San Diego County’s post-office beeline

Lori Ruedi of Carlsbad exited the long line at the Aviara Parkway post office on December 11 and said she would return in the morning. Then she decided to try a self-service kiosk that had only two people waiting to use it. She needed to mail three packages and buy stamps in a hurry, as she was on her way to the gym.

“It took, like, two minutes,” Ruedi said.

A typical wait time to conduct business with a clerk that day was about 40 minutes, according to several people who exited the building. The automated kiosks have built-in scales for weighing packages and the stand-alone machines are similar in shape and size to an ATM. Most of them are located within the post-office lobby and are accessible after hours. They accept credit and debit cards and can be used to purchase stamps, mail letters and non-international packages. Signature or confirmation delivery and payments on post-office boxes are also options.

Eva Jackson, spokesperson for the United States Postal Service, said San Diego County has 58 of the expensive machines in high-volume post offices throughout the county. She said using the kiosks can be time-savers even after the holidays for consumers who need to return items purchased online.

“Our self-service kiosks have a program, where if you want to return something, we return it and track it,” Jackson said.

Friday, December 21, is the last day to send a Priority Mail package that will arrive before Christmas; Saturday is the deadline to send items by Express Mail.