Post office greeters?

[Cinder]

The last few times I've been to the post office there was a postal worker standing around acting kind of like a greeter. I think she's supposed to direct people to the various services or help them with the self-serve machine. I've seen this at three different PO's in the area so I'm guessing it's a USPS initiative.

 

At today's visit the greeter person was annoyed that she was assigned to essentially stand around when the line was growing and there was only one clerk at the counter. She had a not-quite-argument with the other clerk about it. She wanted to get behind the counter. He kept saying "they" wanted her to be out front. Well she didn't like that so she went to the secondary counter (this PO has one near the front but I haven't seen one in other PO's) and started helping customers.

 

At a different PO the greeter was calling out people who needed to pick up a letter/package or drop off mail that already had postage on it. But it didn't really get the line moving any faster. The one person who needed to pick up something still had to wait quite awhile as the clerk was already on the phone with another customer. In the past I've seen where the clerk will call out for people who just need to pick up. Do they really need another person doing this?

 

Are you seeing this at the PO's near you?

 

[Arcadia]

I have only been to one that has a greeter and it is not for everyday. The greeter is only there on "Passport days" where the greeter would kind of direct the traffic to the usual counter, parcel pickup counter, Passport counter and the gift shop counter. The greeter speeds up the line a lot as people would be directed to the correct line/queue instead of being lost in the sea of humans.

ETA:

All the counters are open and the greeter is an "extra" and not a counter staff.

[Stacia]

I noticed that too last time I went to the post office. I was surprised (at this particular branch the workers are often grouchy or worse so it seemed strange to be 'greeted'). For those of us there, having the greeter did not speed up the line. The line would have moved much faster had the greeter been behind the counter actually working; as a greeter, she mostly wandered aimlessly around because there was nothing much for her to do (as in, all the customers there already knew what services/forms they needed, so there was no actual purpose that the greeter was serving during the time I was in the building).

[Dandelion]

I have not seen greeters at any of my post offices.  Since there is usually quite a long line whenever I go, I would prefer to be greeted by someone working behind the counter.  ;)   I'm glad the greeter in the OP took the initiative to get behind the counter despite whatever role she was assigned. 

[*Michelle*]

Around Christmas we had a guy standing next to the self-service machine and entering the info in for people. I about died. All I needed was a book of Christmas stamps. When I finally got to the machine, he cheerfully informed me that the Christmas stamps for the machine were sold out as of that morning, but I could get in line and buy a book from the counter. 

[Farrar]

Yes, unfortunately.  And as I've seen my post office have an average wait time of 30 mins. per customer before, I think it's absurd.

[Annie G]

I've seen a greeter at our post office- in a town of 20,000. It's usually not overly busy except at holiday time, so we rarely have to wait long. But I noticed that when the greeter is there we only have one window open instead of two. Maybe that's because someone is gone to lunch, but what it LOOKS like is they have one window open and one person wasting time greeting us. 

 

I've also been in when the greeter calls out certain services and takes those to a different window. I HATE standing in line for 10 minutes, being next in line, and having her call out four people who came in AFTER me and watch them come and go while I wait. 

 

 

 

 

[Sparkle]

We have one from time to time at the PO nearest me. I think it's kind of strange. It's not a large PO, and there's only one counter (unless you're picking up mail), and not even any vending machines or APC, so it's not like he can direct you to the correct spot. No passport pictures there either. I figure it would help a lot more for him to be behind the counter, if they're really wanting to improve customer service.

[LaxMom]

No greeters here. That would just clutter up the place.

[DawnM]

Huh, and they can't afford to bring the mail to my mailbox?

 

I would rather have the mail brought to my mailbox.

[Parrothead]

I have never seen a greeter. What a waste of resources. The lines are so long it is ridiculous to not have every available window open for customers.

[Cinder]

Now I'm wondering if the PO greeters are a regional thing since not everyone is seeing them.

 

I agree that it seems like such a waste to assign someone to work as a greeter. I don't get how this improves customer service or the USPS bottom line when they're already losing money.

[KungFuPanda]

I've seen them occasionally. Their main function seemed to be teaching the technologically challenged to use the machine. Probably more of a long-term investment.

[Annie G]

I've seen them occasionally. Their main function seemed to be teaching the technologically challenged to use the machine. Probably more of a long-term investment.

 

 

They actually removed the 'do it yourself' machine in our post office. After a 3 year trial, they concluded that very few people wanted to use the machine and they were spending too much time helping those who did want to use it.  I used it when I could but if I used it to mail a package I had to STAND IN LINE to hand them the package after I used the machine to pay the postage.   But for small padded envelopes or things that could fit in the slot, the machine worked well.  We were supposed to have a special box to put packages in but people were putting packages in with no postage so they took out the box. 

[KungFuPanda]

They actually removed the 'do it yourself' machine in our post office. After a 3 year trial, they concluded that very few people wanted to use the machine and they were spending too much time helping those who did want to use it.  I used it when I could but if I used it to mail a package I had to STAND IN LINE to hand them the package after I used the machine to pay the postage.   But for small padded envelopes or things that could fit in the slot, the machine worked well.  We were supposed to have a special box to put packages in but people were putting packages in with no postage so they took out the box.

 

That's kind of hysterical. In my town the machine works just fine and does get you in and out faster.

[TechWife]

I haven't seen any greeters here. At Christmas, they had all of the windows open (four) and then had someone walking the line to ask people what they were there to do - he passed out certified mail forms, insurance forms, overnight forms, etc. so that people could  fill them out before getting up to the window. I thought it was a great thing to do.