Going Postal Over Parcels

So I take a late lunch yesteday, deciding to go home and chill abit and eat a healthy lunch of junk food and/or other things before I go run an errand - I needed to go ship out some packages at the friendly neighborhood post office. It's like 2:00 in the afternoon, the parking lot is packed. I wait several minutes on the sideline waiting for an opening so I could pull in. The girl behind me gave up and just parked at the curb. Who goes to the post office at 2 in the afternoon? Don't people have to be at work or something?

So I finally pull into a spot, sandwiched between a huge crookedly parked maroon Crown Vic (prolly some ol lady) on the left and a white Ford 350 or equivalent humongous truck with 4 doors and enough room to accomodate the Brady Bunch. I barely can open my door and squeeze my trim self out of there, and proceed to head inside the postal center. I go in there, and the line is extremely long, even for this time. Normally it's nothing. There's just a scant 2 workers working the desk. And some guy was monopolizing one, shipping about a dozen boxes priority, and he even brought his own dolley no less. He should get the medal for royally holding up the line. So that's taking a while.

I decide to try out that new Automated Postal Center (APC) that has been out several months now that they've been hyping - maybe this would be faster. Boy was I wrong. OK it wasn't that bad. But bad enough that I've decided I'd rather wait in line than to go through that experience again. You get a touch screen interface which is expected, and you choose what kind of classification of package you have (letter, parcel, etc) and then you have to weigh it. And then you enter the ZIP and choose how fast you want it shipped, and then you complete the purchase by swiping your credit card and buying the stam, applying the stamp and then dropping it in the huge receptacle in the back.

The problem is, for each package you have, you have to go through the whole process. So if you have a handful of packages, start getting used to swiping that card over and over again, with tiny credit card charges each time. Don't forget you have to enter your PIN every time. This is a hassle. Why can't you say I'm shipping 2 packages, weigh this, input ZIP and choose ship method, OK, next package. weigh, ZIP, and choose. "Will that be all?" Hit Enter, swipe your card, and it totals the 2 packages up and you pay once, and then the stamps print out all at once, and then you apply and drop it in the receptacle. What's this one transaction at a time deal. Inefficient, annoying, and definitely no return appeal whatsoever. When I was done, it was later than I expected so I hurried back to work.

Wait I'm not done yet. And then the actual stamps that are printed out. They're oversized, about 4 times as big as the normal labels you get to place in the stamp area corner. Where am I supposed to stick this monster?! Do I fold it over with the little UPC barcode on the top and the other side folded over the back that has the city, st and zip code? Do I try to fit all of it on the front? What if I have to turn it sideways? Is that gonna make it any less valid? If I fold it will the mail sorter be smart enough to look on the back for the top half of the label if he indeed needs to look at that part? I didn't see any instructions there, thank you. Aesthetics, does no one care? It looks horrible. Why can't I have a neat little package with a nice small neat little printed out label that fits perfectly in the upper right hand corner where it's all supposed to go? Eh? What gives? Hullo?

You see, sometimes technology's attempt to make things easier really complicates things. Or at least maybe the solution wasn't well thought out enough before it's being OK'ed into production. Me, I'm a purveyor of technology. I'm a tech fanboy and proud of it. Whoever invented the toaster should get a Nobel Peace Prize. But please, have the end-user's in mind please. Intuitiveness and ease of use is what is going to ultimate win the customer over. Don't be alienating a potential client by not thinking through how a user would use things. That's who's gonna be buying or using your things. Maybe I'm being overcritical about it right now. Just make it right. People will thank you for it. I need a nap.

Next on JJCJ: Wal-Mart Self Service Check Out vs. HEB Self-Service Check Out