Post Office

Davis has three post offices, each described on this page. But if you only need to drop a stamped letter in the mail, you might find one of the mail drop boxes to be more convenient. For other ways to send packages and correspondence, see shipping services.

On Sunday, Jan 8, 2006, the cost of first-class postage for a standard letter rose by two cents, from $0.37 to $0.39. Supplemental 2-ct stamps are available at post offices. If your stamp has the American flag ONLY on it, it is a $0.37 stamp. If your stamp has an American flag plus a turquoise Liberty with a Torch, then you have a $0.39 stamp.

On May 14, 2007, the price of stamps rose to $0.41. The Post Office began, at that point, to issue a "forever" stamp with no printed value, which are sold at the rate of other First Class stamps, but continue to be valid after periods of price increase. The USPS claims that these "forever" stamps were created to eliminate the inconvenience of using $0.01 and $0.02 stamps as a result of such price increases.

On May 12, 2008, stamp prices increased to $0.42. If you purchased forever stamps before the price increase, you can continue using those stamps after the price change.

On May 11, 2009, stamp prices increased to $0.44. Again, forever stamps previously purchased before that date will be honored.

Regular-sized postcards currently cost $0.28.

United States Postal Service

Toll-Free: 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777)

TTY service for hearing impaired: 1-888-877-7833

Website

http://www.usps.com

The Davis main post office is located at the corner of 5th and Pole Line, across the intersection from the DMV. After hours you can still buy stamps and ship packages with the Automated Postal Center machine in the lobby.

While you are waiting in line, you can admire the mural of old Davis landmarks above the counters. Or you can step outside to view Toad Hollow, the decorated end of one of the nationally famous Davis frog tunnels.

Original Owner

Troop 66, Hometown Heroes Old Town Tribute to Midjo

Downtown Post Office

Location

Memorial Union, 1st Floor

Temporarily in the DeCarli Room due to construction

Hours

Summer Hours: Mon-Fri 10:00AM-2:00PM

Regular Hours: Mon-Fri 9:00AM-5:00PM

Services

Shipping, PO boxes, stamps

Website

http://asucd.ucdavis.edu/services/us-post-office/us-post-office

Owner

(Associated Students of UC Davis)

The MU post office is an ASUCD unit that offers basic shipping services. Once located across from Classical Notes, it has since moved to a larger office at the south-east corner of the MU. (Now, due to the CoHo construction, it has temporarily been relocated to the DeCarli Room on the second floor, just ahead of the West staircase/elevators.) Most of that space is taken up by new PO Boxes. The PO Boxes are in fee group 4 for Davis, the sizes can be seen at the USPS website. The California Aggie has some historical information. They accept debit cards but there is a $5.00 minimum.

It should be noted that the MU post office does not offer Postal Money orders of any sort (Domestic or International), so if you're in need of one, you must go to another location. The downtown post office does not offer International Postal Money orders, although their sign indicates that they do.

The regional processing and distribution center (P&Dc) is located in nearby West Sacramento. It is open later than the post offices in Davis and reportedly empties their mail boxes every hour. Note that there are two post offices listed at the same address. For mailing service, you want the one with the flag pole and the drive up mail boxes.

this page should either be renamed "Post Offices" or seperate pages should be made for each: "Main Post Office" "Downtown Post Office" and "Memorial Union Post Office." The current "Post Office" page would then become a disamb - arlen

• I think "Post Offices" is fine. This page is tiny, and each individual one would be even more tiny..?

• you could add photos and talk about the services. for example, you can't do passport stuff downtown or at the MU. also, i don't think the MU takes credit cards

• but shouldn't we wait until there are photos, more text, etc? I don't see any need to spread out information when there's no 'this page is too big' need for it.

• I think the page should be named "U.S. Postal Offices" - isn't that the formal (correct) name? Or does that make it lose its Davis-ness? - KalenRidenour

Comments:

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2005-04-14 15:49:07   I tend to avoid the campus post office. Scratch that, I always avoid it. I find most of the employees there are incompetent, and not in the typical "post office joke" type of the way. If you live on-campus, it's just one more reason to have someone get you a parking permit to "carpool". —ChristopherPrice

2005-04-14 15:52:00   huh? —JackHaskel

2005-04-14 22:17:29   Not sure what you mean by huh. Try asking what part you question. I reviewed the campus post office, and found it it be in general sub-par to most postal facilities. What's there to huh about? —ChristopherPrice

2005-04-14 22:46:11   I can't speak for Jack, but your last sentence doesn't make any sense to me, in particular the parking permit and carpool non sequitur's. —CraigBrozinsky

2005-04-15 05:20:25   Ah, well, if you're a freshman, and you do things like eBay, then shipping things off is an issue. Transpotation options being limited, you basically have to haul things off to the UC post office if you live on-campus. The post office is so sub-par that it's just one more reason to find an non-freshman friend that doesn't have a car to buy a parking permit and use your car as their primary vehicle. That secures parking for you while living on student housing, and thus circumventing the need to go to the UC Davis post office (and many other things that the UC system hopes to bank on you doing by not being able to drive off-campus). Got it? —ChristopherPrice

2005-04-15 08:58:38   I've shipped lots of domestic and international packages with all sorts of delivery options at the campus PO and never had any problems. The employees don't have the fancy terminals like the main PO that show every possible service, but if you know what you want then I don't know where the trouble is. —AndrewChen

2005-04-15 09:03:14   The only trouble I've ever had with the campus post office is that they don't take any sort of credit/debit card. As long as you have cash (or check?) then they are as good as anywhere else in my experience. —EricKlein

2005-07-14 14:54:20   what's up with that "post office" inside a video store? is that legit? —ArlenAbraham

2005-07-14 17:58:21   Sure... I don't see why you can't have a post office in a video store! One of the Hallmark stores in town used to provide postal service, and those independent shipping companies like Mailboxes, Etc. provide USPS service as well. —AlphaDog

2005-07-14 19:07:14   Back to my orginial comment, i think each post office needs its own page for mapping purposes. Including the video-store branch. I wonder if they sell porn. If so, how many other places could you buy stamps and porn? —ArlenAbraham

2005-09-20 16:56:28   Stamps and porn. I love the davis wiki. —RocksandDirt

2006-01-31 18:47:06   "...most of America is illiterate anyways." Assertion and illustration in the same sentence! I like it.

The original reason for the blank-amount stamps was that they didn't know soon enough what the new price was going to be (hadn't decided yet), but they needed to have the stamps ready in time for the change. That was years ago, I forget when and what the price was at the time (13 cents probably) and I don't know if that's still their excuse.

And isn't "$0.39 cent" redundant? :) —JeffreyNonken

2006-03-02 14:10:23   Illiterate? You mean ilnumerate. —SteveDavison

2006-03-13 09:55:10   Above: "most of America is illiterate anyways" - Irony or case in point? —DavidBenjamin

2006-04-21 14:53:06   The ASUCD Post Office is a great service for students. The employees are extremely knowledgeable and courteous. Over the past few years, they have expanded the services they offer. They now have ASUCD Mailboxes that are very affordable and can be accessed as long as the MU is open. As far as the claims that they don't offer all the services...I've found that the only things they don't offer are Money Orders, Global Priority, and COD. Other than that, they offer everthing. Overall, they get a good rating from me...no waiting in line, speedy service....fantastic! —MariaAispuro

2006-06-01 14:29:47   The campus post office may not offer as many services, but it is a very convenient place to drop off prepaid stuff. —AndreyGoder

2006-06-26 16:37:21   The current answering machine for the ASUCD post office says the hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Can anyone verify whether these are the hours for the whole summer? —AmyZimmerman

2006-08-28 12:31:13   I hate the campus post office. The employees are really incompetent. They're basically there to say that they can't do anything for you. I wish I hadn't wasted so much time waiting in line and expecting to have something done. So if you're lucky enough to come to this page before going to that post office, that place doesn't do Global Priority (not even supplies or drop-off), doesn't cash money orders, doesn't take credit cards, doesn't know anything useful, and always tells you to go somewhere else to have whatever done (not sure how much other stuff they don't do). If there's a line, just forget about going there. The only thing I have ever found useful about that place is dropping off my eBay First Class envelopes. —CalvinFan

2006-09-01 19:35:40   The Post Office in the video store in Westlake Plaza on Lake Blvd out in West Davis closed permanently a few months ago. Bummer. —DavidBenjamin

2006-09-02 17:31:41   Add the Post Office at 3775 Industrial Blvd, West Sacramento—it is a main sorting center so if you missed the regular post office's last pick up you can drive a couple of miles and drop it off in one of their mail boxes outside. I think they empty them every hour. If you're a procrastinator and you have to have something postmarked TODAY drive it over to West Sac. Two post offices are listed at the same address. You want the one with the flag pole and the drive up mail boxes. —BarbaraClowers

2007-01-29 21:04:08   Been noticing the bad rap the USPS has been getting in the media the last few years? It may be due to the 5th/Russell post office. What a stupendously stultifying waste of time patronizing this establishment is. I have worked in government before, and if I had thrown half the attitude to the public that even the nicest employee gives, I would have been out of work. For ALL mailings I use UPS next to the quick n' sleazy (sorry, fast n' easy) mart, but NEVER the one over by Peet's in the marketplace. You can do all your USPS stuff there as well as any UPS stuff you need done, and wonder of wonders, their business model is based on *attracting*, rather than insulting, customers. —YesItsMe

2007-08-03 01:32:48   The people who work at the downtown location are some of the most friendly customer-service workers I've ever encountered. One of the ladies even thanked me for recycling when I handed her my reused package. I love going there. —ElisaHough

2007-09-10 15:55:34   "I hate the campus post office. The employees are really incompetent." I wish I read these comments before I went there. About a month ago I specifically told the clerk I was new to money orders and asked for one to Canada. She gave me a domestic one and I asked, "are you sure this domestic one is for Canada?" She told me yes so I trusted her and sent it off. Later I found out the clerk was wrong and emailed usps.com and was told I could get a complete refund. Three weeks later of waiting for the reciever to mail it back to me I went to the post office again. I told the clerk my situation and she simply said "it's not my problem" and didn't refund my domestic order at all. In the end I had to pay for another international money order. I never want to go back there again. —Spencer

2007-09-10 16:00:22   The campus post office employees are overseen by ASUCD. If you wish to complain or discuss the situation, go to the Student Services Office on the third floor of the MU. Ask for the ASUCD Controller Paul, Business Manager Mark or Assistant Business Manager Kathy. —JamesSchwab

2008-06-03 23:44:05   I totally agree that the campus post office sucks. They refuse to send anything priority, they don't open as early as a normal post office, you have to pay in cash, and every time I've gone I've had to wait in line far longer than I should've had to. I would say the employees are only mildly incompetent. After all, when their services are so damn limited it's hard to screw them up! —AlexPerkins

2008-07-30 19:41:26   I really want to encourage all of you to avoid going to the downtown post office. It is sucked! They have horrible service. Every time when I go in there and just want a little piece of stamp posted on my letter, a woman always stopping me and checking this and that. At the end, she will always find something to make you pay extra cents or dimes for my mail. I will not mind if that is done only once for a while. I understand it is her job. But in fact, I only went there 3 times, and I was "lucky" enough to get her for 3 times, stopping me and asking me to pay extra!!! Is she really that crazy about a couple of cents?! Unbelievable bad service in that post office! —sheryltan

2008-07-30 20:07:07   Avoid the downtown Post Office at all costs!!! There is is this Asian lady that works there who goes out of her way to make things difficult. If I have to go there, I'll wait off to the side and let others deal with her just so I can get someone else. The last time I went, I was looking to get a bunch of the USPS mailing tubs (I mail and ship a lot of stuff on a regular basis.), and she said that they only had 1. I asked if she could look in the back as I needed at least 5. She insisted that they didn't have any more and said that they were closing so just to take the 1 tub and go to the 5th Street location if I wanted more. As she was saying this, the other clerk (Russian Lady) could hear everything and rolled her eyes. Seconds later she (Russian Lady) came out of the back with 5 more tubs. You should have seen the look on the 1st lady's (Asian) face. She stuttered and tried to make excuses. I just smiled and said thanks to the 2nd lady. The Asian lady is such a @!#$%. —Aaron.Curtin

2009-01-06 11:14:28   I've only dropped off a package at the UC Davis Post Office once, and the guy working there didn't even acknowledge me. He was talking with his coworker the entire time and only looked at me when I was right in front of him. He took my package, said nothing, I said thanks, and then I left. It was kind of bothersome, but the campus location is convenient if you're just dropping off mail. If you're interested in customer service, however, I'd suggest going to the 5th Street location. The line moves incredibly slowly and it's usually pretty busy there, but the employees are usually nice. Except for one time when a lady purchased entirely different international postage (that didn't include insurance) even though I asked for a specific kind WITH insurance. Oh well. Oh, and another thing to note is that if you're shipping internationally, the UCD PO can't provide tracking and signature confirmation services. —hwarpeha

2009-01-20 11:50:08   Campus Post Office. Purchased Priority Mail. Student clerk stamped Media Mail on box. To avoid mistakes, go to the Main Post Office. —A.T.

2009-03-20 09:35:49   I don't think that the ASUCD post office is bad at all —They make due with the limited resources they are given.

I, however, will NEVER go to the Downtown post office. Not only are there always lines, but the people that work there instill rules that I have never heard of at any other post office! For my credit card, I always write "See ID" instead of signing it. I've never had a problem until I went to this post office where they told me, in a rather rude way (which was what bothered me the most), to sign my credit card or else they won't use it. In addition, they always try to sell me more the expensive way to ship items, when all I want is FIRST CLASS (within the weight/size limits)!!! Overall, I feel like the downtown location has just too long of a line, the people are slow that work there, and they have a slightly snobby attitude when they are seriously.. Just post office clerks. —renee415

What part of "not valid until signed" don't you understand? It's the signature box, not a place for you to write instructions to the person running the card. —wl

Uhm, thanks jerk but I don't need your RUDE comment. If you have ever worked in any retail establishment, you would notice that MANY people write that on their cards, even banks OK it.

Though I too have found the Davis Post Office and a certain member of their staff a pain in the you-know-what...
http://jakebillo.com/writing-see-id-on-your-credit-card-is-worse-than-useless/
It might be better to sign the card AND write See ID. - AmLin

2009-03-20 11:57:38   The See ID thing is pretty standard. I've always had See ID on the signature box and I've never had a problem with that. No one has ever said anything. The person processing the transaction looks at it and asks me for my ID. Like they are supposed to. I believe it was my bank that first advised me to do that years ago.

Yea, the card says, "Not valid until signed", but the See ID is such a common practice now that they really should know better. It's a precaution to protect the consumer. It takes a special kind of 'tard not to know that. —CurlyGirl26

2009-03-20 12:10:22   I've had my card for about a year now, and I still haven't signed it. If someone says it isn't valid, I plan on asking for a pen. The signature thing is really not exactly the foremost line in credit defense anyway. —JoePomidor

2009-03-20 12:31:40   The signature is really not a strong defense against fraud. Anyone could find an unsigned credit card and fill in their signature. Furthermore, that signature would likely match their own ID! Of course, the name on the card would not, but how many people's signatures are really readable anyway? Basically, the signature buys you nothing when you (or someone else) performs the transaction on your card. In fact, many places no longer even ask you to sign your receipt at all for smaller transactions. It wastes their time to check the signatures.

So what is it used for? Well, suppose you (or someone) buys something on your card, and you then call the credit card company and dispute the charges. The burden is now on the shop to prove that you bought the item. They do this by bringing out your signed receipt. If it is your signature on the receipt, they can show that you did buy the item. If not, they are out of luck. So the signature protects the merchant, not you. Shops ignore it for small transactions now because their cost of keeping and sorting through the receipts is higher than the amount of money that they are likely to recover by disproving charge disputes.

That doesn't mean that there is no protection for you. First, if the signature is not collected, or someone doesn't capture you on video, they would have a hard time proving that it was you who bought something if you dispute the charges. Second, major credit card companies use statistical analysis, behavioral modeling, pattern analysis, etc. to check to see if you are suddenly spending outside of your normal pattern. (This is why if you suddenly go to a city far away from your home town and try to buy something, they may flag your card and make you call the company to prove you are who you say you are, and not someone traveling on your card.) There's also legal protections for you against fraud. But again, this goes back to the merchant being able to prove you signed the receipt. —IDoNotExist

2009-04-22 13:12:40   The campus post office doesn't offer quite as much as a true PO but they do the best they can with what they're working with. Say what you want about the campus post office but after frequenting the Main Post Office, ASUCD's PO is a breath of fresh air. Aside from one or two that actually are friendly most of the Main PO's workers seem to hate their jobs. One worker in particular seems to pride himself on belittling customers (you'll notice him if you stop by, he'll be the balding gentleman that will be talking down to his customers). I've seen this guy treating adults and college kids alike like pups for not checking a box on a postal form or questioning the credit card policy. It's pretty ridiculous. —TariqTrotter

2009-05-28 08:30:20   I hereby wish to formally complain that since stamps before the "forever" stamp also had no dollar (cent) value printed on them, only the words "First Class" and therefore at face value also seemed to be sufficient for a first class letter forever. There. Take that, USPS! —JoFeuerstein

2009-06-04 12:00:33   So, open hours are great, but when are the last pickups of the day at each office? —apbare

2009-10-22 17:19:32   I've been to the Main PO before (mainly to pick up mail) but I guess never near 5pm. . .the place was packed, they only had two registers open, and the two clerks were a bit chatty and generally lackadaisical(which I normally wouldn't mind but the line was almost out the door. . .). . .part of the blame also was on two customers who had no idea what to do and had nothing filled out ahead of time (one lady's box wasn't even taped up) but only one of the clerks finally shuttled one of them off to the side, where at my office both would have been immediately given directions for what to do and told to come back. . .guess Anacrime Hillz is no-nonsense. —KellyCorcoran

2009-11-18 14:30:06   I cannot stand the Asian lady that works here. She is always nosing into my business, rude, and completely POWER TRIPPING. For this reason, I always avoid the downtown location. —ElizabethLee