Day: July 23, 2009

When I first started running mass shipments of books, I was terrified that I would do something wrong. I could vividly picture all of the packages being returned to me to be fixed. Then all the work of the mailings would be doubled as I scrambled to try to fix it. When people started reporting that their packages arrived it was a huge relief. The fear gradually faded as I continued to send out mass mailings without having mass returns. I began to believe that my system was effective rather than slap dash. The success stopped feeling like a fluke.

This was why the phone call today threw me so far off balance. The post office called to tell me that the 850 packages I had dropped off were improperly sorted and that they could not accept them because the postage was dated yesterday and the day before. It was like being sideswiped by an old nightmare come true. I ended up hauling my wonderful shipping helpers down to the post office so that they could assist in jumping through the necessary hoops in order to get those packages sent on their way. This involved re-sorting the packages and stamping each one with a stamp bearing today’s date. I was conciliatory and apologetic through the procedure because the most important thing was getting the packages to my customers. Also I was emotionally frazzled and I always revert to conflict-avoidance in that state. So the immediate problem was solved, but I still felt unsettled. My shipping system had been challenged. I was certain that the postal workers’ requirements were driven by a need to not damage their customer service stats with “late” packages rather than any legal requirement, but I still felt the effects of the nightmare come true. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized how unreasonable the demand was. And then I felt bad for not taking a stand and confronting them about the fact that I was doing the work that they are paid to do. All the “should have saids” buzzed around in my brain and colliding with each other.

So I came home and tried to put it all out of my head with less that complete success. So then I griped on facebook, hoping that would clear it out. That didn’t work either. Then Howard called. His postal contact said that making me sort packages was completely bogus. Then that postal contact told the postal supervisor for this area, and the supervisor said that the demand was outright wrong. In director-level postal worker meetings it is constantly emphasized that workers need to bend over backward to assist in mass mailings. My system is not broken, I just attempted to use a broken post office as part of my shipping instead of the larger post office that I usually use. I nearly cried on the phone with Howard and the tension drained out of me. I was not wrong, the post office was. I knew that logically, but having that validated by someone who has power over the postal system was a huge relief.

And so now I am writing this blog entry and hoping that I can just let it go and bask in the joy of a stressful job complete. I would really like to think about something else now.