'Worst' Post Office In NYC Hits Another Low, Resident Says

KENSINGTON, BROOKLYN — When Wendy Shear‏ came down the stairs of her apartment building in Kensington on Monday morning to check the mail and send off a rent check, she was stunned.

Sitting unattended on the floor of the lobby were two large clusters of unopened mail, in plain sight of anyone who walked by.

"Please 'Do Not Touch,'" read a handwritten note placed on top of one box. "Mail Lady Will Be Here Shortly." Shear told Patch that the mail stayed there "a good three hours or more."

"That’s amazing," she said. "I went, 'Is the mailwoman OK? What is that?'"

The Kensington Post Office, on Mcdonald Avenue between Church Avenue and Albemarle Road, doesn't exactly have a reputation as a beacon of cleanliness, efficiency and friendliness.

In 2009, The New York Times called it "the worst in New York City." It has a one-star rating on Yelp after 105 reviews, including one that says, "This neighborhood would be better off with no post office than with this one."

"Anyone could come and take it," Shear said. "They could take bills to find your numbers. You could get checks. Anything. You could answer somebody’s mail."

Shear, a native of Southern California before moving to New York to work as a producer and director, has lived in Kensington for seven years. She called her home post office the "worst post office in the United States."

"I go there, they’re abusive to immigrant people, to people who are old," she said. "I went there once and the worker was just rude. Beyond rude."

She's not the only one who holds that sentiment.

Shear shared the story about the deserted bundles of mail on a neighborhood Facebook page and others in the group commiserated.

"Seems about right," one said. "I mail my packages in Manhattan rather than deal with that place."

"I also take my mail to Manhattan to mail," another said. "I've never lived anywhere but here where I couldn't use the post office."

Patch has reached out to the U.S. Postal Service for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

Photos courtesy Wendy Shear