I've only gone through this thread once so I took another look today. I used to work for the USPS and here's what my thoughts are: Please keep in mind that clerks at the windows are just like eveyone else - some like to talk, some don't (I can't vouch for crabby ones!). I'm happy the person who got told to go back in line and wait all over again complained...that's what you should do.
Clerks -especially those in large post offices - see all different shapes and sizes all day long and it does get complicated to remember every rule because there are so many. And every time postage changes most of the rules do to! This last time the postage changed it is particularly confusing because many shapes and weight divisions changed along with prices.
For the person who hoped the nice clerk got paid more - it very well may not have been the case. Postal workers get paid by length of service (with a few exceptions and those in administative jobs who have a different pay scale). People can't be just "rotated"out (as someone else was hoping)to another job if they're unfriendly or unhelpful. Everyone is assigned a job title and someone else can't come and take it over.
It's one of the reasons I was so disheartened working there. Some that are real Yahoos get paid more because they've been there longer. It's hard to watch some people who don't deserve it get paid more but I guess that happens in any organization. But it does help to have a clerk who pays attention to your forms - they may save you a lot of aggravation down the road.
DO NOT list your second choice as "Treat as Abandoned" as your alternate. It will go to no one but back to the USPS to be dealt with. Postal workers are not allowed to riffle through packages like that and the contents more than likely will get tossed out. It is much better to make sure it will at least go to SOMEONE. I'm sure you don't want your hard earned money and time to go "down the toilet'.
Also, the USPS can't hand over abandoned property to charities. All mail that comes in expressly belongs to you(the sender). The USPS has no legal rights to the contents to even do something nice like give it away to charity.
I believe that the only way a package may be forwarded to a particular individual is if the addressee leaves a forwarding address. I don't know how the miltary deals with this or what their rules are.
For the person who saw another person help at the window and then "fled the scene". I don't know if you were at a large post office or not, but every post office has cut-off times that they need to adhere to. This may have been something that was happening at the time. Think of it like your community mailbox. There are certain cut-offs on the label for mailbox pick-up. So, too, there are different cut-offs going on inside the post office all the time that the regular customer is not aware of. Items come in, they get identified, they get placed on a moving contraption with wheels (they have different names based on what kind of mail it is) and get put on elevators that take them to the floor that processes that type of mail. The items then get processed on the proper machinery for that type of mail. Those workers have cut-offs too. They have cut-off times in which the mail has to be processed so it can be ready to go back to the elevators so that it can be taken to the docks and put on trucks that are either traveling on their own or taking the load to the airport. Everything going out from the docks needs to be there way before the trucks leave because it all has to be weighed again by the workers there.
If you use a small post office and send things long distances, your mail will eventually move through a large post office. It's inevitable. Very small post offices do not have the capabilities that the large ones do and often are not near an airport. The postal service made a contract with FedX several years ago and has to abide by their rules too! So even though it may be a rule that seems unnescessary to you, it may actually be something FedX asked the UPSP to do in THEIR contract. I'm just trying to point out the many variables and, along the way, hope to help you understand things a little more clearly.
On the discussion about putting dollar amounts on customs forms you have to remember there are two points of views - ours and the business that is the USPS.
Frankly, the workers at the USPS don't care how much value you have in a package. If you are using extra services (like insurance) it is in your best interest to use the correct dollar amount (and pack it very well) because it will be up to YOU to prove what was in it and how much it is worth if it is lost or ends up broken in shipping.
Not listing quantities is somewhat up to you. Lots and lots of boxes are put into machines that look like the back of a garbage truck. The boxes are put in, a lever is pulled and they tumble down onto a conveyor belt. Boxes that are not solid or are squishy or have ragged edges can get caught in there and can ruin other boxes making many rip open. So many postal rules are not to make things more difficult for you but try to insure that your boxes get to thier destination with as little damage as possible. I have seen many well packed boxes damaged because of "one bad apple" in the bunch. If your package happens to be one that gets damaged along with other boxes, it is hard for a postal employee to know what goes where when they try to put them back together.
For instance: Five boxes rip open and only two listed dvd's. Neither of the two senders listed, at minimum, how many. One said 'movies' and the other said 'dvd's' and there are 10 dvd's lying on the floor. Where do they belong?
Or five boxes ripped open and none of them listed dvd's. There are 10 dvd's lying on the floor. Hummmm.
I always check off "Certified as a bona fide gift" with the packages I send to the military but that is much more a necessary if you are sending something to someone you know in another country for personal purposes (or business purposes)as their country's customs duties personnel will look at that.
No customs form should be put inside the box except, perhaps, a photocopy of the top sheet filled out. It would help if the box rips open. Just as you should really have your name, address, and contents listed inside boxes mailed to locations in the U.S.A. or just as you should have your name and address inside your luggage.
Also, if your boxed is opened by USPS officials, you will be notified but it will be "after the fact". A suspicious package needs to be dealt with immediately and often there isn't time to find you first.
To the woman that was talking about people griping about people from Chicago... I can't tell you how much glee it gives me to be standing in line at the PO when someone next to me starts to gripe to me about the PO. I say, "Yeah, I used to work here," and they turn away from me pretty quickly. It's really funny.
To the person who wrote, "Surely they understand that when you have about 50 items in a box that we would probably forget a few of them?" - in reference to forgetting to change their form. The answer is no. They have no idea what's in the box nor do they care as long as there are no restricted items or fragile items. If you had a camera in there and swapped it out for a camcorder at the last minute and never changed the customs form the only one that's going to care the most is YOU. If it gets lost or stolen, now how are you going to prove you sent a camcorder? It's going to matter A LOT to you if the new item was more expensive!
To betc - who divides things into catagories, just write: 5 t-shirts, 10 boxers, 100 pencils, 2 dz balls,etc. you'll save a lot of space.
I always write down 'what' and 'how many" of something I'm sending to someone and write it in my notebook AS I'm putting it in the box. I like to keep track of it and I always know what to put down on the customs form!