Post Office Passport Hell

I really hate my local (Huntington Station) Post Office and its lack of customer service. This is aside from the worst-designed parking lot in history; the removal of stamp machines so that you either have to buy them from the APC--which takes only credit cards and doesn't sell individual stamps--and including the elimination of outdoor machines; the surly attitudes of a number of workers, etc.

It is hard to describe how awful getting into this lot can be. One of these days, I'll try drawing a map of the one-way entrances, the one-way exit that puts cars directly into the path of people entering and leaving the main lot; the narrow space left for cars to pass each other around the one-way traffic lanes, etc. It is horrible.

The latest stunt is a small note posted on the passport room announcing that appointments are required on Saturdays in order to get any passport assistance. Of course, there's no phone number to help you do that. Good luck getting the attention of anyone working there to find out, short of standing in the long lines that literally reach the exit many days. I was standing in a fortunately shorter version of that line this morning watching as the passport line grew; none of the first three people realized they needed an appointment but one of the clerks took it upon himself to yell over to them that they needed appointments; when a few indicated surprise, he marched into the room to point it out to the passport crew.

As far as passports, there are new requirements and new fees as of yesterday. Some days it seems as if the system is designed to keep people from traveling rather than helping them. There are new rules involving minors--it used to be that one parent could show up with a notarized letter from the other parent saying it was okay for the kid to travel. Now apparently both have to show up. Don't know how divorced parents or people separated by thousands of miles handle this. As far as the federal passport system itself--good luck. I sent for some certified copies of documents I'd submitted earlier; the check was cashed Nov.1. Still no papers.