A frustrating personal experience that highlights the inefficiency and poor service of a government-run organization—the U.S. Postal Service (USPS)—compared to private companies like FedEx or UPS. Normally relying on the latter for their efficiency and competence, the author is forced to use USPS to send mail to a P.O. Box. What follows is a painfully bureaucratic and outdated ordeal: long lines, dilapidated facilities, unmotivated staff, and absurd rules.
After waiting in line for 30 minutes, the author is told to retrieve an Express Mail envelope from across the lobby, only to be forced to rejoin the line afterward. Later, he's told to step aside just to write the address, and then berated for standing in the “wrong spot” while doing so. Each step is marked by senseless policies and passive-aggressive enforcement, culminating in the author abandoning the mission entirely.
The essay ends with a broader critique of government inefficiency: unlike in the private sector, where poor service leads to accountability and potential job loss, government agencies operate with no consequences, funded by tax dollars and insulated from competition. In the free market, you’re a customer. With the government, the author argues, you’re a hostage.
The author needed to mail documents to a P.O. Box, which FedEx and UPS can’t deliver to, forcing a visit to the USPS.
Usual Experience with FedEx/UPS:
Clean, modern, relatively efficient.
Slightly pricey but competent service.
USPS Experience:
Facility Condition: Outdated, dirty, cluttered with decades-old signs and notes.
Staffing: Only one of ten service windows was open despite long lines.
Environment: Chaotic, disorganized, and inefficient.
Service Issues:
Clerk refused to provide an Express Mail envelope from behind the counter.
Forced to leave the line to retrieve it, then told to rejoin the back.
Later asked to step aside again just to write the address.
Denied use of a pen without hesitation.
Clerk’s Behavior:
Unhelpful, apathetic, rule-obsessed.
More concerned with enforcing arbitrary protocols than helping.
Threatened to remove the author for "causing a scene" when he expressed frustration.
Wider Message:
Free market: Service matters—bad employees or experiences have consequences.
Government (USPS): No accountability, no urgency, no customer focus.
Taxpayer-funded inefficiency that the public has no choice but to tolerate.
Closing Thought:
In private business, you’re a valued customer.
In a government-run system like the USPS, you’re a hostage to bureaucracy.
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