That's assuming you can *find* a post office. When I moved here I spent months asking around for "where's the nearest post office? really? REALLY?" because I work in a commercial downtown area and there isn't one that I can realistically get to at lunchtime.
Both Canada and Australia have some kind of licensed franchise system where small businesses can have a mini-post-office on their premises. When I lived in Ottawa, my nearest post office was a desk at the back of a 7-11 two blocks from my house. It was open late. This does not exist in the US... or rather, there are all these little shops that will ship stuff for you, but they do UPS *and* FedEx *and* USPS *and* sixteen other things, and the pricing is ludicrously complicated, and they screw you round by over-charging for USPS services, and anyway they're not listed on usps.gov so when you ask "where's my nearest post office?" it won't list anywhere you can send stuff via USPS, it will only list "official" post offices.
My understanding is that round here, people buy stamps at pharmacies or through ATMs, buy packaging material for shipping at office supply stores, and send actual packages by weighing their own and printing labels online. If that's how you do it -- never actually going to a post office -- then actually having to go to a PO to sign a customs form, show ID, and send something internationally is a bit of a drama I guess.
Me, I just never send anything anywhere. If it's not digital, they can do without.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-03-11 12:00 am (UTC)Both Canada and Australia have some kind of licensed franchise system where small businesses can have a mini-post-office on their premises. When I lived in Ottawa, my nearest post office was a desk at the back of a 7-11 two blocks from my house. It was open late. This does not exist in the US... or rather, there are all these little shops that will ship stuff for you, but they do UPS *and* FedEx *and* USPS *and* sixteen other things, and the pricing is ludicrously complicated, and they screw you round by over-charging for USPS services, and anyway they're not listed on usps.gov so when you ask "where's my nearest post office?" it won't list anywhere you can send stuff via USPS, it will only list "official" post offices.
My understanding is that round here, people buy stamps at pharmacies or through ATMs, buy packaging material for shipping at office supply stores, and send actual packages by weighing their own and printing labels online. If that's how you do it -- never actually going to a post office -- then actually having to go to a PO to sign a customs form, show ID, and send something internationally is a bit of a drama I guess.
Me, I just never send anything anywhere. If it's not digital, they can do without.