Has anyone else had this scenario or can sympathise?
Walk in and then out of the post office several days running because the queues move so slowly you could grow old waiting.
Finally battle your way in to then have people push in front of you
And find the little ticket thing you have to take which determines your place in the queue has the wrong letter on as it never flashes up on the computer screen and you find yourself stood waiting for 20 mins while people that have come in way after you and have the right letter get seen first.AGGHH
As I stood today in this very situation AGAIN I just burst into tears. Needless to say met with a few strange looks!
Does it get better or am I kidding myself that the very British way of neatly queuing and waiting ones turn will ever catch on out here?? Next time Im going to take one of each ****** ticket!!

Welcome in the majority.

I went today- no problem. Everyone waits and whoever is next just gets up and goes to the sportello. One guy left because he had to be somewhere and the post office computer was running a little slow (it's on dial up here in the sticks). It seems less a problem with the post office than the populace where you live.

Helpful hint; head out of your town to a smaller town that has a post office. Non existant or very short waits, no confusion for which line to go to, etc. In my town of 600, we have a little post office. No more standing in line.

Welcome to Italy..... (Joke).

Cristina is right - avoid at all costs large post offices. My village one is the same as Cristina decribes. No queues and only one person works behind the counter.

Be lucky!
Carole B.

In our small city we have two-- the main one downtown and a branch in the burbs. Other than when a tax is due or people are sending Christmas mail, the branch never has more than 6 people in line-- one line only-- and has 2-3 people working all the time.
Guess which one I recommend?

Thanks everyone. Sorry I just had to vent my anger!!!

Seems the only solution is to move somewhere quieter. Orvieto has two post offices each just as busy.Being a country girl Im used to ones much smaller.
Hey ho! But it has fired my enthusiasme to move North to a small town on lake Garda where I know and love and really wanted to move to in the first place. Sore point with my other half!!

Another good technique, execept in the areas where there are lots of offices, is to go to the post office near the closing time. The older people thend to have this strong belief that to do anything fast you have to be the first that arrives; thus in the morning there are always these incredible lines in every public office. I know of people lining up one hour in advance to wait for the doors to open. What they ignore is that if you go just a few hours later, all the crowds that arrived early to bypass the crowd will be through. Last in first out is the rule when it comes to post offices, except where there are offices and the clerks crowd the post offices during lunch break to send mail.

A few years (uhm, some ten) back my grandfather had a condition that required the purchase of some aids. Now the stuff was part of the pulic health services. We could purchase it from pahrmacies, but we had to get a document every three months in order to get reimbursed. it was either my father and I that did this. He is a strong believer in early morning, I don't believe there is live whatsoever before 9 am, and intelligent life starts at 11 anyhow. So, he went there before opening tme, lined up with a kazzilion other people and had to wait three or four hours for his turn. I used to arrive right ebfore noon and leave in ten ninutes, everything done. Both of us were done by 12;30, but he waited four hours I waited fifteen minutes

Another tip is not to go at the end/beginning of the month, when you find all the retired ladies standing in line to collect their and their husband's pension. I made that mistake ONCE, stood in line at a small post office on the edge of town where the normal wait time is 10-15 MAX, turned into almost an hour.

Ann
My Life in Italy http://amborg.blogspot.com

Do you know that you can pay your Telecom and Enel bills to the Tabaccaio (punto LIS)? I don't go to the post office anymore!!!! Yahoo!!!!

Dora

But on a positive note (for once!) I just discovered the Banco Posta conto corrente....VERY good deal, almost half of what the bank charges for an account with interest, use of bancomat, online access.

Just to second the last post about Banca Posta: the experience of opening the account was painless and quick, no queue to speak of in the PO at Aosta when it came to doing my first domiciliazione, and very helpful staff.

Mind you, my experiences at the Agenzia d'Entrate and Questura were equally positive - no queues at all (!), so it must vary so much between areas.

I couldn't agree with you more. We have horror stories of the postal service in Calabria. The local post office in my town serves a total of five villages now because of persistent robbieries of the smaller postal offices that were within the surrounding villages. It's pure chaos just to send a postcard. We have the bill payers, pensioners, people who would like to do their banking, and those of us who want to send a package all in two waiting ques. Yes,there are two waiting ques with people from five villages waiting for hours on end. There are several tellers and only two will actually work while the others stand around behind them and look busy. There are some days I want to scream. They aren't even friendly. I paid a bill yesterday and the teller had to give me three euro in return change. He asked me if I had change which I did not, so I told him kindly with a smile that I had no change on me. He screamed at me and said Now! what will I do with a very angry face. He gave me the three euro, but looked sorely disappointed to have parted with the change. I use to complain if I had to wait for more than 3 minutes in the post office back home, but now thanks to the Italian postal service, I've learned so much patiences.

Alice, Totally agree about intelligent life not getting going until 11. Nobody in our house (baby included) ever gets up before 9am.

On the post office, if it's open all day try going at 1.30pm, nobody here goes to the post office at lunch time. Also I have a bancoposta account and I have never had any problems. Its true that getting one is very painless, just needed my passport not even a pds.

Lunchtime is the best time to do anything w/ a line: Post Office, Bank, or grocery store.
The lines are almost or completely non-existent, so we try to time our trips to those places for between 12:30-1:30, depending on how late the PO and Bank stay open. Our small town makes it even easier tho around pension days we avoid bank and PO completely.
-Sada Sat
www.yogaborgo.com