Dialing Up Customer Service at USPS
Date: 10/11/21 | Category: Products & Services
For any business, customer service is important. It improves the brand image, keeps customers loyal, and provides insights into the customer experience. In the past, customer service operations for a major corporation would involve thousands of service agents to handle calls — from routine problems to more complex ones. Technology has changed customer service, allowing automated systems to handle routine inquiries 24 hours a day without requiring an agent.
For its 1-800-ASK-USPS customer care line, the Postal Service employs an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to answer calls, automatically handling routine issues such as package tracking, finding post office locations and hours, and submitting hold mail requests. This allows customers to find solutions for certain issues without being put on hold or being referred to agents for complicated problems. In Fiscal Year 2020, the Postal Service’s IVR system handled 90 million calls!
Our latest white paper, 1-800-ASK-USPS: The Postal Service’s Interactive Voice Response System, examines the effectiveness of the Postal Service’s IVR system at handling inquiries. We found that two of the metrics, the containment rate (the percent of calls not transferred to agents) and customer satisfaction, have both increased over the past years. Still, there is room for improvement. A quarter of IVR users who stay on the line at the end of the call to take a survey were very dissatisfied with their IVR experience, which might be worth exploring further.
We also found the Postal Service was counting any call not transferred to an agent as contained. For example, if someone called and hung up in frustration before getting the information they sought, that call would still count as resolved by the IVR system. We recommended the Postal Service track abandoned calls and more accurately track contained calls. This could help them accurately identify customer frustration points with the IVR system.
Have you called 1-800-ASK-USPS recently? What was your experience?
Leave a Comment
Your Name
Sharon y sterling
May 29, 2023
Your Comment
My mail is not getting to me some of my mail had been ro uted to another address had certified mail Idid not receive it please check this out Sharon y sterling
Your Name
Jeff Loubet
May 24, 2023
Your Comment
Your automatic phone system is designed to drive one mad. It cuts out frequently. There's no way to speak to an actual person if your problem requires you to ask a question that doesn't fit within your categories or simply punch in a number.
Your Name
Val Ormond
May 23, 2023
Your Comment
Tried to mail a priority letter…,to a registered, valid….well-used address.
Came up as ‘invalid’
Address in Ridgecrest CA.
Why is this happening?
Your Name
Margaretta Love
May 15, 2023
Your Comment
Impossible to speak to anyone at my local PO the phone rings and then disconnects.
Your Name
Alexis Nataly
May 12, 2023
Your Comment
I called 1-800-ASK-USPS, several times and requested to speak with a representative, unfortunately, all I got was a robot with no answers to my questions or a live person. Furthermore, I also tried using USPS's website to change my address and of course, it failed and I couldn't change the address online. This system needs major improvements. It's a shame that this is our United States Postal Service.
Your Name
Judith Doan
May 5, 2023
Your Comment
I called about why some of my mail is being returned to the post office even though my correct address is on the envelope. My insurance company has been trying to correspond with me via mail but it keeps getting returned. I have spoken with them and they have my correct address including zip code. Tried to use the link sent by you in a text, but when I clicked on it, it gave me nowhere to respond. Please help me.
Your Name
Angie Reyes
May 4, 2023
Your Comment
I would like to change my address. Is there anyway i can do it
Your Name
Jayne Varnes
May 4, 2023
Your Comment
My husband and I both have breathing issues and require oxygen. In March 2023 I applied for door delivery for us. Today is May4, 2023 and I do not have an answer to the request. Further more, I can't seem to reach anyone who can help me. On April 21, 2023 someone did answer the telephone at the local USPS branch. I was told that a supervisor had to approve the requests and she had gone for the day (Friday). I was assured I would received a call back on Monday. I was not told which Monday, however. I have not received a call back. This issue is important to us. Retrieving our mail has become a major issue. What is my next step? I've tried to call the 1-800-AKS-USPS line to no avail. I don't have hours to try to sort through the incredibly complex IVR system. I can't even find information about speaking to a real person. Does the USPS employ only robots?
Your Name
Lisa M. Davis
May 3, 2023
Your Comment
I have tried several times to contact my local post office by phone they don’t answer. Then I tried to help line and nobody answered no matter what, but no pushed I could not talk to a person. I have an issue that is unrelated to any of their options. I had to go in person last time and I will have to go in person again to handle the same problem that was miss handled the first time I complained about it.
Your Name
BURT ANDREWS
May 2, 2023
Your Comment
Your USPS.com page will not show tracking but it will on Ebay. I guess I am not allowed to talk to a live human.?????
Your Name
Daniel Harman
Apr 27, 2023
Your Comment
package wasnt delivered, stuck in transit for the past 2 days so i called usps and i was on hold and they just hung up the phone
Your Name
Brian
Apr 24, 2023
Your Comment
The IVR system is utterly infuriating. It is designed to waste peoples time, reading you policies and procedures and offers you had NO desire to hear but you cant hang up, you have to listen to the end to have the possibility of help. It is designed to make you so mad you hang up rather than waste more time and get more mad. I HATE THIS SYSTEM. Any person who had anything to do with its design should be fired. And the worst part you mentioned above, if I get mad enough and hang up, the system counts that as a successful resolution. Your connections to a live agent dropped 98% because you are FAILING TO HELP 98% of the people using the system. This system needs to either be abandoned entirely or ripped up and rewritten completely, salvaging not any line of its code.
Your Name
A. Myers
Apr 24, 2023
Your Comment
TERRIBLE non-existent service. Voice mail prompt continued repeating my tracking number wrong even though I entered it correctly. I asked for an agent and could not make contact. I was hung up on and problem has not been resolved. Their customer service is absolutely horrible and frustrating.
Your Name
Judy Cicero
Apr 22, 2023
Your Comment
Need to speak to a live person as my federal tax return, sent certified mail, is sitting at a post office waiting to be picked up!
Your Name
OIG Webmaster
Apr 25, 2023
Your Comment
Thanks for your message. We are an independent agency of the Postal Service and unfortunately can't help with delayed mail or packages. Please file a complaint directly with the Postal Service at 1-800-275-8777 or at https://usps.force.com/emailus/s/. Just choose the tab marked "Where is My Package" or "Where is My Mail."
Your Name
Barbara
Apr 20, 2023
Your Comment
The recording is useless if you want to talk to a live agent!!!! Crap, crap, crap. I almost lost my joy. I got a text saying receipt HN70W28A is waiting but I think it is a scam. Please let me know. Have a great day!!
Your Name
SCOTT BAGLEY
Apr 16, 2023
Your Comment
I just want to leave a comment and say you're Post Office. Police officers have been very helpful and polite when I have had to call them a few times about people messing with our mailbox is where I live I. Just thought I'd want to leave a comment and tell you how nice they've been. I thought that you served would be but known how nice they'd been and hopeful. Thank you
Your Name
Hk
Apr 15, 2023
Your Comment
This system is junk. It's not designed to help you, it's designed to make you give up. If it doesn't understand, it hangs up or repeats itself 20 times. You should be refunding peoples money for shipment the day after it was suppose to arrive, regardless of what priority it was sent. You are providing a service. If you do not give me the service I paid for. I shouldn't have to pay you, atleast not full price, for that service, and on the second day past delivery date, it should be a full refund. Works that way with service from every other company. Then again I can talk to a real person at every other company, and not be pushed aside by an answering machine.
Your Name
Toby
Apr 8, 2023
Your Comment
Too many options. Tells you that they can call you back, but you still have to wait once they do call back. Need an option to TALK to someone. Not all things can be handled by an IVR.
Your Name
Laughing Atyou
Apr 4, 2023
Your Comment
As the idiot in the white house says..."c'mon man", your system is a joke. One hour wait time and still nobody to speak with, nor is there any way just to file a complaint about a particular post office branch.
Your Name
Kari
Apr 3, 2023
Your Comment
Tried calling multiple times early in the day to ensure I am calling during office hours. It takes you through the whole automated program and when I finally get to connect to an agent it disconnects because they say their office is closed.
Your Name
Jeremy Jacobson
Apr 3, 2023
Your Comment
Terrible. So slow. Went through so many options in the phone menu just to find none of them could do what I needed. Wasted time.
Your Name
Lane Lerner
Mar 28, 2023
Your Comment
I stayed home from work purely to make sure I received a package safely as it was due to be delivered today, but I got a notification that delivery had been attempted but the driver decided that it was not safe to place the package at my front door so they drove off. I immediately went to my door but the truck was already gone (driver probably put the notice in while on the road). They didn't knock on my door or give me any notice. I would have heard as I was in my living room all day just for the package.
Then I call you guys and get stuck with this annoying automated messaging system that is incredibly tone deaf and through which I cannot explain the issue or develop a fix. If I just sign up to get another delivery the same thing will happen. If I could just talk to a human this wouldn't be a issue. I could explain the problem and they could pass the message along to the driver. This is absurd and so frustrating.
Your Name
Lisa Corcoran
Mar 22, 2023
Your Comment
Today I tried to call 1-800-ASK-USPS and was told to listen to a survey. I dialed the correct number; I heard the usual introduction, but then something indicating I'd be asked to listen to a survey first. A real person then came on the line and immediately started pedaling a sales pitch about some medical device. I tried to interrupt and the person kept talking. I couldn't even make a request to skip the survey and get to the menu! Good grief, what is going on????
Your Name
Ruth S.
Mar 19, 2023
Your Comment
This is the most aggravating phone system in the world! It makes you listen to the same recording over and over again and there is NO option to speak to a real human being. Just the worst experience.
