It is unbelievable how disrespectful people that work for the post office can be.  It is as if the forget that we all have lives too!  I hope the next generation is better than the present one!

Long lines are normal, it's the lack of kiosk agents and an APC that is maddening. I have held PO Boxes and done a lot of eBay mailings from 3 Manhattan branches -- 23rd St, Stuytown, and Rockefeller Plaza and also from the Greenpoint branch. I have been to the Wburg branch once and will never go back.

Even more alarming is the fact that we live in 11211 so our mail is handled by this P.O. and since moving apts 4 months ago, I have received maybe 4 pieces of forwarded mail. My old landlord got a few important pieces at the old place, including wage statements. Talk about prime playing ground for ID thieves, yikes!

Thats quiet a common situation at post offices in India and we in India have got used to it. In fact if we see no ques then there must be something wrong.

Glad I will be naturally dead from old age soon.

I just cant imagine this overcrowded system and world getting any better,time future ,and yup a baby born today can expect to live to 100 years ,speaking about the future

or lack of it.

Welcome to NYC.

Did you just get here? How is this news?

I only go here as a total last resort for all the reasons described above. Since it's my zip code though, it's inevitable I get the occasional registered mail or large package to pick up, which I completely dread.

There actually is a good post office nearby on Meserole in Greenpoint. Lines are usually short/fast-moving, window clerks usually friendly/knowledgeable, they have an Automated Postal Center machine and, although the hours aren't great, you can usually still go in after 1pm until about 4pm on Saturdays to use the APC and can even occasionally get a window clerk to assist during that time.

The secret weapon postal alternative is the Polish lady with postal machine at the bodega/pharmacy at 94 Nassau. The hours really can't be beat and she can handle pretty much everything sending related that a post office can (I even sent a package internationally with her once) and at post office prices.

+1 for the spot on Nassau.

From what I remember, she can't do delivery confirmation. Most everything else though.

-10 for mentioning the "secret" weapon & other spot online.stfu - you want a bunch of kooks fillin' up those locations?

-1000 for chuzzlewit who thinks that my calling something "secret" somehow means that it can't easily be found when clicking 'Locate a Post Office' on USPS.com and that Gothamist readers would not have already thought to look for alternatives there.

I have lived in many different zip codes in NYC. Many of the post offices really REALLY suck. BUT. I have to say that the one in Williamsburg is the worst I have ever had to deal with. And that was 7 years ago. Management always seemed totally out to lunch there. And the workers didn't seem to give a shit. Lethal combination.

Fedex or UPS. I buy stamps (yeah I still send letters/bills occasionally) at usps.com. The funniest part is that it takes 1-2 weeks to receive the stamps. Go figure.

The best post offices are outside of the city. Especially in rich suburbs... if you're ever heading to the 'burbs take advantage.

One other funny thing... a friend recently sent me a package from London using Royal Mail; it cost her a couple bucks. I tried sending a nearly identical package back to her and they wanted 50 bucks.

Glad to see my local post office getting the love it deserves. Illiterate clerks who can't find the name on the pickup slip given twelve hours to look; dazed twentysomethings taking 20 minutes to remember how to properly mail a package; the 5pm contingent who pretends not to speak english when asked why they are trying to cut in line.

I've had a couple of packages returned, one overseas which i was never reimbursed for, & that's failure enough, but i always go to Manhattan or to a bodega to buy stamps.

[& steal package postage from the meter at my job ;) ]

Wow, people in Williamsburg bitching about something? That's refreshing.

Really any New Yorker...wait, scratch that...anyone period living in New York will know that there isn't a good post office anywhere. From me working on CPW, to living in Park Slope, Fort Hamilton, Williamsburg, all sorts...not once have I ever seen a short line, more than one or possibly two tellers and rarely great customer service. I have had some wonderful tellers that were funny, witty and patient...but mainly, c'mon who here doesn't know the USPS is complete shit?

No but seriously, this is not an actual post office. It is either a glimpse into Hades itself, or Ukraine in the 1950's, I'm not sure which. It should actually be a tourist destination it is so absurd. Note the dust covered security cameras that haven't operated since the Carter administration.

Everyone in NYC knows that the WORST Post Office is in EAST HARLEM at the Hellgate station on 110th street between 3rd and Lexington Avenues. I had to fire off a few letters to higher-ups, because the service is horrible. There are usually 25 to 30 people, usually more, for 2 general service lines, and another 20 for the mail and parcel pick up line. The postal attendees are SLOW. There's only one guy in there, he's a chubby Caucasian with salt n pepper hair and glasses, who is efficient.

11211 USPS = FAIL! I've had so many issues with them in the past.

They left me a package slip that they tried to deliver to me while i was at work, which is fine, but then when i waited to go pick up the package the lady said it wasn't there and maybe wait an hour because it may be on the truck right now being delivered. So i went back home and there was no package. I went back to the post office and it was closed! This was at 4:30 pm!! The website mentioned that they closed at 7pm.

So i went back the next day a little earlier and the gates were shut again, and i still haven't received my package. So i check marked on the package delivery notice to leave it at the door, it never came.

I went there one last time to see if the package was there, it was actually open when i got there at 10 minutes to 5, but they told me the same as the first time i went there, that the package may be on the truck.

So in the end i never got my package, it went back to Amazon and i got my refund. I guess i'll just have to pay a little more for shipping the next time to avoid USPS deliveries.

The Park Slope post office is monumentally horrendous, but I think as far as bad post offices go, the Atlantic Avenue one should definitely be listed among the bottom three in New York. I blame the management for not hiring enough staff, and I blame the staff for being slow, stupid, uncivil, uncaring, and incompetent.

I can't wait until this business model spreads to the health care industry.

The post office on South 4th is the worst I've ever been too...in my life. This is absolutely true.

The employees are incredible lazy, slow-moving and complacent.

i personally try to avoid lines by using the automated kiosks whenever possible. like the brand new one in dumbo that always has a technical problem that means it CAN'T PRINT POSTAGE, and then i walk up to the main BK post office at cadman plaza, and then the drop box is ALWAYS JAMMED.

williamsburg post office is a nightmare - they don't even bother to play the cheesy video in the lobby anymore. they're at least smart enough to figure out everyone has it memorized and can recite it verbatim by now.