Doylestown Post Office

Dear Postmaster, I want to acknowledge Courtney who was especially helpful in resolving a dilemma I had been wrestling with for several weeks. I initially approached various counter staff for advice and they clarified some of the issues but left me confused. Trying to get some clarity I happen to ask Courtney and she immediately sized up my problem and quickly resolved it. To say the least I was awe-stuck by her people skills, clever insight into my problem, her keen understanding of operations and ability to find the simplest solution. I want to give you my feedback and to thank her for a job very well done. The immediate issue at hand is/was that my wife and I would be away for approximately two months to visit family in Arkansas. Looking at the USPS literature, a TEMPORARY COA using my new PO Box seemed the most appropriate since my daughter, who lives in Doylestown, could pick up the mail – alerting me if there was an item that required immediate attention. A HOLD, on the other hand, would only be good for 30 days and when my daughter, with my authorization, picked up the mail that would terminate the HOLD. I asked the counter staff for advice and they clarified some of the issues: HOLDs vs TEMPORARY COA are confusing; my daughter with my authorization could pick up HOLD mail without terminating the HOLD if I made note of her authorization; the HOLD could be extended or replaced by yet-another HOLD; and the TEMPORARY COA is good for a longer period but has had processing problems in the past. The recommendations were that the HOLD was a better choice although not as simple as the TEMP COA although I couldn’t understand why the TEMP COA wouldn’t be better so I had to mull things over. I have a newly acquired PO Box at your Atkinson Drive facility but I am not ready yet to identify, alert and shift my considerable mail to the PO Box. I came to your facility with a filled in TEMP COA requesting mail be shuttled from my 18902 home to my 18901 PO Box. Courtney saw what I was trying to do and that there was a simpler way to handle it by notifying my carrier to do the redirection since the mail is coming into the same facility for distribution. I am a retired Dean of a Business School and a prior CEO of a large international company so I can say without reservation that I know good business when I see it. Courtney is a great ambassador for your facility and for USPS. Forms are always kept succinct to collect essential information but it often takes a good listener to make sense of a problem. With my Heartful Thanks and Praise for Courtney