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It's stand up, line up and wait as post offices end number slips Postal Service should reinstate tickets for waits

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The following letters are in response to the Aug. 24 article "It's stand up, line up and wait as post offices end number slips."

The Star reports that Rob Soler, a spokesman for the Postal Service in Tucson, said, "The change was made to reduce waiting times and increase efficiency." I don't know what year the U.S. Postal Service inaugurated the take a number system, but I bet at that time it was hailed as a vast improvement over the wait-in-line system. It was also reported that he said, "People living elsewhere have been standing in line for years." That's prophetic. The USPS hasn't learned that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Thursday's edition reports an amazing piece of bureaucratic idiocy. Some bean-counting efficiency expert in the U.S. Postal Service has come up with a stunningly stupid idea for alienating the vast majority of its customers: Eliminate its ticket machines and require patrons to line up. Talk about a backward leap away from progress and common sense. This takes the cake. No, this deserves not merely a well-earned editorial thorn; it deserves the whole bush.

Efficiency? Baloney. If a ticket holder doesn't respond in a very few seconds, call the next number. The sadder-but-wiser bypassed ticket holder can start over with a new, higher number.

Yes, the window service is usually fine, but I do not envy the clerk who will hear mutterings of elder abuse and worse. Let's hope common sense prevails and a bad decision is reversed.

The newest time-saving dictum of the post office looks like another ill-conceived bureaucratic notion from the office suggestion box.

The 30-second savings will not negate annoyance of having to stand or congestion if there is heavy traffic. It's all very well to say that the staff will be trained to be on the lookout to help those who need assistance. However, I suspect that I am not alone in having to deal with a back ailment that makes it painful to stand for more than a minute or two, although I do not use a walker or a cane that would indicate a problem. It was no problem to take a number and sit on a bench to wait.

I have called the United States Postal Service at their 800 number, 1-800-275-8777, to complain about the removal of the number system from the local post offices. After pushing the usual number of buttons, I finally got to talk to a very helpful person. I asked that a supervisor from customer service call me so I could explain our plight. Perhaps if enough people call we might get this reversed.