front of me bought two first class stamps. The clerk asked if he wanted to put it on his debit or credit card! I LOL'd and commented, 68 cents on a credit card??? Now I know why the clerk asked about it!
posted on April 20, 2001 03:39:48 PM new
I shipped 20 or more of the same wigets at Christmas time ~ big box ~ but within the limits...sometimes I would take them in 3 at a time....and this one clerk would insist on measuring each and everyone of them......one day I came to the end of my rope.....and went a little postal on her........her supervisor expained to me that if she did not measure every single package that she would be written up........is that crazy or what? (I mean there are 3 idenical boxes ~ they are going to all measure the same thing!)
She gave me the cold shoulder for 3 months after that.........then one day I saw her in Walmart............turns out she is a very nice person...........she was trying to figure out what she needed to do a project for her church and needed a little computer help........I offered and helped her complete the project. We have become friends after all this ~ turns out she is a very nice person with a very stressful job with lots of stupid rules that make it very difficult to do her job at times. She still asks me everytime she waits on me if I want to put it on my debit/credit card and always asks me if I want a receipt......even though she knows the answers to both.
posted on April 20, 2001 04:02:30 PM new
I know when the postmaster is on window duty and go then!! If I do go at other times--sometimes the window clerk forgets to subtract that $.45 that a priority package under one pound should go. Can you believe that this is a national postal problem?? Wonder how many unsuspecting senders have been charged the higher amount of $3.95 when the package should be #3.50?
I go to a very small postal station. The postmaster is just the best!! But his employees?--better know your rates--or they might sorta kinda screw you.
The best---one postal employee when at the window has to tell me her life story--gory detail by gory detail. Yes--I am a regular there with packages up to my nose--but when I say, How are ya--PLEASE PLEASE don't tell me!! Yes--have learned my lesson and do not address her anymore-- How are Ya?
posted on April 20, 2001 04:10:46 PM new
A few weeks ago, my PO started asking all those crazy questions that they are supposed to ask. "Do you want to insure, do you want DC, how are you paying for your purchse today, cash back with debit card". As she is asking me, I'm thinking, what is with this chic!! She already knows the answers.
I am there every other day, I never insure, never use DC, pay with debit, and always get cash back.
Anyway, she told me that they have to ask the questions, even though they know what I want. So, now she asks, I laugh and tell her she knows the answers already and we carry on.
Talk about the big boys making the employees crazy. Geez, get a grip
posted on April 20, 2001 05:18:33 PM new
Hey, they ask me all those questions too and I've worked with all those people for years. I doubt our place would write them up if they didn't, but I guess they never know who might be in the lobby. We're at an airport and all the bigshots come through our office (we have to give them rides to the terminal and some want you to carry their luggage!!). I know some offices are nitpicky to the letter of the rules
posted on April 20, 2001 06:51:06 PM new
pumpkinhead:
>So, now she asks, I laugh and tell her she knows the answers already and we carry on.
Sounds like our postoffice.
You should have seen one of our clerks do a real "tap dance" one day. Another ebay seller (who I hadn't meet) was in line a couple of places behind me, and she had been complaining to the clerk a few days earlier about the cost of padded mailers.
I never buy supplies like that from the post office (for obvious reasons), and had told the clerk about buying padded mailers for 28 cents each by the case. The clerk was trying to introduce us, and let the other seller know that I could tell her where to buy the mailers cheap, but didn't want to say anything that the postmaster would disapprove of. I finaily caught on to what was up, and we (the other seller and I) had a nice talk in the lobby.
posted on April 20, 2001 08:10:21 PM new
egads, mapledr, what *terrible* managerial style the p.o. has! i'm glad you posted this.
i'm very fortunate. not only is the post office i go to small and usually not busy, but the clerk now knows i don't get insurance unless i ask, and always want a receipt. by the p.o.'s standards, she's a bad employee. by mine, she's very intelligent and a gem!
posted on April 20, 2001 09:33:22 PM new
Last week, the normally very nice clerk at my neighborhood PO told me - through gritted teeth - that their morning and afternoon breaks had been cut from fifteen minutes to ten! What a chickens*&t operation the thing is.
The employees - imho - are mostly dedicated and hard-working, as well as generally pleasant to deal with. The system stinks on ice.
But it took UPS recently to lose a huge and valuable shipment for me...
posted on April 20, 2001 09:59:31 PM new
I've been mystery shopping for 8 years. Most corporations use the program as a means to increase customer service as well as to give out small bonus money when the employee scores high whenever the mystery shopper shows up. It's only par for the course that the PO takes the opposite approach. The form is meant to evaluate the employee as well as the facility itself.
I have 2 great PO's nearby but the one thing that constantly grinds me is the tape. They used to put tape on the counter for people to use. Now they only put priority mail tape there. People see and put it on their envelopes and boxes and then they are told-So sorry you have to ship this priority since that's how you taped it or remove the tape and buy some clear tape in the retail store.
posted on April 21, 2001 11:19:48 AM new
I can't hear very well and the questions are a real irritation because I tell them what I want and then they insist I answer 20 questions. I have yelled at them that I can't hear and did not come in for conversation I came to mail my packages and if they have any real important questions get a pad of paper and write them down.
Some thing at the fast food places - I went in Burger King last week told them what I wanted and they have to ask if I want a combo. I told him I already told him what I wanted - Were you listening? The third time he asked if I wanted a combo I said no damn combo - fill the order or I will walk next door to McDonalds. He said well if you are going to swear at us please go to McDonalds.
So I did. That really helps business doesn't it?
[ edited by gravid on Apr 21, 2001 11:21 AM ]
posted on April 21, 2001 02:41:38 PM new
But if you leave Burger King to go to McDonald's you know they're going to ask if you want french fries or an apple pie with that Big Mac, don't you? You'll be no better off.
My postal clerks are great, I can't complain at all about them.
One Sat. morning at opening time there was only 1 fellow at the counter to wait on customers. Ironically, there was already a line out the door for some strange reason, quite unusual for this office at that time. The poor fellow was working as fast as he could, much faster than he usually works. And he even told me that they're thinking of cutting back on staff; when the head honchos come in they're (of course) not busy for those few moments and it looks like they haven't enough to do. I said, "Well they should see you now. What do they want us to do, wait on ourselves?"
I've been in customer service (fast food) and it's no picnic dealing with the public face to face and having to put up with stupid rules designed to antagonize the public on top of it. http://bjgrolle.freehomepage.com
posted on April 23, 2001 08:10:41 AM new
Self-service windows in the PO - now that's a concept! 90% of my packages don't require any special handling, just weigh it, print the postage sticker and put it on there...
We can self-weigh our bulk foods at the grocery store, I think it could be pretty neat to have a postage printer thing attached to the scale out in the lobby - so you could weigh it, print the sticker (after putting in a credit card - like at the gas station or something).
Boy that would be nice - waiting in long PO lines would greatly decrease...
posted on April 23, 2001 11:29:02 PM new
mapledr1216: Thanks so much for posting that. That mystery shopper stuff gets me angry, and not just for the obvious reasons. At my post office the clerks are all fine, but the way everything is set up, from number of parking spaces to the number of clerks on duty, is so bad that ridiculously long waits are the norm. That's *exactly* what the higher-ups need to know about my PO, and having mystery shoppers report on whether clerks ask if you want to charge your purchase just highlights the absurdity. And the USPS doesn't even *want* to hear what the real problems are: my letters and emails get no response.
Other businesses have the same problem. They ask customers questions as if they're looking for feedback, but only want that feedback about narrow areas which are frequently totally unrelated to the real service issues. I did a customer service phone questionnaire for Blockbuster a while ago. It asked specific yes/no questions about things like whether someone said hello to me on my last visit, but there was no way to leave general comments. There was no way, for example, to tell them that the BB near me had a serious problem with clerks habitually checking tapes in as late that were returned on time.
