On July 6, I went to the post office to take some passport photos because I checked USPS website and thought I could get professional photography services there. When I got the photos, I found they were totally unacceptable as per the Guidelines for Producing High Quality Photographs for U.S. Travel Documents issued by The Department of State (http://travel. State. Gov). First, there were two solid white balls in both eyes, making my eyes look like those of a fish. Second, there was shadow on the wall behind me, right below my ears. Third, the background is dark. Fourth, the size of the photo was not 2x2 at all. The overall quality was very nonprofessional.
I immediately expressed that I did not want to accept these photos. The employee who took the photo asked the postmaster to talk to me. He insisted I pay the $15.00 even though the photos were unacceptable to me. His arguments were ridiculous to me: (1) he believed I refused to accept the photos simply because I didnt like them; (2) He believed that I should pay because I had used their service. (3) He thought my glasses were to blame for the fish eyes. Obviously he didnt, or pretended that he didnt, understand why I immediately came to dislike the photos after taking all the trouble searching USPS website and then coming to the office. Any private company would be happy to give the customer a refund if the customer thinks the service/product is not what he/she has expected. Why did he think I used their service and therefore must pay regardless of whether I was satisfied or not? Is it simply because USPS is state-run? If the post office couldnt provide professional photography services such as avoiding the fish eyes effect, why should USPS have been in this business in the first place? My wife later took the photos for me at home, and the quality was so much better than the ones by USPS. Though I was wearing glasses, there was no glaring or fish eyes at all. The background was bright and there was no recognizable shadow behind the head. If we could do it, why USPS could not do it? The postmaster kept mumbling that they provided photography services every single day to many people and claimed that he would be happy to retake the photos if the photos they took were rejected by the State Department. Any average person would know this was a weak and irrelevant argument. I didnt know what reactions other people had when they saw their photos. But did this really matter? All I knew was the photos in my hands were unacceptable. Wasnt this enough? In addition, when I knew the State Department rejected the photos, wouldnt it be too late?
I called USPS Consumer Affairs on July 9. The woman who answered the phone told me refund was impossible citing rules and regulations governing USPS, which is a business different from Wal-Mart. But when I asked what USPS rules and regulations specified what she claimed, she was unable to reply. She then insisted that the postmaster at Prospect Heights Post Office offered to retake the photos for me but I refused. That was true. But it was because I totally lost confidence in USPS after the postmaster said he would be happy to retake the photos if the State Department rejected the photos. At that point of time, he did not offer to retake the photos right away. Rather, he offered to do so only after I expressed my great unhappiness and was about to leave. More sarcastically, the woman answering the phone said photo taking was a "courtesy" outside of their normal business, making it sound like free lunch and probably indicating I should have felt grateful to USPS for this valuable service. I do not understand why it is a courtesy if USPS charges customers 15 dollars for two poor-quality photos and a full stomach of anger and frustration, whereas for-profit CVS charges $7.99 for 6 photos. This woman even did not say Good-bye when she hung up the phone, obviously offended by such an unreasonable customer like me.
I guess USPS should do some self-meditation. Would it be probable one day it will be entirely squeezed out of business by private players like UPS and FedEx if customers continue to feel unhappy with the services received at post offices, and if some of the employees at USPS continue to live in the condescending mirage that theyre doing a favor to customers? Do some googling and you will find thousands of complaints about USPS on the Internet. Read some newspapers, and you will see headlines such as [Chicagos] Local mail delivery 'worst it's ever been (SunTimes March 17). It appears they don't bother to change their way of doing bussiness given their monopoly status. But sooner or later the market forces will make the change.
Disclose
Prospect Heights, Illinois
U.S.A.
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