More post office weirdness

Some other odd things about the postal service here in Oz.

(1) There is no Saturday service. Nor are the post offices open on Saturday.

(2) There are no stamp vending machines anywhere. You have to buy your stamps from a human being, which sucks. I have discovered that I can buy stamps from a newsagent, but they hide them behind the counter and don't advertise it.

(3) They have different stamps for domestic versus international mail. And god help you if you use the wrong one as I found out once. I put the correct amount of postage on a card going to the US and tried to mail it. They fined me 30 cents for using domestic stamps. It doesn't make any sense. The expense of printing different types of stamps and then tracking their usage must far exceed whatever the hell the benefit is to them.

I suspect that it is a revenue enhancement scheme.

(4) The post office is also the place you go to pay your utility and telephone bills, recharge your cell phone and calling cards, pay taxes, stock up on office supplies, and all kinds of non-postal services.

You would think that it would create a long line. It does, but it moves fast. You don't wait very long.

When I think of all the time I waste standing in line at the Santa Barbara post office at lunch simply to mail a package. And all they do in the US is postal matters. A line the same size in Santa Barbara would take 30-45 minutes to get to the head will take 10 minutes here.

So it makes one wonder, why do they move at a snail's pace in SB? What is taking so damn long? How hard is it to mail a package?

(5) Something else weird. If you mail a letter overseas that has only a card in it, you can send it cheaper by writing "card only" on the envelope. I have no idea why. How do they know you didn't slip in a little note or photo? Would that void the discount?

(6) I have noticed that when I send mail TO to US, it has always gotten there within a couple of weeks. However, mail sent to me FROM the US has 70-80 percent chance of getting to me. I know of a few pieces of mail that have never arrived. The amount of time varies from 2 to 6 weeks. I suspect they get lost or stolen in the US system.

(7) The post office here does not pick you mail at your home mail box. You have to take it to a letter box or to the post office.

(8) I've been warned that it is not a good idea to put your mail into a letter box. Trish told me that teenagers, as a prank, like to pour soft drinks, varnish, matches, and other destructive material into the sidewalk letter boxes.