Lies my Post Office tells me

Lesson learned today: If you need to send a package overnight, stick with FedEx and avoid the US Postal Service.

The USPS offers a thing called “Click-N-Ship,” where you can supposedly go online and, using your credit card, print out Priority Mail or Express Mail labels and ship them yourself, without a trip to the Post Office.

Unfortunately, the USPS has blatantly incorrect information on its Web site — information that, if you believe it, will make you think your package is being delivered quickly even when it’s not.

The Web site makes is absolutely clear in the FAQ:

Do I have to take my packages to a Post Office when I print labels online?

It is not necessary to take your packages to a Post Office when you print labels and postage online. You may deposit Priority Mail or Express Mail packages into any Postal Service collection box.

This is simply not true. In reality, you have to drop Click-N-Ship packages at the Post Office, or they’ll be delivered by regular mail. (You can also request a carrier pickup.)

That’s what I was told by not one, but two USPS representatives, despite the Web site saying exactly the opposite.

Now the whole point of Click-N-Ship is that you can save yourself the trouble of running down to the Post Office. But no … you still have to go, or, like me, you’ll spend $14.40 to send an “overnight” letter that won’t get to its destination for three or four days.

Next time, FedEx.