An Open Letter to the USPS

An Open Letter to the USPS

Dear United States Postal Service,

First! I want you to know that you are not irrelevant and I hope that you never will be. It is true that due to email, scanning, and all this wonderful technology at our disposal we are not required to use you as much. HOWEVER, there will always be a need to mail and ship things.

That being said, it’s obvious that the majority of people doing the shipping used to be businesses. Not so any more my friends. Even direct mailing and advertising is becoming less frequent. Let’s discuss who is now responsible for mailing and shipping the large majority of letters and packages. It is moms (and some dads)! We are the ones who send the birthday cards out, we are the ones who ship the presents, we are the ones who take the time to carefully tuck the handmade art work safely into envelopes to mail to grandparents.

When Noah was an infant I had to, on multiple occasions, stand in line at the post office as he thankfully made sweet faces at the people behind me while I lost all feeling in my left arm under his chunky weight. Then you answered my unspoken prayers! You offered a self service kiosk, or as I like to call it a postal ATM, at my local post office. Woo hoo! Not only did it not matter whether I made it to see you during business hours I also didn’t have to wait in line! This was a huge improvement!!

Now I know you are thinking, you can print out labels online! Yea, yea, I know! But, do you know how hard it is to sit at a computer when you have a toddler and now an infant too pulling at you, or trying to type, or get at the wires under the desk? I could probably get it done during nap time, but let’s be honest. That time is precious! I do not want to have to spend it printing out shipping labels. That got me thinking. When would be the best time to mail letters and packages? And a light bulb clicked on! When I am stuck in the car waiting for my kid to wake up from his nap!

I can’t tell you how often us mom’s are running errands around town, our kid falls asleep and we are now trapped in our car until they wake up. Because, let’s face it, we spend the entire first couple of years trying to get them to sleep so the last thing we are going to do it wake them up! This is what we all live for, but it ALWAYS happens when I need to go to the post office! That is why you need to invent a drive through post office!!!! Or maybe just a drive up postal ATM!! I would happily wait in line for 30 minutes (or more) to use one of these if that meant I could do it while my kid slept in the backseat.

If these existed I might have actually sent out the Christmas cards I ordered last year. I finally just threw them away last week. Seriously, it was so painful!! I stupidly ordered square envelopes that require extra postage and that meant I would have to go into the post office and wait in line to ask one of the counter people which stamps I needed and then purchase them and then walk over to a counter and then put the stamps on all 75 christmas cards, all the while juggling a 23 month old and a 3 month old. Obviously, that never happened. I kept thinking I would, but then as soon as I was near a post office one of my kids would either fall asleep or start melting down and the thought of waiting in line in December in one of your post offices was a nightmare! Now had you offered the opportunity of waiting for an hour (or more) in the comfort of my own car, where both kids were strapped down and able to scream at the top of their lungs (if necessary) without offending the ears of those nearby I happily would have accepted!! Hell, I’ll even pay extra!

So in an effort to help you stay relevant to your target market (us moms and some dads) please, please, PLEASE start offering a drive through post office or drive up postal ATM!!!

Sincerely,

Tracy

The UnCoordinated Mommy