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Berkeley CA USPS general delivery shenanigans, part 1
TL;DR: Personal project ruined by local USPS misbehavior. Follow-up and escalation might improve mail service for local homeless people.
Good news. I got accepted to present a project at FIGMENT Oakland 2015.
Bad news. The acceptance was at the last minute, so I need to build my project from scratch.
Good news. All of the components were able to get here with just enough time to spare.
Bad news. Berkeley CA sent one of my packages back to Virginia because they have some outdated and/or unsubstantiated policies about general delivery[1].
Here I am, in crunch mode, building stuff, buying parts at local hardware stores, and hitting the Berkeley main post office (94704) at 9AM on Saturday, when they open. I walk in, hand the woman (N) my ID, and she says she'll see if the package is there. No worries, I've checked the tracking site, it arrived yesterday! She comes back and tells me that it's not there. She asks if I filled out a form PS1527, which she shows me, a small pink card, "Application for General Delivery Service", dated 1995. I've never seen this form before, despite using GD service in other cities, so I inquire as to the requirements. She says I need to have filled out the form before the package arrived, and that I can only use GD service for 30 days in a given year at this post office. She further tells me that my package was returned to sender the previous day.
N tells me to call customer service with further question. I call customer service. ~20 minute hold time. They don't recognize those requirements, and put me on hold to research. The call drops. I call again. ~20 minute hold time. New rep (O) doesn't recognize the requirements, nor does her colleague. O finds the relevant Domestic Mail Manual section, quotes it to me including "no application required", and walks me through finding it on the USPS website. O asks me to talk to N again with this correction. N tells me she won't talk to me while I'm on the phone with O. O tells me to ask for a supervisor. N tells me to go to another post office (94702) to speak to a supervisor. I drive to 94702 with O still on the phone while she looks into the 30 day limit. We clarify that this limit is also not official, I thank her for her time, and let her go.
At 94702 I speak to a supervisor (P) who interrupts me halfway through my story to bring me to a subordinate of hers (Q) who is more familiar with general delivery. I explain the whole situation to Q. Q tells me that everything I was told by N is correct, and that O has incorrect or outdated info. She likens this outdated info to the website having the wrong hours for her branch. I try to explain to Q that I've looked at the DMM myself, but she's having none of it. She says the postal workers have policy documents that they aren't allowed to show to customers that support her position. She says those documents are at the main branch, and I'd have to go there to talk to a supervisor who has access to them. One of her subordinates does show her, and her me, a printout of a memo including a paraphrased short version of a policy (something seciton 683, I think?) that covers what I already know about the 30 day limit in less detail, and doesn't actually mention a requirement for an application at all.
I point out to Q that the PS1527 I was given is from 1995 and probably outdated. She's unfazed. I try a few avenues of escalation and she eventually gives me the phone number for the local postmaster (Ray Davis), who won't be in the office until Monday. I call anyway and speak to one of his subordinates at the delivery center, who tells me I might also want to speak to his supervisor (Leo), who is below Ray, and will also be in on Monday morning. I plan to call them then.
At this point in the story I have a solid internet connection again, so I can look up PS1527 online. Lo and behold, I find a version updated in 2010 (the last time the GD section of the DMM was updated, as well). This version explicitly calls out the 30 day limit as applying to a single piece of mail, and not to length of GD service[2]. It also includes an updated reference to DMM 508.6 instead of DMM D930.1.0 from the old form I was given. I returned to the post office and both P and Q said they didn't care what the website said, and I should take this up with the supervisor (Victoria?) at the main branch on Monday.
I will post an update to this on Monday. I don't actually think I'm wasting my time, this time. If I can get the 30 day limit confusing resolved, then a lot of homeless people in Berkeley will be able to get mail service that's been denied to them. I think there's a good chance of this, even if I have to get postal inspectors involved to deal with the local employees for making up their own rules. If I can determine that the application requirement is invalid, then I'll have an interesting few months getting laughed out of court trying to recover my costs and losses from the USPS.
[1] General Delivery is a service the USPS offers for transients, the homeless, travelers, etc. It allows mail to be sent to a post office with a person's name on it, then held at that post office for up to 30 days (less for parcels, maybe) until the recipient shows up with their ID to claim it.
[2] http://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2010/pb22280/html/updt_018.htm
Good news. I got accepted to present a project at FIGMENT Oakland 2015.
Bad news. The acceptance was at the last minute, so I need to build my project from scratch.
Good news. All of the components were able to get here with just enough time to spare.
Bad news. Berkeley CA sent one of my packages back to Virginia because they have some outdated and/or unsubstantiated policies about general delivery[1].
Here I am, in crunch mode, building stuff, buying parts at local hardware stores, and hitting the Berkeley main post office (94704) at 9AM on Saturday, when they open. I walk in, hand the woman (N) my ID, and she says she'll see if the package is there. No worries, I've checked the tracking site, it arrived yesterday! She comes back and tells me that it's not there. She asks if I filled out a form PS1527, which she shows me, a small pink card, "Application for General Delivery Service", dated 1995. I've never seen this form before, despite using GD service in other cities, so I inquire as to the requirements. She says I need to have filled out the form before the package arrived, and that I can only use GD service for 30 days in a given year at this post office. She further tells me that my package was returned to sender the previous day.
N tells me to call customer service with further question. I call customer service. ~20 minute hold time. They don't recognize those requirements, and put me on hold to research. The call drops. I call again. ~20 minute hold time. New rep (O) doesn't recognize the requirements, nor does her colleague. O finds the relevant Domestic Mail Manual section, quotes it to me including "no application required", and walks me through finding it on the USPS website. O asks me to talk to N again with this correction. N tells me she won't talk to me while I'm on the phone with O. O tells me to ask for a supervisor. N tells me to go to another post office (94702) to speak to a supervisor. I drive to 94702 with O still on the phone while she looks into the 30 day limit. We clarify that this limit is also not official, I thank her for her time, and let her go.
At 94702 I speak to a supervisor (P) who interrupts me halfway through my story to bring me to a subordinate of hers (Q) who is more familiar with general delivery. I explain the whole situation to Q. Q tells me that everything I was told by N is correct, and that O has incorrect or outdated info. She likens this outdated info to the website having the wrong hours for her branch. I try to explain to Q that I've looked at the DMM myself, but she's having none of it. She says the postal workers have policy documents that they aren't allowed to show to customers that support her position. She says those documents are at the main branch, and I'd have to go there to talk to a supervisor who has access to them. One of her subordinates does show her, and her me, a printout of a memo including a paraphrased short version of a policy (something seciton 683, I think?) that covers what I already know about the 30 day limit in less detail, and doesn't actually mention a requirement for an application at all.
I point out to Q that the PS1527 I was given is from 1995 and probably outdated. She's unfazed. I try a few avenues of escalation and she eventually gives me the phone number for the local postmaster (Ray Davis), who won't be in the office until Monday. I call anyway and speak to one of his subordinates at the delivery center, who tells me I might also want to speak to his supervisor (Leo), who is below Ray, and will also be in on Monday morning. I plan to call them then.
At this point in the story I have a solid internet connection again, so I can look up PS1527 online. Lo and behold, I find a version updated in 2010 (the last time the GD section of the DMM was updated, as well). This version explicitly calls out the 30 day limit as applying to a single piece of mail, and not to length of GD service[2]. It also includes an updated reference to DMM 508.6 instead of DMM D930.1.0 from the old form I was given. I returned to the post office and both P and Q said they didn't care what the website said, and I should take this up with the supervisor (Victoria?) at the main branch on Monday.
I will post an update to this on Monday. I don't actually think I'm wasting my time, this time. If I can get the 30 day limit confusing resolved, then a lot of homeless people in Berkeley will be able to get mail service that's been denied to them. I think there's a good chance of this, even if I have to get postal inspectors involved to deal with the local employees for making up their own rules. If I can determine that the application requirement is invalid, then I'll have an interesting few months getting laughed out of court trying to recover my costs and losses from the USPS.
[1] General Delivery is a service the USPS offers for transients, the homeless, travelers, etc. It allows mail to be sent to a post office with a person's name on it, then held at that post office for up to 30 days (less for parcels, maybe) until the recipient shows up with their ID to claim it.
[2] http://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2010/pb22280/html/updt_018.htm