Perrin-Beitel Post Office - Unbelievably ghetto (San Antonio, Henderson: inspectors, price, dangerous)

[Dopo]

First, I'm going to clarify that calling the Perrin-Beitel post office ghetto refers to the building, not the people in it.

Today I went to renew my son's passport at the Perrin-Beitel post office.
Since it's the biggest post office in San Antonio (I think) I thought it was going to be the nicest one and the one with the best service = wrong.

I go back to the room where they do all the passport work,
as soon as you walk in there, the first thing that comes up to your mind is "Am I in the right place?"
There was a room about 20'x20' with about 20 chairs for people to wait and a few tables for the the people that work there to do their job.

How ghetto is it?
- I don't think I saw 1 thing in that room that looked somewhat new. You find newer things at any Salvation Army or Goodwill.
- There was 1 picture in the whole room, it looked like what you would find at a dollar store (about 6"x6").
- 95% of the signs in that room were done by somebody there, printed and taped on the wall. Only 2-3 look somewhat professional.
- Even the "Exit" sign above the door was made out of something that look like white cardboard and was hanging a little sideways.
- The chairs used by the clerks had a piece of paper taped on the back with a note written with a marker that said something like "They belong in this room"
- Besides that.... they only have 1 person working doing all the work that takes about 20 minutes per person and there's about 12 people waiting for service.

Does anybody know why that place is like that?

[HillCountryHotRodMan]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Does anybody know why that place is like that?

Budget cuts. What pissed me off was last year when they removed the cappuccino machine.

[smuboy86]

It's a mid 80s govt building meaning it's about 25 years old. The newer ones are nicer but the older ones pretty much all look like that.

[SabresFanInSA]

I was on Perrin Beitel a few months ago because I didnt know the driver license place was gone and it seemed like that area has become forgotten about. Maybe I am remembering it wrong but I thought when I first moved here in the late 80's that area was known to be where the money is. Now it seemed kind of run down. Like I said, I am probably remembering it wrong, but that was the first thing that came to mind when I was there.

[The Sweet Pickles Bus]

Well at least it's efficient for the most part, unlike the Henderson Pass one.

[Merovee]

Originally Posted by HillCountryHotRodMan

Budget cuts. What pissed me off was last year when they removed the cappuccino machine.

At least they will let you slide for two cents here and a quarter there if you come up short in your postage fees (:

And once a year they will even walk out to the curb and pick up your mail so you don't have to get off your car! How nice is that?

[elnina]

Maybe that room has been temporarily assigned to deal with passport applications?
Does anyone remember if there was a different room before?

[Merovee]

After reading this thread the city council met to discuss the disrepair of some of our local buildings. This is what happened.

A board meeting in City Council chambers focusing on dangerous structures in San Antonio was canceled Monday morning — and the historic room was evacuated — after small chunks of plaster fell with a thunk near city inspectors.

...

The largest pieces almost struck a city inspector.

Falling plaster cancels meeting in Council chambers - San Antonio Express-News

[skeet09]

Originally Posted by Merovee

After reading this thread the city council met to discuss the disrepair of some of our local buildings. This is what happened.

Falling plaster cancels meeting in Council chambers - San Antonio Express-News

The irony of that meeting...priceless!

[badhornet]

When they moved the Starbucks out, the place went to crap