Simple question… when you go to the post office, do you bring/use your own pen or expect them to provide one?
I've always expected there to be pens at the post office for filling out addresses on letters & parcels, particularly when they provide a table for you to do this on.
I went there the other day though and there were none. A staff member complained they kept getting stolen and they don't have the stock to replace them, suggested I bring my own next time.
Thoughts?
This is a good sort of thing to keep in mind as well, agreed that the post office usually has pens attached with strings. But if you can't find one, newsagents and banks are typically really good back ups for pens if you need one in a jiffy and the PO has none.
I do bring my own pen actually, not because I don't expect them to provide one but just in case the ones they provide are being used.
Always be prepared.
Do you have a pocket pen protector also?
Aren't the pen's usually attached via a cord? Half the time those don't work properly anyway. I do have a PO box though so if they start removing pens I'll just keep one in there.
So they can pinch it when they do sorting?
I'll blu-tack it to the top corner and hope they don't notice!
Slow day eh?
Even slower with no pen…
Yeah people steal them or sometimes take them by accident. I bring a pen if I remember but I've always found one there.
Often the store tactics to keep it from being stolen are:
-> Pen is attached by cord
-> Pen is kept at the front desk
-> Pen is outrageously noticeable so nobody will steal it (i.e. I've seen a bright pink fluff ball on the cap)
you totally stole the pink fluff ball one didn't you
Probably stolen by someone that's absolutely fabulous IYKWIM
And then the next fellow steals the pen.
I have not been in a post office for a good 15 years. Or mailed a letter in my life.
Don't worry, you're only 32. You still have many years ahead of you to experience the monotony of a post office.
I look forward to it - I do have a passport that's due to expire does a little dance
Also…..I thought it was creepy that you knew how old I was…….Then I worked out how haha
I would have guessed 31. It would be unlikely you would have had your birthday by mid-January.
I have a fisher space pen I carry in my bag. They write on most surfaces at any angle and fold up into a relatively small size.
Just the thing for zero gravity Post Offices in the inner city.
I have certainly had instances when I had to write notes upside down on paper; especially when I couldn't put the thing I was writing on down. It means the ink flows no matter what angle you are writing at. However, I am also available for interstellar flights at a minutes notice.
Reminds me of the story (myth?) the US spent millions of dollars to develop a pen so that astronauts could write in zero-G. The Russians, gave their cosmonauts… pencils.
@Cliche Guevara: yeah, I’ve heard it too. Not sure free graphite would be a bonus in space.
However, I do like my fisher pens and I’ve thrown out a lot of biros, with ink still in them, at work when they just stop working; Haven’t found this an issue with my fisher pens.
I bring my own because I use MUJI pens which write incredibly smoothly, hell I usually bring one anywhere I can expect to fill out any paperwork or sign. It's the little things in life, like not using a cheap scratchy pen.
I feel your pain, you get one that doesn't write at all or it leaks ink all over your hands.
It's the little things in life, like not using a cheap scratchy pen.
Wow.. there's such thing as a pen snob! :p
hell I usually bring one anywhere I can expect to fill out any paperwork or sign
What do you do when you have to write and you didn't expect it?
yeah, whatever dude.
Who the hell steals pens from post offices? People are the worst…
At least they should have some chained to the staffed counters so no one can nick them unseen.
I think they should have some, but I take my own, because a-holes steal all the ones they put out for use.
People are absolute pigs in the postage desk area. I bought my own scales just so I don't have to use that rubbish dump.
Please post a picture next time you go, I would love to see that.
suggested I bring my own next time
Do you also need shirts with pockets to clip the pens?
lucky they didn't try to sell you one.
Like many complimentary items and services in the real world nowadays, it is 'Complimentary'. Surely you are not so tight or expectation ignorant to not carry a pen or pencil knowing full well sometimes the pens have been stolen, removed, damaged or inop' at some stage? Society has been going downhill in standards for years, this is not new, nor is it likely to change for the better any time soon. Since I 'needed a pen years ago for some reason I now forget, I carry one always, and now i expect, you will too.
I thought they had pens with strings attached to them. Just like the newsagent where you fill out and buy your lottery