Question: I went to the post office next to Honolulu Airport at 10:30 a.m. Monday, May 20. There was a line of 30-plus customers and only three employees to service them during the 30 minutes I waited. The parking lot was full, and if there were more parking, the line would have been longer. Why were there only three employees to service customers at the largest post office in the state? The long line inside made the parking lot dangerous for pedestrians, as drivers became more aggressive, losing their sense of aloha. Some drivers exited the lot, turning left and coming right back in. Even if that is legal, it is not a safe traffic pattern. If nobody complains, nothing will ever get fixed. Some people in line in front of me just gave up and left. Is this how the Postal Service wants to represent itself?
Answer: The U.S. Postal Service apologizes for the inconvenience you experienced, saying the 30-minute wait “is not acceptable” at any of its post offices.
With the information you provided, it determined what happened that day.
Four clerks were assigned to the retail windows of the Honolulu Main Post Office that morning, said USPS spokesman Duke Gonzalez. Fifteen minutes before you arrived, one clerk was allowed to take a lunch break, which “probably contributed to the pronounced wait time,” he said.
“We can’t control the number of customers who choose to visit our post offices at any given time, but we can do a better job of responding to our customers’ needs by more closely monitoring customer demand,” he said. “And we will.”
Wait times at any post office are difficult to predict, the result of various factors, many beyond the Postal Service’s control, he said.
“All it takes is one customer with a large shipment or a specialized issue or need to back things up, especially at our smaller post offices,” he explained. “Having said that, customers will probably find that it is less crowded during midmorning and midafternoon at many post offices.”
He said Mondays “are absolutely the busiest days of the week at all of our post offices,” while the couple of hours after opening and before closing also are usually busier. Wednesdays and Thursdays tend to be less crowded.
Regarding drivers turning left out of the lot: Gonzalez said customers are discouraged from “undertaking the unsafe and illegal driving maneuvers” you described. “We periodically patrol our lot and issue warnings to such transgressors, but the problem still crops up from time to time.”
Gonzalez acknowledged that the lot can get crowded, but said “customers usually need not wait longer than a few minutes” for a parking space because of the high turnover rate.
“One factor that occasionally impacts the number of spaces available for our customers is the illegal use of our spaces by people who are waiting to pick up travelers at the adjacent interisland air terminal,” he said.
FLAG DISPOSAL
The American Legion of Hawaii will hold its annual flag disposal ceremony on Flag Day, June 14.
The ceremony will begin at 8 a.m. at the Keehi Lagoon Memorial (formerly the Disabled American Veterans Park) at 2685 N. Nimitz Highway.
The public is welcome to drop off flags for proper disposal that morning, said Dennis Zatecka, state senior vice commander of the Hawaii American Legion.
The ceremony will take about an hour, with the actual disposal of the flags to take place between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., he said.
Under the U.S. Flag Code, when a flag “is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display,” it should be destroyed “in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”
MAHALO
To the person who found my state ID, credit and debit cards and dropped them off at the Waikiki-Kapahulu Library Book Club back in April. You made my weekend. — Tim
———
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
