If you’ve ever had to wait in line or call the post office about a package that didn’t get delivered, you probably felt like the life was slowly being sucked out of you.
And you’re not alone.
In 2016, the Bushwick Station post office at 1369 Broadway made DNAInfo’s list of six finalists for worst post office in New York City. The branch has earned one star out of 379 Google reviews. On Yelp, some compare it to a version of hell, and the rest of the reviews aren’t much better:
“…I have had multiple letters (certified mail, I might add…) go missing. As a result, I am now delayed paying my rent, health insurance and other bills I would be otherwise paying,” wrote Beck E.
“What have I done to deserve this??!! Maybe in a past life I was a horrible individual and this post office is here to deliver the Karma because literally its the only thing that gets delivered here,” says Felicia P.
Another Bushwick post office at 86 Wyckoff Ave. also has horrible reviews. Here are some Yelp pics with captions from the reviewers:
One Bushwick resident, Beth Klein, has had enough. Her main issue is with missing packages that never get delivered. It’s been a constant problem since she moved to the neighborhood a few years ago.
Fixing these post office woes is the responsibility of the federal government, but Beth hasn’t had any luck in getting the attention of her congresswoman, Nydia Velázquez. USPS hasn’t been much help at all, either.
“As taxpayers who live here and use the services, we pay and we pay and we pay and where does it go?” she complained.
Beth finally made some headway when she got in touch with Amazon. A few weeks ago, she got the company to deprioritize USPS as a delivery service for her packages. Amazon took it a step further, initiating a request to automatically deprioritize USPS as the carrier for the entire Bushwick area.
When Amazon deprioritizes USPS, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the latter will never deliver your packages; but it will move them to the bottom of the list of courier options, and it comes at no extra cost to you. (In case you didn’t know, UPS, FedEx, and DHL Express are some of the other couriers that Amazon uses).
If, like Beth, you’re having a ton of USPS-related issues, try doing the same thing. Some people online also say that they’re able to negotiate a free month of Amazon Prime as compensation for troubles with USPS. And, if you’re having trouble tracking down a missing package, Beth advises people to call USPS’ 800-number instead of the post office directly. Wait times can be long, but they’re much more helpful.
There are also alternative shipping services. Stella Sensel and Erin Calabrese opened Bushwick Post last January in response to the need for a better delivery service in the neighborhood. Bushwick Daily spoke with Erin when they first opened, and she noted that, unlike other delivery franchises that charge insane prices, they keep their margins as close to post office prices as possible in order to provide a service to the community.
Miguel Cortes, who works at Bushwick Post and has lived in the neighborhood all his life, says that the problems with the post office aren’t new, which debunks the theory that the influx of people and the increase of packages are to blame for the issues.
“If I’m being honest, I don’t think it’s gotten worse. If anything, it’s gotten better,” he told Bushwick Daily.
He also says that Bushwick isn’t the only place dealing with terrible service. He used to work at a UPS store in Manhattan and people would come in all the time complaining about the post office there, too.
A spokesperson from USPS said via email that they have put additional resources in place to match the population growth and package volume increase in Bushwick. However, she did not provide a reason for why the service in the neighborhood is so bad.
Other than taking preemptive postal measures against USPS, try flooding your congressional reps. Maybe avoid sending them anything by mail, though.
Cover image courtesy of Ethan Hoover
