Death by a thousand cuts?

[susandennis]

The post office has some very fun new stamps out - Disney cartoon characters - the Smile Campaign. Someone over on G+ posted a photo and I thought it would be fun to lay in a supply of those for those very few times I mail stuff.

Here's where I discover maybe part of why the post office is having financial woes...

I know, from experience, that going to any on of the three post offices closest to here (and, seriously, do we really need three post offices practically on top of one another?) none will have a good selection of stamps.  And likely none will have the ones I want.

I could get them online.  They show a bascillion different stamps to pick from but the ones I wanted weren't on the list.  I finally found them via a search because I knew the exact name of the campaign.

BUT, I can't buy them online because I have an old account that I cannot access (I don't know the password and their 'i don't know password' function doesn't work) and I can't open a new one because I already have an account.

I know that the vast majority of their revenue comes from businesses and us little stamp buyers who rarely send or receive mail are not at all the problem but really?  No fun stamps for me.

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Today I have a swim class at noon and, honestly, that's it.  Retirement, like most anything else, is what you make it.  Obviously, my production nums are low!

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I'd like to get a manicure but I hate sitting there not able to use my hands, making chit chat with someone I don't know.  And paying for the annoyance.

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One retirement thing I'm trying to learn is grocery shopping.  I desperately want to quit stockpiling for the apocalypse.  I have food in this house I will never eat.   I have the time to go to the grocery store every day, if I want so there is no need to shop for a month at a time. My fridge and freezer are getting there.

This week I'm going to empty out my pantry shelves and trash everything that is not essential.

And then I'm going to start using the just-in-time inventory model.

Comments

[fyremaven.livejournal.com]

if you really want to open a new account just get a temporary email at yahoo or wherever just for the postal stuff. i like buying the fun stamps too!!

[susandennis]

It's the post office. They don't care about your email address. To open a different account, I need a different physical address. Not worth moving.

[fyremaven.livejournal.com]

DEFINITELY not worth moving!

right

[henare.livejournal.com]

you have to call some number, wait on hold, ... f that.

[mixter11nm.livejournal.com]

Get a manicure with your iPod on or playing tunes on your droid. That always takes care of the talking part. ;o)

[mixter11nm.livejournal.com]

I meant to say that you should have your ear phones in your ears of course. Hit the send too quickly.

[susandennis]

i got the idea... seems kind of rude but at least it fixes the chit chat issue! maybe i could tip bigger to take care of the rude.

[susandennis]

that's a smart idea!

[susandennis]

It throws a database error. I likely have the username incorrect but there is no 'forget your username?'

[howeird]

I know it's not that important to you, but since you are now a retired person with lots of free time, maybe this link can help
http://faq.usps.com/eCustomer/iq/usps/request.do?create=kb:USPSFAQ&forward=inquiryType

[susandennis]

I actually used that yesterday. no word from them yet.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

The post office is having one problem that's political, and it's the source of most of their grief. Congress passed a law forcing them to pre-fund pensions and health care benefits... for the next 75 years. So, they're pre-funding retirement benefits for postal workers that aren't even born yet. Without that law, they'd have run a small profit (instead of a huge loss) a couple years back.

That's not to say that they would have fixed their damn website and come up with a better method for solving "lost my password" issues that, you know, *worked*. But having to throw away huge gobs of money for completely pointless reasons can cripple any business.

I have friend who is a former postmaster

[vixter.livejournal.com]

Of a dinky town in Washington state. but nowhere near Seattle. I could ask her if you could call her replacement and order stamps from her.

Re: I have friend who is a former postmaster

[susandennis]

That's so nice of you but I finally plugged in all possible usernames and finally hit on the one they wanted and was finally able to buy the stamps!