I Finally Mailed that Suspicious Package

I finally mailed that suspicious package the post office returned the other day. After a 15 minute wait in line, I was finally able to speak to a mail clerk about the problem. I gave her the package and told her I would like her to inspect it and have it mailed. The clerk looked at the package and read the note the post office had attached to it. “I’ve never seen this label before,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

With package in hand she left and returned a few minutes later with someone who I assume was her manager or supervisor. He started to explain to me that they because of increasing terrorist threats, they couldn’t just take packages with stamps on it and that in the future it would save everyone a lot of hassle if I’d just take a few minutes and show any future packages to one of his trusted employees. Then he stopped in mid-sentence and looked at the package.

“There’s only enough postage on this package to ship it by ground,” he said.

“That’s right,” I replied. “It was less expensive that way.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about,” the supervisor said. “These restrictions only apply to air mail – not anything shipped on the ground. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

The supervisor them removed the warning label from the package and tossed in a nearby mail cart and told me it would be sent out that afternoon. (Sorry, Gabby. I guess the package won’t come with a police/military escort after all.)

I don’t know what I should be more worried about: the fact that they don’t screen their ground mail for suspicious packages or the gross incompetence of the people supposedly screening their mail.

Either way, I’m thinking about using the post office that’s closer to home to mail anything in the future than the one close to work. Aside form this incident; I’ve had some recent bad experiences with the post office near my office.

For example, if I return a Netflix DVD and it goes through the post office close to home, it always arrives the next day. However, if I send it from work it takes two, three or sometimes four days to arrive at the Netflix receiving facility.

Both post offices are roughly the same distance from Salt Lake and the one close work is supposedly a post office hub which means things should arrive sooner, rather than later. But when does anything work the way it’s intended to when you’re dealing with a government monopoly.